Solid built
The focus ring is quite smooth, quite a joy to operate

Old design lens hood, has to screw in. It is difficult to change/add filter, and you can not use len cover and hood at the same time. And the hood canot be inversely mount, which occupy additional space
The optic is quite diappointing, simply not sharp enough, even at F5.6
Size is too big for a FM2 without MD 12, difficult to handle, shaking is always the problem

As a Canon users for 5 years since I bought first Canon camera (EOS 500), I've been told so many times that Nikon lens is great, so I has been always curious to know how good is Nikon.
This 85mm is the first Nikon for me. The reason I chose it because 1) I like 85mm range, 2) this is the fastest 85mm for Nikon, I still believe faster/dearer is better, 3) I've been told that old Nikon manual focus lens is better then new AF lens
Well, I thought that using this lens as a benchmark for Nikon should be the most appropiate.
However, after months with this lens, it always let me down. Photos came out not sharp, colour is OK, but not contrasy, when compare with my Tamron and Canon lenses
Then I have sold the 85mm 1.4 and FM2 in one goal
Well, at least I have learnt a lesson. I should be very grad that I am a Canon user. I will no longer regret that why I didn't use Nikon when I start to learn photography

Customer Service

Never tried

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 85mm 1.8
Canon EF 85mm 1.2
Tamron 90mm 2.8 SP

Fast, sharp, good contrast.

Huge front element. Awkward fit in the camera bag.

This is an incredibly sharp lens. I tested it against my 35-70 2.8 AFD lens and it was clearly sharper, (AFD lens at 70mm). You do have to stop down F8-F11 for color saturation and contrast that approaches the Leica. Shooting mostly landscape, stopping down is no problem. When I shoot wide open, it is usually for portraits. You lose some contrast and saturation, but that works for portraits.

Similar Products Used:

Leica 90mm f2.8, FD 100mm f2.8, Contax 135mm f2.8.

Solidly built and although heavy, has a good feel in your hands when mounted on camera. A good portrait lens and obviously a good existing light lens with the f/1.4.

Not very sharp. Expensive.

I bought this lens primarily for close shots under the basket at games.I also really like the 85mm focal lenghth. I sold my 85 f/1.8 in order to have the faster f/1.4 and because of the stronger build. What a disappointment. After reading how sharp this lens is, I was not prepared for the soft pictures that I got. I returned it for another one and got the same results. My dealer told me that they had taken 3 trades in the past year of this model and everyone returned the lens for the same reason, unsharp pictures with poor contrast. I returned the 2nd lens and bought another 85 f/1.8. Of all my Nikkor lenses, I have never been more disappointed in a lens as I was with this one. The sharpness of the 85 1.8 and the 105 2.8 blow it away. Due to it's softness, I guess it would be a good available light portrait lens. Unless you have to have the 1.4 I would suggest saving your money and getting the 85 f/1.8 at less than half the cost.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 105 f/2.8 and Nikkor 85 f/1.8.

Razor sharp images, even wide open.

Need MD-12 to balance FM2 with this lens

This lens delivers beautiful pictures of people with unsurpassed resolution, contrast, and color rendition. This is my favorite lens in my camera bag. I love to shoot this focal length and this lens never disappoints me. I am suprised to read the some of the negative comments. The sample I have is perfect and I am keeping it!

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

None

Pin-sharp,good color rendition & top-notch contrast. Build quality is superb!

Quite heavy although many photographers prefer this as it shows good build.

This is a must-have lens for Nikon users. Portrait lenses don't come any better than this and I can't believe some of the negative comments posted here - there must have been a dodgy batch!

Customer Service

Used a few times - no problems.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 85mm 1.8 AF
Nikon 85mm F2 Manual

Large aperture, natural colour and pleasing image rendition.

Weight and size.

This is an excellent lens for photographing people, esp. under available light. This lens gives real and natural images of people. A portrait lens not necessary is a super-duper-razor sharp and harsh lens. It must give life to the images of people. To sum up, this lens gives natural pleasing rendition of people. This alone deserves full-marks.
By the way, the original Nikon brochures said they had eliminated spherical aberrations in this lens even though they did not use aspherical lens elements.

Customer Service

Never used.

Similar Products Used:

Tamron SP 90mm f2.5; Nikkor AIS 105mm f2.5; Micro-Nikkor AF 105mm f2.8