85/1.8 opinions

[Jacob]

Heavily influenced by our head masters writings (..best ever...extremely rare...) I hit the BIN button on a Canon 85/1.8 last night. I have searched the forum for opinions on the greatness of the lens to justify my action but I haven't found any. Is there a user out there who wants to share some experience...?
Jacob

 

[sleepyhead]

Hi Jacob

I have one and love it. It's very sharp from f/2.8 and smaller apertures, and even wide open is quite good. (Certainly sharper than the 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor-H that I've also used.)

The bokeh from the lens is Lovely.

It's big and heavy (more than twice the weight of the 90mm "thin" f/2.8 Tele Elmarit, about 450g vs. 220g), so it tends to be a stay-at-home portrait lens, whereas the tele elmarit will go on trips.

The Canon has a minimum aperture of f/22, whereas the 90mm T-E has f/16. I prefer the Canon on this account, for example for Landscapes on tripod it's nice to stop down.

ONE MINOR ANNOYING feature: the lens is ??single?? cammed, meaning that the whole front of it turns while you focus meaning that the numbers of the aperture ring are not necessarily visible, so if you change apertures after focusing you might need to turn the whole camera over to see what's what.

There's at least one picture taken with this lens in my gallery, and I have more taken since.

Obviously I don't know what you paid for the lens, but in the past couple of years they have grown quite expensive, on the order of the pre-ASPH 90mm summicron or more, and THEN one could ask, are they worth that much? I haven't used the pre-ASPH 90mm summicron, but i imagine that the results are very very similar to the Canon 85/1.8 even though they're different designs. I paid about $300 for mine several years ago.

In any case, ENJOY IT!

 

[Jacob]

Thank You for You answer Yaron,
I paid about the same as You, but i think the lens will need lubrication. The seller warned that the focusing wasn't that smooth. Maybe I dare to disassemble it myself. I read somewhere on the forum that Canon lenses were easy take apart and clean.
I also have a thin Elmarit so the 85/1.8 will probably mostly be a portrait and night event lens. I thought it would look good on my newly acquired black paint M4, and a lot cheaper than a ZM Sonnar 85/2 or Summicron 90/2!

 

[sleepyhead]

Hi again - it's good that you got it at a pretty low price. I shot some outdoor pics last winter with the lens, at night and wide open with Neopan 1600 film. I was quite pleased.

Enjoy!

 

[raid]

I compared the Canon 85mm/1.8 of a RFF member to my Canon 85mm/1.9, and I could not see any differences in the results. The 85mm/1.9 is much less expensive than the 85mm/1.8. I believe that the 85mm/1.8 has a higher asking price because it is hard to find such a lens.

 

[Sonnar2]

1,852 made according to HOOPER, so it's not extraordinary rare.
TRUE: The lens isn't lightweight, but much lighter than the 85/2 and smaller as well. Furtermore, a lot smaller than the 100/2.
The single helicoil is slow to focus.
The FL 85/1.8 reflex lens uses the same formular.
It's quite sharp wide open, although a pleasing portrait lens. At f/5.6 it's sharp enough for doing landscape and architecture. It's sharper than the 85/2 Nikkor-P or 85/1.8 Nikkor-H (SLR lens). Not as sharp as the Pentax-SMC 85/1.8 or the C/V 75/2.5 RF, but for my feeling colors and contrast are balanced better.

regards, Frank

 

[furcafe]

I have 1, & don't have much to add to what's already been posted. To my eyes, the Canon 85/1.8 definitely provides a more "modern," i.e., 1960s-70s, look than the look than you get from the older 8.5cm/2 & 105/2.5 Nikkor-P's or the Nikkors' ancestor, the Zeiss 85/2 Sonnar, which give you more of a 1950s look; perhaps it's the optical design, perhaps it's the improvements in coatings, perhaps both. The rotating front cell has never bothered me as the Nikkors & Sonnars in LTM (& Contax RF/Nikon RF lenses) that I also use all do the same thing. I have no experience w/the Leitz 90/2 Summicrons.

From what I've seen on eBay, $300 US is a great price, assuming the glass/optics are good, even w/the stiff focusing.

 

[peterm1]

I owned the 85 f 1.8 in chrome mount a few years back and loved its build quality. But mine had an issue - it did not focus accurately - and when set to infinity you could noticeably see that the rangefinder was slightly off (mounted on an M3 with Leica M adapter) and at closer working distances the images were slightly out of focus. I had a similar problem with a Canon Serenar 135 once. I must say I have owned other Canons since and have not had this problem show up but I have heard the same story from others occasionally. So it can happen - be aware. I checked with my friendly local camera repair man who specialised in rangefinders. He said it could be fixed. But I was offered a good price by a collector and sold it as is. I still loved it as it was built like a cross between a Swiss watch and a tank. Weighed a ton too. If the focus is OK on yours (chances are it will be) I am sure you will love it - so long as your back is up to carrying it.

Ps All of the above comments seem ptretty accurate to me.