Sharpness. I took some shots of my daughter this past weekend which were stunningly sharp, and also some of some old buildings, which yielded great sharpness, down to detail in individual bricks.

None of which I am aware.

If I could only have one lens other than a zoom, this would be it. And while I have a tendency to try things then trade or exchange them, this one will not be going anywhere for a long time if ever. That goes for picture quality as well as focal length. The 85mm focal length allows you to isolate a subject without losing too much background. I do a lot of landscape, and will use it more for that than for portraiture. I'd been, without much luck, looking for an 85mm Pentax SMC thread mount, and am no longer disappointed with my inability to find one at an acceptable price. While the latter may or may not yield equal picture quality, all else equal, I remember getting a lot more poorly-metered shots with my Spotmatic than with the Elan 7 the Canon 85 is used with. Considering what other manufacturers generally ask for their prime lenses, this would seem a great value. It will keep me satisfied for a long time - at least until money is no longer an object - and I anticipate being in this price range indefinitely.

Customer Service

n/a

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This is the first new prime lens I have acquired in about 22 years. Previous ones were for Spotmatic and OM1-MD.

Sharp, compact, light weight, easy to man. focus, very bright, price.

dedicated hood is a bad design....too loose, I wish it had a focus limiter for sports.

I enjoy this lens...not love...but.....still 5 stars though. I use it for indoor sports and portrait work mostly. It can focus closer than my 80-200mm L lens and I love the brightness of the optic. I often do enviormental portrait shoots with this lens where I will allways go into man. focus and can see more clearly than my 80-200 L. It has nice background blure although, I stop it down to f2. I only use f1.8 in a pinch. It isn't all that bad at f1.8 but I notice f2 is better. It focuses quite quickly....a whole lot faster than the 85mm f1.2! I like using it for basketball, and other indoor sports. I only wish I could limit the "hunt" of the focus so I can have even faster lock on speeds. This lens is great for doing P.R. shots for women. I like to use the 135mm f2 for the guys though. I often shoot the P.R. and other portrait pictures at f4-f5.6 anyway....with strobes lighting up my subjects. I love the crispness of this lens. It's not bad for a non-L lens.

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80-200mm L, 135mm f2 L.

Great lens, excellent sharpness, well balanced, and great price.

none...

great portrait lens

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N/A

Very sharp, very light and well balanced on Elan IIE w/Battery pack,
extremely fast AF, bright viewfinder

I really take good care of it, but will it sytand up to abuse?

I use the 28-105 for most pictures, but for natural looking expressions in portraits, this is lens I always use. The speed and lightness makes the difference in getting the excellent shot versus an average one. The best shots are at 5' with the right natural light, fill flash and f2.8 or there abouts.

Customer Service

Never needed so far. I look at some of the negative comments and they are hard to believe!!

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28-105 3.5/4.5, 50 2.5, 100-300 USM, 70-210 f4

-compact size
-optical quality
-superb color rendition
-not expensive

-came without hood (but i bought it used, maybe...)

This is an excellent lens: fast, not bulky at all, with unbelieveble sharpness and with "human" price. I've just bought it but my first rolls were a "pleasure". Buy it!

Customer Service

-never called

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-many zooms and teles by Nikon

Fast, light, compact, fast AF, silent, USM, FTM, 58mm filters.

A 50cm close focus limit would make it perfect.

A wonderful lens. Everyone should have this or the 100/2.

I bought the 85/1.8 and 28/1.8 to replace the 28-80/2.8/4L, as I didn't like the zooms, distortion, light fall off, weight, or speed at the long end.

The 85/1.8 is my equal favourite lens (with the Summicron 50/2). Lovely bokeh, sharp, silent, fast handling, balances well on the EOS 50. A great replacement for the FD 100/2 I once had.

I sometimes use an accessory close up lens on it.

It meets all my expectations, and the bargain used price was just a bonus. This or the 100/2 make a lot more sense than sticking a 70-200L in a casual portrait subjects face in my opinion.

Customer Service

Never needed

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EF 28-80/2.8-4L, EF 28-105/3.5-4.5, FD 100/2 & 100 2.8

-very fast AF
-sharp at every aperture
-great for available light photography
-filter thread size affordable (58mm)
-silent usm

-close focus distance not close enough for full face portaiture.Often find myself having to move backwards from initial framing.

excellent value for money,usm focussing is amazingly fast and silent.I am considering to buy the 100mm usm macro to be able to get full face portraits all the time.

Customer Service

never needed

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28-200 tamron LD 3.8-5.6
ef 50 1.8 I
zuiko 135/2.8

Fast Focusing
Great Optics
Light Weight
Virtually Silent
Creates Beautiful Images

None

A great lens for portraits. I use it all of the time for weddings when using a SLR.

You will not be disappointed with this lens.

Customer Service

none

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Konica 90mm 2.8

Beautiful quality portrait/low light lens

No !!
If this lens cost far more i would still buy it

One of Canons best lenses. Sharp, Fast, Well Balanced allowing hand held shooting in surprisingly low light. Cheap for the performance it delivers!

Customer Service

not had a problem so far

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EF85mm 1.2 - too heavy ! too expensive!

Excellent portrait lens. Light weight and easy to handle. Takes 58mm filters. Excellent fast lens for existing light photography.

None

This is a great portrait lens! It is light enough for candids and it focuses fast. FTM is nice but not really that necessary. Lens hood is highly recommended. Sharp enlargements past 11x14 are obtainable. I use it as my one low-light lens over the 50mm. It's versatile without sacrificing image quality. It's not an "L" lense so it is not that pricey either. I consider it one of the best Canon lenses regardless of price.

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