Romeo assembled a very interesting comparison with images from the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM, Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II USM, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, Jupiter 9 85mm F2, Zeiss Batis 85mm f1.8 and last, but not least Leica Summilux-M 75mm f/1.4. So what is his opinion?
“My first impressions were:
- It’s BIG! I knew this going in – but I LOVE my Sony/Zeiss 35mm f1.4, which I also thought was BIG – so I was willing to give the 85mm a chance.
- It’s heavy! It feels quite a bit heavier than the 35mm f1.4.
- The AF does make noise (unlike the silent Batis), but it isn’t as bad as some are claiming. I didn’t notice the noise when actually shooting.
- I thought the AF was terrible. I’m not sure what was going on when I was shooting, but it was more difficult to get that green AF confirmation than I was used to. Just after the shoot concluded, I was expecting about half of my shots would be soft.
- I’m sending this lens back
Impressions after loading the images:
- wow
- WOW!
- To my surprise, at least 90% of my shots were in focus (again, I’m not sure why I wasn’t getting the focus confirmation).
- The pictures are beautiful, sharp, and contrasty.
- The bokeh is beautiful.
- I’m keeping this Lens!”
Romeo has shot a lot of portrait lenses over the years, but I’m not sure I agree with him about the bokeh in the pictures he decided to display. His photos and story is worth a look if you’re considering this monster or a lens. If Sony would drop the price by $500 I would probably snap it up, but I general prefer Zeiss optics on Sony cameras.
Via RomeoBravoPhoto
