Nikon AF-S NIKKOR f/1.8G ED Lens - 85 mm

Product Information

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is quite pronounced at maximum aperture with the corners being over two stops darker than the image centre. Stopping down improves this and visually uniform illumination is achieved by f/4. I love this lens so much I own at least two of them! I especially love the fast focus and 18-pointed sunstars I get from its 9-bladed diaphragm. Bokeh, the feel, character or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is excellent, as it usually is with 85mm lenses. With a 9-bladed rounded diaphragm, I get pretty good 18-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light at the smaller apertures.

I love any 85/1.8 as a fast prime portrait lens or general-purpose fast, short tele at a reasonable price. It's the one fixed tele I'd grab along with a wide lens for day-to-day shooting. The Nikon 85 1.8 G’s minimum close focusing distance is .8 meters, or about two and a half feet. I just would like for it to be able to focus closer, not necessarily macro-close, but closer. The sweet spot with this lens is at f/5.6 in regards to sharpness. I frequently shoot with it at wider apertures than f/5.6 though and it’s a very small concern for me, as there’s plenty of sharpness at the widest apertures. Chromatic Aberration Spherochromatism is what's causing the highlights on the rear buttons to flare green, and the highlights on the closer bezel to flare magenta.I've had a couple die of other Nikon AFS lenses die on me, so if this lens' internal AF motor dies, it's got to go in for repair.

There’s no denying this is a chunky lens. It’s about an inch longer than the competing Canon RF 85mm F1.2 lens but about the same weight, at 1,160g or 2lbs 9oz. It’s actually a little shorter but marginally heavier than the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2 S, and both lenses share the same 82mm filter attachment thread. For less money, the B+W 67mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated version and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best.

As for the focus ring, it is conveniently located on the front of the barrel, making it easy to manually focus with a thumb and index fingers while shooting images or video. The lens comes with the “HB-62” lens hood, which snaps on the front of the lens and sits tight without wobbling like some other Nikon lens hoods. The M/A and M switch on the side of the lens allows autofocus with manual focus override and full manual focus operation. The latest Nikon DSLRs like Nikon D5100 immediately recognize the focus position and provide notifications on the information (“I” button) screen. NIKON D800 + 85mm f/1.8 @ 85mm, ISO 360, 1/200, f/2.2 NIKON D800 + 85mm f/1.8 @ 85mm, ISO 100, 1/3200, f/2.2 Autofocus Performance Chromatic aberration overall is controlled well by the Nikon 85mm 1.8 G. Color fringing is prevalent in certain lighting situations. I prefer this original lens to 2012's new plastic made-in-China G version. This original lens offers a better 9-bladed diaphragm, superior mechanical quality that will last a lifetime, isn't gelded so it works on every camera, has a hard infinity-focus stop, metal filter threads, faster autofocus and smaller size than the new G 85/1.8.