fbpx
Features

The Best Affordable 85mm Lens for Your Camera System

Chris Gampat
No Comments
04/26/2022
4 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 85mm f1.8 FE sample portraits of Rachel 9

There arent many lenses that can satiate an itch like an 85mm lens. You can shoot a portrait that will get tons of upvotes and likes on social media one minute, and capture a decisive moment on the streets the next. If you don’t have an 85mm lens yet, we’re here to help. Here’s our guide to the best affordable 85mm lens for your full-frame camera system. And of course, we’ve reviewed each of these.

We hate banner ads too. Download our app for iOS, iPad, and Android and get no banner ads for $24.99/year.

How We Chose the Best Affordable 85mm Lens You Can Buy

Pro Tip: There is nothing wrong with putting distance between you and your subject in the street. Just have good intentions. This photo is part of a project I’m working on that shows how much we can’t live without our phones these days.

There are great reasons why we chose these as the best affordabe 85mm lens. Here’s what you should know:

  • The Phoblographer’s staff has tested all these products. There are links to our full reviews in each section. All the images in this roundup were shot by our staff over the years of testing.
  • This list is balanced between quality and a variety of other factors including price.
  • The best affordable 85mm lens for you might also be the one you already have. You should check our reviews index because we’ve compared these back and forth at times.
  • All the options in this roundup have some sort of weather resistance.
  • 85mm lenses aren’t only great for portraits. Photographers also use them for sports like basketball. We use them for cinematic street photography too.

Sony 85mm f1.8 FE

Pros

  • Great image quality
  • Fast-focusing with the Sony a7r II, and in good lighting it will focus quickly with the Sony a7
  • Nice feel, though not as great as the G Master 85mm f1.4 lens
  • Weather resistance built-in
  • Compact size

Cons

  • Honestly, not a darn thing

How’s the Image Quality?

In our review, we state:

“Images from the Sony 85mm f1.8 FE are beautiful in many ways. This lens offers very sharp image quality though arguably more muted than what Sony users are accustomed to. Sony’s 85mm f1.4 G Master is the most saturated, while the Batis follows that, then the Loxia, and then the standard Sony FE.”

Buy Now

Samyang 85mm f1.4 RF AF

Pros

  • Weather sealed
  • Affordable
  • Sharp
  • Beautiful
  • Anyone in front of this lens looks wonderful.

Cons

  • Malfunctions, especially with autofocus and sometimes with exposure metering
  • Messes with exposure simulation

How’s the Image Quality?

In our review, we state:

“Sometimes what I like about Samyang and Rokinon lenses are their character. When I tested the 50mm f1.4 for Sony, I adored the way images looked. And the Samyang 85mm f1.4 RF is no exception. It retains a unique and distinctive character from Canon’s own lenses. (Canon lenses also have character, mind you.) This goes against the grain of so many other manufacturers right now who are engineering characters out of lenses, so they all look the same and very sterile. But this lens has a look and I adore it.”

Buy Now

Nikon Z 85mm f1.8 S

Pros

  • Sharp image quality
  • Weather sealing
  • Smallish size
  • Lightweight

Cons

  • It’s held back by Nikon’s autofocusing abilities (or lack thereof), but they’ve gotten better.

How’s the Image Quality?

In our review, we state:

“The photographers who most likely will be springing for the Nikon Z 85mm f1.8 are portrait photographers. However, we also have to make an exception for those who like to take candids while feeling like they’re a fly on the wall. An 85mm lens does a great job with that. With this in mind, those photographers will surely care about the bokeh. And with nine aperture blades, the bokeh on the Nikon Z 85mm f1.8 is fantastic. It’s creamy and beautiful. In fact I haven’t seen boken I’ve liked this much from a Nikon lens since using the 105mm f1.4 prime. Photographers will also be happy with the sharpness, the color, and the fact that there are no technical problems with this lens.”

Buy Now

Panasonic 85mm f1.8 Lumix S

Pros

Cons

  • Very clinical image quality

How’s the Image Quality?

In our review, we state:

“In terms of image quality, the Panasonic 85mm f1.8 is fantastic. It’s a very affordable lens with good image quality. It’s very sharp and the bokeh is nice. But, while the colors will depend on the camera you’re using, the lens lacks character. Overall though, it’s the best of many worlds.”

Buy Now

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

85mm lens affordable 85mm lens best affordable 85mm lens canon image quality nikon 85mm f1.8 Nikon Z 85mm f1.8 panasonic 85mm f1.8 review Rokinon Samyang 85mm f1.4 RF Sony 85mm f1.8 FE
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
Screen Shot 2017-08-28 at 12.07.13 PM
Features

Opinion: Please Stop Wearing a Photo Vest if You Don’t Need to Be Wearing a Photo Vest

4 Mins read
07/09/2018

When I got into this industry years ago, one thing really confused me almost as much as how much certain older photographers tend to treat the younger generation of us: photo vests. I’m completely positive that you’ve all seen them: a photographer of a certain distinguishment (or trying to show off without having said distinguishment) wearing their vests that look a lot like safari vests. You know, almost as if they’re going to go out on an African safari at all times without being anywhere near something like a safari. Walking down the streets doing street photography? You’ll see a photo vest. In the studio? Photo vest! Hiking? Yup, A Photo vest!

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.