fbpx
Education Learn

Why Every Photographer Should Have an 85mm Lens in Their Bag

Chris Gampat
No Comments
03/20/2019
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Lensbaby Velvet 85mm f1.8 product images 3

Last Updated on 10/01/2020 by Chris Gampat

The 85mm lens is genuinely a very versatile lens that can be of use to any photographer.

Do you have an 85mm lens in your bag? Some photographers may think that this is a lens that is too specialized for a variety of shooting situations. But in truth, these lenses have been improved over the years to include better options, weather sealing and things like even closer focusing. And no matter what camera system I’ve been on, I’ve had an 85mm lens in my bag that has become a staple that I’ve needed.

Here’s what I think every photographer needs an 85mm lens.

Portraits

It’s obvious that the 85mm lens is important in the world of portraits. Though some photographers like longer lenses, an 85mm lens arguably provides the most versatility. Why?

  • It cuts down a lot on distortion
  • Bokeh
  • Closer focusing
  • The shorter focal length gives you a lot of room to work with
  • These lenses are typically small

And beyond this, there hasn’t been a single 85mm lens put out in the past 10 years that has been terrible for portraiture.

 

 

Sports

An 85mm lens for sports? Well, yes. I never thought so, but then I had the opportunity to shoot with photographer Patrick Murphy Racey. He taught me that if you’re shooting basketball, the 85mm lens can be the perfect option for a number of instances.

Obviously this isn’t going to work with football, but it’s possible to make the most of a lens like this.

 

 

Candid Moments

Street photographers and photographers that are scared to shoot candid moments can rely on an 85mm lens. It allows you to truly just capture the moment because you’re far enough from most subjects and can be inconspicuous. To that end, I recommend that every photographer doing this check their intentions.

 

The Bokeh

*drool*

The bokeh of an 85mm lens is gorgeous. You can use this to tell a better story and to really direct where people pay attention in the frame. This is the standard in cinematic story telling and you’ve got the same thing going on here with an 85mm lens.

 

 

The Sharpness

85mm lenses in the past 10 years have improved quite a bit when it comes to their image quality. Across the board, in the past 5 years or so these lenses have vastly improved because of the major innovations to optical designs and technology.

 

Some of Our Favorite 85mm Lenses

Model: Grace Morales

Sony 85mm f1.8 and 85mm f1.4 G Master: Sony’s 85mm lenses are fantastic. There is a budget option that is solid and then a higher end version for the folks who demand that. Read our review (f1.8 and f1.4).

Sigma 85mm f1.4 Art: When the Sigma 85mm f1.4 Art was released. We were very excited. If you’re looking for the standard in 85mm DSLR lenses, this is the one to get. Read our review.

Tamron 85mm f1.4 Di VC USD: Tamron stands out a whole lot from the pack because of the integrated weather sealing in addition to the image stabilization. You can’t go wrong with this lens. Read our review.

Rokinon 85mm f1.2 SP: The f1.2 lens is the one to get if you want all the bokeh; but it’s manual focus. Read our review.

Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Otus: If you’re looking for the top of the line. Read our review.

85mm autofocus bag Bokeh lens Rokinon sharpness sigma sony street photography tamron zeiss
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
You might also like
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM review product images Canon EOS R
Features

Did Canon Miss the Memo That Says Mirrorless Lenses Are Meant to Be Smaller?

3 Mins read
12/26/2018

When Canon introduced their new Mirrorless cameras earlier on this year (The EOS R) one of the stand out features was that the lens mount was so huge. While other manufacturers like Sony have made all things Mirrorless smaller, the late comer to the Mirrorless party seems to have decided that bigger is better. In a recently released interview, Canon engineers seem to be having a sly dig at Sony by saying that lenses with smaller mounts are far less capable than those with larger mounts. Read on after the break to find out more about what the Canon engineers are wafting on about.

P1000_BK_front34r_lo_t
News

The New Nikon P1000 Has a 125x Optical Zoom with a Laughable 1/2.3 inch Sensor for $999.95

9 Mins read
07/10/2018

Today, for some odd reason, the Nikon P1000 point and shoot camera is being announced. Odd, you ask? The fact that it is a point and shoot isn’t such a big issue at all; but the fact that it’s a superzoom camera being marketed as one with a 125x optical zoom is what’s insane. Kudos to Nikon for being able to do something like this; but then you read the fine print (or in this case, print that’s not even in the press release) and see the bait and switch–this Nikkor lens is having its potential wasted by being placed in front of a 1/2.3 inch sensor.