Review: Sony FE 1.8/85

Introduction

We are happy to see that Sony keeps expanding it’s budget lens lineup. Especially the Sony FE 2/28 reflects a great value for the price, we also liked the Sony 2.8/50 Macro. The Sony FE 1.8/85 is the latest addition to it.

On the paper, the lens seems to hit a sweet spot between cost, brightness, size and weight. Let’s check if the lens can also deliver optically.

Sample Images

Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/2.8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/9 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution

Specifications

The Sony FE 1.8/85 has the following specifications:

    • Diameter: 78 mm
    • Field of view: 29° (diagonally)
    • Length:  82 mm
    • Weight: 371 g
    • Filter Diameter: 67 mm
    • Number of Aperture Blades: 9 (rounded)
    • Elements/Groups: 9/8
    • Close Focusing Distance: 0.8 m
    • Maximum Magnification: 1:7,7
    • Mount: Sony FE

You may also have a look at Sony’s official page.

You can buy the Sony FE 1.8/85 for $599 at Amazon.com (affiliate link) or 649€ at Amazon.de (affiliate link).

Build Quality

The build quality of the Sony FE 1.8/85 is surprisingly nice. The outer barrel and the focusing ring are made out of metal. The button, the filter thread and the lens hood are made out of plastic. Nevertheless, the construction feels very solid, I have no complaints (especially for that price).

 

 

If you take a look at the size comparison below, you see that the Sony FE 1.8/85 is much smaller and thinner than the Sony FE 1.4/85 GM. The Contax 3.5/100 which I use as a medium landscape tele is thinner but longer than the Sony FE 1.8/85.

Size comparison between the Contax 3.5/100, Sony FE 1.8/85 and the Sony FE 1.4/85 GM

Handling

The lens features an AF/MF-Switch and a focus hold button on the barrel. These are two features that I like a lot, especially the focus hold button can be customized to an “Eye AF-Button”.

AF/MF switch and the focus hold button on the Sony FE 1.8/85

The focus ring has good resistance and is well dampened. The focus ring has got linear coupling. Therefore, the focus throw from close focusing distance to inifinity is always 180°, no matter what speed you turn the ring. This feels much better (more manual) than the variable transmission of the earlier FE lenses.

The lens balances very good on the Sony A7II. It has just the right size for that camera.

On the A6500, the Sony FE 1.8/85 is quite large although it handles much better than it looks like. It is really a stealthy and useful combo for weddings and also for street and the zoo.

Sony FE 1.8/85 mounted on the Sony A6500

Autofocus

Autofocus seems to be very fast on my A6500 (the A7II is too slow to judge that properly). The motor is silent. I have hoped that the lens will behave like the Sony FE 2/28 and not like the Sony FE 1.8/50. Luckily, my hopes came true. The AF of the Sony FE 1.8/85 is noticeably faster than the AF of the Sony 1.4/85 GM.

I have read several reports that the lens only focuses at working aperture in combination with the A6500. This in not completely true, although the camera does not open the aperture completely to focus. The behavior was inconsistent so far – sometimes it opens further, sometimes it is almost at working aperture. More testing needed.

Sharpness

Infinity

Sharpness at infinity is simply outstanding for a lens in that price category. It is perfectly usable wide open and very sharp at f/2.8 across the whole frame. It outperforms the sensor at f/4 and starts to diffract afterwards.

f1.8: The center is very sharp, the midframe and the corners are quite sharp as well,g although visibly behind the center.

f2: Same as f1.8, a tad more contrasty

f2.8:  Midframe and corner get a visible boost in sharpness, very sharp across the frame

f4: Excellent across the frame, all aberrations gone

f5.6-f11: Sharpness decreases due to diffraction

Close Focus

The FE 1.8/85 has slightly reduced contrast and sharpness wide open at the minimum focusing distance (80 cm, between center and midframe), but performs still on a good level. It improves visibly at f/2.8. The difference between f/2.8 and f/4 is small but noticeable and doesn’t improve anymore when stopping further down.

Distortion

I can’t discover any of it in Lightroom and in RAW Therapee. Not much to say here. The FE 1.8/85 seems to be free of distortion.

Vignetting

Sony bakes some automatic correction into the RAWs of the Sony FE 1.8/85. This can not be disabled by the user in Lightroom. If you look at the files in Lightroom, the lens shows a low amount of vignetting of 1.3 EV wide open.

However, a look on that file in RawTherapee showed that the Lightroom result is not the whole truth. The real vignetting of this lens is 2.1 EV which is a typical result for a lens in that class.

Side note: Other native lenses have also vignetting correction baked into the RAW image. Most reviews don’t mention that and the end user usually only sees the corrected image.

Flare & Ghostings

Flare performance is the achilles heel of the Sony FE 1.8/85. I have shot the lens in the toughest (brightest) conditions, therefore I could drive this aspect to the limits with this lens. As you can see in the extreme samples below, there is always veiling flare around the sun. Furthermore, there are several ghostings with hard and soft edges around the frame. In the worst case, contrast can be lowered across the whole image. This can be a limiting factor for landscape photography although I have to emphasize that these conditions are quite extreme.

Chromatic Aberrations

Lateral:

Lateral chromatic aberrations are not a big issue with the Sony FE 1.8/85. There are some minor traces but nothing that you can really worry about in the real world usage. A closer look to the file in RawTherapee indicates that there is also no correction of the lateral chromatic abberations baked into the RAW image.

Sony A7II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | 100% Crop, top right corner

Longitudinal:

There are longitudinal chromatic aberrations wide open, take a look at the sample below:

Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
100% Crop of the image above

Purple Fringing

This lens shows some purple fringing at contrasty borders. It’s visible but not as bad as the Zeiss Makro Planar T* 2/100 for example. The sample image below shows purple chromatic aberrations in the focal plane which is an safe indicator for purple fringing:

Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
100% crop of the sample above

The purple fringing is mostly evident in very high contrast scenes. The sample below shows the worst scenario that I have encountered so far. It shows mostly purple fringing and als longitudinal chromatic aberrations. In most situations, it is not as bad as that.

Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution

Bokeh

The bokeh is smooth at close to portrait distances. The quality of the background bokeh is a little higher than the quality of the foreground bokeh which is a good thing in most scenarios. The bokeh balls are free of onions rings (no aspherical elements) and free of chromatic aberrations.

Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution

The quality of the bokeh decreases with higher subject distance. The sample below shows a typical distance for environmental portraits:

Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8

The image below shows a 100% crop of the top right corner. The bokeh suffers from green outlining and a mild cat eye effect, although I wouldn’t say that the lens has “swirly” bokeh.

If you use the lens as a 127mm equivalent lens on an APS-C body, you will appreciate that the bokeh balls remain almost round until the edges of the frame, even at longer distances. You can also take a look at the transition zone from the sharp to the unsharp section of the image. I’d rate its quality as ok, but not brilliant. That would be also my conclusion for the bokeh of the Sony FE 1.8/85 in general. It’s nothing to really rave about in positive and also in negative ways.

Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/2.2 | full resolution

Alternatives

Sony 1.4/85 GM:
This lens has the smoothest bokeh of all native 85mm lenses. It is also sharp wide open and outstanding across the frame a little stopped down. It’s built like a tank but heavy and large.

I have used it for a few months now and can recommend it for portait and also for landscape work (if you can carry it 😉 ). I’ll try to shoot a comparison to the FE 1.8/85 in the future.

My Flickr gallery of the Sony 1.4/85 GM

Zeiss Batis 1.8/85:
I have owned the Batis shortly before the GM and liked it but not as much as the Sony 1.4/85 GM and the FE 1.8/85.

I prefer the Sony FE 1.8/85 over the Batis 1.8/85, because it is lighter, smaller, has a MF/AF switch, a focus hold button and is much cheaper.

Optically, i have the impression that it is almost equally sharp, especially when you take the often necissary distortion correction of the Batis into account. The bokeh of the Sony FE 1.8/85 seems to be smoother at close to portrait distances (I have not the possibility to make a direct comparison!). The Batis still offers better CA correction, better coatings (flare and ghostings) and subjectively better contrast and more intense colors straight out of the camera. Therefore I think that the Batis justifies it’s higher price tag.

I had the impression that the OSS of the Batis 1.8/85 isn’t the most effective one and the OLED display felt pretty useless at that focal length.

Zeiss Loxia 2.4/85:
The Loxia 2.4/85 is a totally different lens than the FE 1.8/85. It’s features fully manual operation, is almost one stop slower, longer and much heavier. Nevertheless, it is much better corrected for chromatic aberrations, has better flare performance, is outstandingly sharp and beautifully crafted.

It’s the best 85mm option for landscape photography and has the best manual focus operation. Personally, I prefer to have fast AF at this focal length for my portrait work.

First Conclusion

good

  • usable sharpness wide open across the frame
  • tack sharp across the frame from f/2.8
  • AF speed
  • distortion
  • handling
  • build quality
  • size, weight
  • bokeh at closer distance
  • price
  • correction of lateral CA
average

  • vignetting
  • correction of longitudinal CA
  • bokeh/transition zone at longer distances
  • overall intensity of colors and contrast
not good

  • purple fringing at large apertures
  • flare resistance

The FE 1.8/85 delivers what I have hoped and expected. I see very good sharpness already wide open in the center and outstanding sharpness when stopped down to f2.8 across the whole frame as well as no distortion at all.  Due to it’s high central sharpness already wide open, it is also a smart choice for APS-C users. I am happy to see that the latest lens in Sony’s budget line after the FE 1.8/50 (sluggish AF) and the FE 2.8/50 Macro (aperture blades) doesn’t have an obvious showstopper.

Furthermore, the form factor and the weight feel just right on the current Sony bodies, the build quality is solid, the user interface of the lens is useful and the AF operation in general feels very satisfying.

Of course, a low priced but fast prime comes with some penalties. The lens shows some chromatic aberrations wide open. LoCA itself is not that bad, but the lens suffers from purple fringing at large apertures which also appears in the focal plane. Flare performance with the sun in the frame is bad and sharpness decreases at the minimum focusing distance at large apertures. The quality of the bokeh can’t keep up with the best 85mm lenses but its not bad either. Subjectively, I’d say that the colors and the contrast are not as intense as with the Sony FE 1.4/85 GM or the Zeiss Batis 1.8/85 and need a little more tweaking in the post processing.

Nevertheless, the lens is a great and smart addition to the FE budget lens lineup. The Sony FE 1.8/85 reflects an excellent price/performance ratio and is an serious option to work with.

Of course, you can also buy the lens for $599 at Amazon.com (affiliate link) or 649€ at Amazon.de (affiliate link).

Sample Images

Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/4 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/8 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/2.2 | full resolution
Sony A7 II | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/1.8 | full resolution
Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/6.3 | full resolution
Sony A6500 | Sony FE 1.8/85 | f/4 | full resolution

More full size samples in the FE 1.8/85 flickr gallery!

Other articles

The following two tabs change content below.

Jannik Peters

I am a passionate photographer from northern Germany and I love landscape, architecture, travel, portrait and family photography. I use manual lenses but I also enjoy the comfort of autofocus lenses, therefore both can be found in my bag.

85 thoughts on “Review: Sony FE 1.8/85”

  1. Excellent review Phillip as usual. Looking forward to a more detailed comparison with the 85mm G Master although this is a lens I would never part with

    1. I am interested in that comparison as well but comparisons are always a pain to shoot and it will take some time.
      Jannik

  2. Hi Jannik,
    I have also been sniffing around to get to know more about this new lens. As you mentioned, it is too early for any conclusive judgement, but this one does seem to have given a brilliant performance so far. In my criteria, I would not even short-list a lens if it was heavier than 600g or larger than FE 16-35mm F4, no matter how excellent it may be. This highly portable, versatile MF-lens-friendly system design is the primary reason why Sony a7 series matters a lot to me. So hopefully it will be a good addition to the product range, and also hopefully to my gear. Thank you for your early report, and I am looking forward to the coming updates.
    Thomas

    1. Thank you for reviewing this lens!
      When you compare the bokeh of this lens with the GM would you mind to include the Samyang 85 f1.4 as well?
      Admiringlight compared the GM with the Samyang and the bokeh was on par.
      So it would be an interesting comparison with the sony 85 f1.8!

      1. Sorry, I don’t own that lens. I used to own it and found it never satisfyingly sharp wide open although the bokeh is quite smooth.

        All I can say is that the FE 1.8/85 is much sharper wide open but will probably have a bit harsher bokeh. I wouldn’t think twice and choose the FE 1.8/85, but I personally preferred even the Canon FD 1.8/85 over the Samyang.

  3. Jannik,

    Thank you very much for this review – looking forward to your updates 🙂

    You said that you’ve not been pleased with the bokeh of the Batis (“bokeh felt too nervous with critical backgrounds”) – do you believe the FE 1.8/85 to be better here?

    Thomas

    1. Hi Thomas,
      that’s a very tricky question. The FE 1.8/85 feels different than the Batis, but a feeling is not really helpful for a review. I think, it could handle certain situations different which includes the option to render better. I hope, someone in the web will do that comparison. I won’t buy the Batis again for that. Both are definitely weaker in that regard than the 1.4/85 GM.
      Jannik

      1. “which includes the option to render better”

        Dangerous my friend, dangerous.

        “Both are definitely weaker in that regard than the 1.4/85GM”

        There is no perfect and there is no better bokeh, there is a different bokeh. Bokeh is personal opinion, so you have to write in your opinion. If you’re the round oof highlights fan, then all bokeh is weaker than the 100mm STF, but again a lense is much more than its bokeh.

  4. Thanks, again, for this nice review Jannik. Indeed a tempting lens. Own the Sony FE 70-200f4, nice lens but the bokeh isn’t that.
    Like also my excellent ContaxG 90mm f2.8, manual focus but great lens. Tried to photograph my grandchildren with this lens but they are rather difficult to stay in one place, a very normal situation 🙂
    The Sony FE 55mm f1.8….works but a little short.
    So all of these lenses lack what the 85mmf1.8 offers for a nice price. Seems the ideal portret lens to me and think it would be nice for some occasional macro as well (with an extension tube).
    And the f1.4 but seems a little big in size, weight and €€€ to me.
    Think I seriously consider this lens, compact, good quality, compact and reasonable price.

  5. Where does the Sigma 85mm 1.4 fit in with respect to these two lens. I am leaning on the 85mm GM given its time tested and perhaps a good option for portraiture. I read some exceptional reviews for the Sigma and was keen to get more reviews in comparison to the Sony 85mm 1.8 Vs Sigma 85mm 1.4 Vs Sony 85mm 1.4 GM

    1. I own the Batis and Sigma.

      The Batis is sharper at close distances but suffers loss of contrast in corners at infinity.

      The bokeh of the Batis is very very busy at longer distances. I don’t really care about that but I must admit that in this case it is very distracting.

      The Sigma has very good bokeh, maybe a tad less smooth than GM but never distracting contrary to Batis.

      Flare resistance of Batis is best but Sigma performs surprisingly well, contrary to Sony FE.

      I also noticed that at close distances, the Sigma is no longer a true 85mm and suffers severe focus breathing.

      I’m still hesitating what lens to keep. The Sigma is optically perfect but so huge that it rarely leaves home. The Batis is a more portable option but the bokeh is bad for environmental portrait. If I had the money I’d buy the 85mm GM to strike a compromise.

  6. Good initial review, Jannick.

    A few portrait style pix would be a nice addition if you can add some – or include some studio samples. The one landscape shot was pretty – I am using short teles more in that area and enjoy the slightly compressed look and isolation characteristics.

    The bokeh looks ‘nervous’ in the statue shot but very pretty in the floral closeup. Each lens has its own signature, eh?

    This will be a popular choice at a great price for a Japanese made lens that works well with Sony AF technology. Look forward to more coverage on it here.

  7. I’ve done throughout my roughly 51 of photography many portraiture work, with 35mm and medium cameras!

    But I must say, I have not missed any autofocus techniques for my portraiture work at all!

    1. I can unterstand that but there are situations in my life where MF is just too slow. I am talking mostly about child portraiture when the kids are in action.

      1. I am with you Jannik – while I rely primarily on my MF lenses for my landscape, an AF lens is on my camera 95% of the time in our house chasing our 2 year old and infant. They may not make the website portfolio, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t important pictures!
        Not to mention that this lens’s size/weight isn’t much different at all than a legacy fast 85mm MF lens. It appears to be a nice balance, and I’m planning to try it out myself! Thanks for giving the early review!

  8. Jannik – would it be hard to add comparison of the corrected purple fringing on the sign crop? I would like to see how this amount of fringing corrects in lightroom.
    Thanks!

  9. Hi Jannik. So do you think the Batis still has practical advantages over the FE 85 1.8? I am thinking maybe flare resistance, LoCA and OSS for a body without IBIS?

    1. Agree. I think what we need so far is a clear line between Batis 85mm and Sony 85mm, so that every buyer would clearly understand why he/she should (or not) pay twice more for Batis.

      Batis 85mm is not an easy decision. ($1200, uuuhh)
      At the same time nobody wants to buy new Sony 85mm and be selling it off after a month of use.

      I would appreciate some clarity upon this matter. Thanks.

        1. Sounds right!
          I think, though, that the contrast difference is not something that can be fully replicated in post (I suppose that reduced contrast out of the lens means that the tones are squashed into fewer bits, so expansion doesn’t give you the same data as native high contrast). But that is small beer, especially given the weight difference. I’d probably buy the Sony now from scratch , but the ca and contrast effects are enough to stop me selling. And the fact that I never use lens buttons because it makes for more ergonomic differences between lenses…

          1. Good points. I’d really like to see a face to face comparison with the Batis regarding colors and contrast.

          2. I ordered Sony today. I hope I will be happy with it. )))

            At least I have extra $ 600 that I can use for Flashpoint AD600 or may be any other lens. )))

          1. The Sony is weathersealed to a certain degree as well. The difference is that the Batis has a rubber gasket around the lens mount. I’d have more trust in the Batis weathersealing.

  10. I received the 85mm a week ago, and I have to say so far so good. Very sharp on the A7II wide open, and good corner. Quick AF, nothing like the 50mm 1.8.

    1. What do you shoot mostly? Do you have a feeling you had better pay extra 600 and get Batis 85mm instead?

      1. Well, I mostly do portrait, and it is shart wide open, but with some AC. Stopping down to f2.8 gives verybgood results. Can’t say anything about the Batis as I don’t own it….

  11. Very interesting lens, and review of course ! (as usual ;-))
    I’d be curious to know how fast is the autofocus on an A7 first gen ? Compared to the 55mm, for example ? (that I own)
    Thanks !

  12. I’ve just tested the lens also and compared it to my GM 85 1.4. Well, the 85 1.8 seems to be similar to my Batis 85 but both can’t catch up with the GM lens. Give the photos you’ve made a closer look and you’ll see purple fringing with the 1.8, you’ll see less sharpness compared with the 1.4. The 1.8 is a really great lens but if you need the best image quality you have no choice but to take the really heavy GM lens.

    1. Thanks for your contribution, Micha! I am looking forward to do that comparison as well. I really like my 85 GM if the focus is on spot. It works amazing for more static work like classic portraits. Nevertheless, I have to put size, weight and price into that equation. I have no clue now if I prefer the 1.8/85 or the 1.4/85.

  13. Nice review. I used this lens for a full wedding (video) and loved it. Now I know why manual focusing felt so easy, with the linear coupling.

    I also bought the Batis before and returned it, hated that lens! Useless LED, horrible focus ring. The Batis OSS behaved weirdly during video use, so I contacted Zeiss support who told me I shouldn’t use OSS for video. Oh really. Thanks for nothing, Zeiss.

  14. Hi… thanks for this review. Would you be able to add some comparison with Loxia as well ? That would be really useful. – slightly different lens with manual focus etc., I know. I am looking for the one in portrait range 🙂 I didn’t like the ergonomics and rendering of Batis. OOF highlights looked un-appealing to me.

    1. Hi Mahesh,

      I don’t own the Loxia, only Bastian does. These lenses are probably too different to make a useful comparison, I plan to compare it with the GM as soon as I find some time.

      All I can say so far is that the Bokeh of the Loxia is more appealing than the one of the Batis. AF can be useful at that focal length, don’t forget that 😉

      Jannik

  15. I just received this lens this week.
    You mentioned that you can customize the button to use it as Eye-AF.
    Can’t find any information how to do it. Even in the manual doesn’t say anything.
    Do you know, how to use it with Eye-AF?

    1. Which camera do you use? It’s in the custom key configuration menu but not available for the A7/A7R (1st generation).

  16. Finally got my lens. Really nice! However, CA aberrations are everywhere if used at 1.8. (
    Now need to learn how to avoid them.

    1. They are worst when you shoot against the light with hard contrast edges. The best way to avoid them is to stop down in critical situations. I’ll take a closer look later on to the amount of CA at different stops, I just don’t have much time at the moment.

  17. Hi Jannik, Phillip,

    Thank you for the good review and the great website! It is a great source of information from both technical and photographic perspective!

    I saw a good offer in a local store for a A7 body together with the FE 85 1.8 lens discounted at half price – so basically it is 1300 EUR brand new – 1000 EUR for the body and 300 EUR for the lens,

    I have been looking forward to upgrade to full frame (coming from an old Canon APS-C DSLR) and I was looking towards a 6D until I saw this offer and now I am in a great dilemma.

    I am shooting mostly portrait work, so my plan is to have a good and affordable portrait lens and then expand my kit with some wider manual primes for travel/street/environmental. I prefer manual focus and really liked the focus peaking, so my goal is to have kit of manual primes and probably two AF primes (wide and short tele) in case I need to shoot anything faster moving.

    At the moment photography is only hobby for me, but I am getting more and more requests from friends and family and I might consider doing professional work in the near future.

    My question is: do you think the original A7 body is still up to date camera as of today and can work for the described above scenario together with the FE 85 1.8?

    Many thanks in advance!

    Kind regards,
    Simeon

    1. Jannik wrote this review but since he is on holiday I will answer none the less: I think the a7 can work well in that scenario. Since you can get the a7 + 1.8/85 for that price I wouldn’t hesitate because you should be able to sell camera and lens with very little loss if you find that it doesn’t fit your needs.

  18. How does this lens compare to the Contax 90mm 2.8? Didn’t get mentioned as an alternative, but I believe you’ve covered this lens in a prior review. Admiring lights review of the 85mm 2.8 verses the Batis is quite telling. At 2.8 the Contax is just as sharp even in the corners from what I can tell. Yes, it’s 2.8..but if CA is an issue and your still on a budget, it seems to me the Contax 90mm can still hold its own. Added plus is the stellar bokeh as well. Like to know what you think! Thanks.

  19. If you want a as creamy bokeh, the 85GM has slight advantages, due to the small lead at the aperture. In addition there are slight swirls under special circumstances and cat eyes at the Batis. So the 85GM would also beat the 85mm Otus. But of course, a lens is more than its bokeh.

    The Batis has excellent Zeiss support, probably better weather protection, it definitely delivers better results with flare and fringing compared to the FE85, the colors are first rate and the sharpness is almost too much for portrait.

    The 85GM is a fine lens but with that no one goes two days into the mountains. The FE85 is 80 grams lighter than the Batis with the same filter thread. The 85GM is twice as heavy. The Batis focusses faster than the 85GM.

    In summary, the FE85 is a fine lens that Batis costs twice as much and brings something more in the whole package and the 85GM costs as much as both together, is heavy and big and brings all in all a little performance plus, especially for the creamy bokeh lover.

  20. Thanks for bring us the full review of a lens I am very interested in. Still want to know if there is any chance to have some city nightscape sample pictures? Would like to see the render of city lights including the sunstar and coma performance.

  21. I am loving this lens so far, but on my A6000 I find that it doesn’t always nail focus, even with eye AF, and even at close distances. I imagine this is more likely a feature of the A6000 than the lens itself?

    When the lens works, however, it works. Nice bokeh, and perfectly sharp at 1.8 for portrait work.

    1. Hi Jorge, I think the Leica has a bit smoother bokeh but falls short in almost every other aspect optically. Unless you don’t want to focus manually all the time, I’d recommend to get the FE 1.8/85 at this budget. It’s a very good lens, especially for the price.

      1. Hello, thanks for your answer. I have them both in my hand a couple of days ago and I could not decide :). The autofocus is nice but the FE is much fatter. Both looked to me quite equivalent in optics… Money is also similar… Thank you for your advice thought!

        Of surprising quality for the price was the Nikkor 105mm f2.5, slightly worse optically but ~100€. I understood why Nikon was so reputed in 80s, 90s. Nikon’s Ais was good crafted and relatively small.

  22. Wow what a lens.
    It was your review that made made me look for this lens, bought it and yes very happy.
    Was my most used lens on a recent trip to Vietnam. Together with the A7r3 it performed perfectly regarding photographing people. The eye-focus, programmed to the focus hold button on the lens, did an admirable work. Missed a few shots when I forgot to use the button 🙂
    Imagine that the f1.4 performs even better regarding blur and IQ but must say that the f1.8 surpassed my expectations. The lens is actually very small and very light compared to my 70-200f4.
    Most of the time I photographed using the LCD and this made myself almost invisible as photographer. Once I used the EVF the behaviour of my targets changed radically, I was spotted.
    Look here (EXIF visible): https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/f753233e6d9b4453b709f768ae09db20/albums/4ed9d68fef1519865b46c4df8b2fa1c0/assets/912cee22b1f9f5110fea99460c583bcd
    Almost all images were taken with the 85mm, wide open. The last four images were taken with the 70-200f4 using the LCD + eye-focus, combo situated on my pending shoulder bag.

  23. Hi Jannik,
    Very nice review! Did you test coma performance? I can borrow this lens from a friend for a hiking trip and I would like to know if it is suitable for making panoramas of the milkyway core.
    Thank you in advance.

    Juriaan

  24. Danke für das tolle Review, Jannik,
    Vor ca. einem Jahr sind wir uns mit dem 85mm GM im Essehof getroffen. Sehr cool, jetzt auf dieses Review zu stoßen. Respekt!
    Danke dafür. Es stützt meine Kaufentscheidung.
    Alles Gute aus Braunschweig,
    Johann

  25. Hi Jannik Peters,

    I found the resolution to not match the A7rii sensor. Does Batis 85mm f1.8 give better resolution output than the sony FE lens.

  26. Thanks for the excellent review. I have a A7ii and undecided between FE 2/28 and 1.8/85. Which would you recommend as a General purpose lens.

    Thanks in advance.

      1. Thank you very much. Yours’ is my go to blog before and after I bought the A72. Appreciate all the hard work.

  27. Hello Phillip,
    Thank you again for all the time an effort you put on your website. Love reading as many of your articles as I can. Do you have any thoughts and experience on the Mitakon 85mm f1.8?

      1. Thank you Jannik ?. I was debating on getting this lens or the Mitakon but ended up ordering the Mitakon for only $100 more. I love Mitakon’s 50mm f/0.95 and I hope I end up loving the 85mm just as much. Thank you again!

  28. What do you think, is the bokeh of the FE 85/1.8 as good as that of the Tokina 90mm f2.5 macro? With AF it seems a more useful lens for portraits but the bokeh on the Tokina is absolutely spectacular.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *