85MM lens?

[bball15fan]

What are your thoughts about 85 mm prime lens? I currently have a 24 mm lens.

 

[tony67]

Don't have a specific answer for you - I do like primes for most things and you typically cant go wrong.

I tend to go with 16, 24 and 50 usually f2.0 or lower and then some sort of zoom for over 50.

Questions:
What kind of camera?
Is there a crop factor?
What are you taking pictures of?

 

[bball15fan]

I have a Sony a7IV and a7III which are both full frames.
I was thinking of using them for dark rides. The 24 mm is 1.4 and was thinking the 85 mm as a 1.4 as well, but not sure the length is too long.

Appreciate the response!

 

[KVH]

Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth and smart shooters rolled their own film off 100 foot spools, the 85 was considered THE portrait lens. Compression factor, bokeh, etc made this type of lens the de facto standard for head shots and such. It's a prime so you would think IQ isn't a concern. But, to me, it seems like a little overkill for dark rides. Where do you need that kind of reach versus rerquiring a larger FOV?

 

[kpcf]

i have been using NIKON cameras for years. now that everything is digital i carry a 24-55mm lense and a 55-200 zoom. These work best for me at WDW.

 

[_19disnA]

Depends on what sort of photography you are doing...........portrait in a studio with fixed lighting, outdoor sporting events, vacation photography, nature photography......etc. There isn't one lens that is 'best' for every application.

Part of the reason why so many different types of lens are available.

 

[jimim]

I have the canon L 85 prime. It's beautiful, but I never use it in Disney. When I'm there I need my zoom for everyday use and in dark rides I never need that reach. I'm good with my 35 prime. but that's me. at home when I actually take a portrait here and there the 85 is awesome. I used to carry it for night use when we were dressed up for dinner but then never put it on for one reason or another. prob cause I was lazy or it was the summer and I was already sweating through my cloths. lol

 

[fractal]

The Sony FE 85mm 1.8 is one of my favorite lenses to bring to WDW. It's not fancy but it's small and light and is one of the quickest focusing FE lenses. The 85FE 1.4 is a beautiful rendering lens, a stop faster but also bigger, heavier and slower AF. I've used the 85 1.8 on Dark Rides to get tighter shots beyond the normal 24-50mm focal lengths. Also used it on the Safari and is great for shows like Festival of the Lion King. The price is reasonable and may actually be on sale now.

Negatives - no aperture ring, it is "weather-sealed" but on the thin side. Prone to create some Chromatic Aberrations - dark objects vs. light background - but that's easily fixable in post.

Overall, I solid lens worth the cost.

Some shots] with the 85mm 1.8.

 

[jec6613]

I'm in the Nikon system, both F and Z, and I actually just packed my 85 f/1.8 to go next weekend to WDW. While the speed is nice, the real reason it made the bag is as a general purpose telephoto as compact as possible.

For most trips, a 24-120 f/4 or similar is how I end up with decent telephoto reach for Disney, but because I was packing my 24-70 f/2.8 as my mid-zoom this time, I needed something to fill in for telephoto, and between an f/4 or f/5.6 zoom, or a 105 prime, the 85 was the smallest and lightest and it gets the job done.

 

[boBQuincy]

Great portrait lens if it has a large aperture. Good for Disney photos if you go for semi-long or detail photos. I sometimes carry my micro 4: 3 equivalent 45 mm f/1.8.

 

[jec6613]

Great portrait lens if it has a large aperture. Good for Disney photos if you go for semi-long or detail photos. I sometimes carry my micro 4: 3 equivalent 45 mm f/1.8.

Point of order: a 45mm f/1.8 would be a full frame 90mm f/3.6 ... which sounds a bit pedantic, but I have a 90mm f/2.8 F-mount lens on my desk right now, and yeah, 85 vs 90mm is a bit different.

One underappreciated thing about the 85mm on an SLR mount is that it's actually an easy lens to design and get right. The flange distance on the old mounts is about 45mm, so the optical center of an 85mm is about 40mm from the flange. That means they were often neither strongly telephoto nor retrofocal designs and the optical center is actually in the middle of the stack of glass, so they can be really small for a telephoto. So it's this sort of goldilocks zone of small, fast, good, and cheap. Doesn't hold up necessarily on mirrorless mounts of course, but just a neat tidbit for those still with a DSLR.