- Looking for the Nikon Spring Cashback? You'll find the details you need on Nikon website (external website). Closing date for registration: June 30, 2012
- Visit our Nikon Store to see the full range of Nikon products.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Technical Details
- A moderate telephoto lens, primarily designed for convenient portrait imaging
- 85mm focal length
- F/1.8
- D-Series for Nikon SLR cameras
Product details
|
Related Items
- Most Popular
- Photography Filters
- Flashes
- Camera Bags & Cases
- Camera Lens Hoods
- Digital Cameras
Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
This fast, compact lens is an excellent choice for indoor or outdoor portraits, as well as indoor sports and stage productions.
Product Description
85MM F/1.8D AF Nikkor
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 39 people found the following review helpful
I use this on a FX camera, so my review is based from that:
Build quality: It's plastic, but it feels tough, there isn't any play in the focus ring and the aperture ring when locked is solid as if it never moved. I bet this lens can take a pounding, but one thing to note is that it is NOT weather sealed, and water may get inbetween the focus ring and body, and also between the aperture ring and body, so be careful in these conditions. The front element is HUGE and it gathers so much light, I use it at night and get steady hand held shots on a D700, I am truly impressed by that alone. It's actually quite a low profile (not much more than the 50mm 1.4G) and as such its quite inconspicuous.
Features: The autofocus is fast and responsive, and not loud at all. Hardly EVER hunts, and does very well in low light (probably thanks to the huge front element) There isnt a manual focus over ride, but there is a switch on the lens for manual focus, or you can use the camera body (if on there)
Image quality: This lens is so sharp at 1.8 and when stopped to 5.6 it is flawless. Above f8 though the diffraction takes place so try to use it below f8 for best results. It's colour rendition and exposure balance is always spot on so you can rely on it to relay great results to your camera all the time.
Conclusion: Very highly recommended, its a great lens for studio work and portraits. For the price, I'd go for this over the 1.4 version. Hope this helps.
Build quality: It's plastic, but it feels tough, there isn't any play in the focus ring and the aperture ring when locked is solid as if it never moved. I bet this lens can take a pounding, but one thing to note is that it is NOT weather sealed, and water may get inbetween the focus ring and body, and also between the aperture ring and body, so be careful in these conditions. The front element is HUGE and it gathers so much light, I use it at night and get steady hand held shots on a D700, I am truly impressed by that alone. It's actually quite a low profile (not much more than the 50mm 1.4G) and as such its quite inconspicuous.
Features: The autofocus is fast and responsive, and not loud at all. Hardly EVER hunts, and does very well in low light (probably thanks to the huge front element) There isnt a manual focus over ride, but there is a switch on the lens for manual focus, or you can use the camera body (if on there)
Image quality: This lens is so sharp at 1.8 and when stopped to 5.6 it is flawless. Above f8 though the diffraction takes place so try to use it below f8 for best results. It's colour rendition and exposure balance is always spot on so you can rely on it to relay great results to your camera all the time.
Conclusion: Very highly recommended, its a great lens for studio work and portraits. For the price, I'd go for this over the 1.4 version. Hope this helps.
85 of 87 people found the following review helpful
This is a beautiful, exciting and affordable lens with specifications only marginally less than the much more expensive Nikkor 85 f/1.4D Af.
This is a different lens depending on whether you are shooting film or digital. On film, it is at the short end of portrait lengths, suitable for head and shoulders or wider shots. On digital, which crops the lens by 1.5, it is at the long end of portraits, suitable for head shots, or for head and shoulders at a greater distance. On digital it also qualifies as a sports lens.
This, and the 1.4 cousin, are firm favourites for digitial portraits, and here is why:
First, the measured quality of both these lenses puts them among the best that Nikon (or anyone) has ever produced at any length. The 1.4 measures marginally better, but only marginally.
Second, the relative speed of these lenses gives much more control over depth of focus than the fastest zoom lens: even professional zooms only manage f/2.8. Again, the 1.4 gives a little bit more, but the 1.8 is still substantially ahead of other options.
Third, the length is exactly right for digital portraits. One of the results of the smaller size of the digital sensor is that you get more depth of focus than with the equivalent length of lens for film. Therefore, in order to get the same reduced depth of focus which is often used for portraits, you need a longer lens. The traditional lens lengths for film were 85-105mm for portraits, which would equate to 57-70mm on the digital sensor _in terms of field of view_. Going further out, to 85mm as this lens does, recovers the deliberately shallow depth of focus.
Fourth, this lens (and its cousin) give a very bright viewfinder picture, which also assists autofocus. If you spend half a day peering through the f/4-5.6 of a typical zoom lens, and then you look through this lens, it's like switching the lights on or cleaning your glasses. This is a _very_ enjoyable lens to photograph with, and also gives you a much better picture of what you are going to get.
Finally, this is ideal for grainy, moody portraits shot in available light, just because it does let so much light through.
I love this lens -- it's small, unobtrusive, and very light, and at a very competitive price. True, you could probably have lots of fun with a zoom lens for the same money, but you would not achieve the same scorchingly beautiful, razor sharp next to beautifully blurred that this lens provides. If you do have about twice as much money to spend, you would be advised to look at the f/1.4 as well, but you might still decide that, in terms of bang for your pound, this lens won't be beaten.
This is a different lens depending on whether you are shooting film or digital. On film, it is at the short end of portrait lengths, suitable for head and shoulders or wider shots. On digital, which crops the lens by 1.5, it is at the long end of portraits, suitable for head shots, or for head and shoulders at a greater distance. On digital it also qualifies as a sports lens.
This, and the 1.4 cousin, are firm favourites for digitial portraits, and here is why:
First, the measured quality of both these lenses puts them among the best that Nikon (or anyone) has ever produced at any length. The 1.4 measures marginally better, but only marginally.
Second, the relative speed of these lenses gives much more control over depth of focus than the fastest zoom lens: even professional zooms only manage f/2.8. Again, the 1.4 gives a little bit more, but the 1.8 is still substantially ahead of other options.
Third, the length is exactly right for digital portraits. One of the results of the smaller size of the digital sensor is that you get more depth of focus than with the equivalent length of lens for film. Therefore, in order to get the same reduced depth of focus which is often used for portraits, you need a longer lens. The traditional lens lengths for film were 85-105mm for portraits, which would equate to 57-70mm on the digital sensor _in terms of field of view_. Going further out, to 85mm as this lens does, recovers the deliberately shallow depth of focus.
Fourth, this lens (and its cousin) give a very bright viewfinder picture, which also assists autofocus. If you spend half a day peering through the f/4-5.6 of a typical zoom lens, and then you look through this lens, it's like switching the lights on or cleaning your glasses. This is a _very_ enjoyable lens to photograph with, and also gives you a much better picture of what you are going to get.
Finally, this is ideal for grainy, moody portraits shot in available light, just because it does let so much light through.
I love this lens -- it's small, unobtrusive, and very light, and at a very competitive price. True, you could probably have lots of fun with a zoom lens for the same money, but you would not achieve the same scorchingly beautiful, razor sharp next to beautifully blurred that this lens provides. If you do have about twice as much money to spend, you would be advised to look at the f/1.4 as well, but you might still decide that, in terms of bang for your pound, this lens won't be beaten.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
I recently bought this lens for use on my D90 where it is equivalent to 127.5mm.
It's sturdy, very well built, compact and fairly light weight - balances nicely on the D90. The screw in metal hood also protects the front element well but I will soon buy a UV filter for it.
The sharpness is excellent and the blurred backgrounds are smooth and buttery. I find on the D90 at big apertures the camera has a tendency to overexpose slightly - set the exp comp to -0.7 or -1. Also wide open there is noticeable purple fringing despite the in-camera correction.
Focus is spot on almost all the time, no mean feat given how shallow the depth of field is at the large apertures - that's what you get for paying the Nikon premium.
Those who are used to (and spoilt by) using VR lenses will be in for a nasty surprise, set the shutter speed for at least 1/100 or many of your pics will be spoilt by camera shake. Do not buy for your D40, D60, D3000/5000 as it will not AF. And you've got no chance focusing accurately manually at f1.8. Being full frame, will last you decades should you later upgrade to d700 or D3, looking on ebay they seem to hold their value too. Loses a star for not having VR and average close focus (0.85m)
It's sturdy, very well built, compact and fairly light weight - balances nicely on the D90. The screw in metal hood also protects the front element well but I will soon buy a UV filter for it.
The sharpness is excellent and the blurred backgrounds are smooth and buttery. I find on the D90 at big apertures the camera has a tendency to overexpose slightly - set the exp comp to -0.7 or -1. Also wide open there is noticeable purple fringing despite the in-camera correction.
Focus is spot on almost all the time, no mean feat given how shallow the depth of field is at the large apertures - that's what you get for paying the Nikon premium.
Those who are used to (and spoilt by) using VR lenses will be in for a nasty surprise, set the shutter speed for at least 1/100 or many of your pics will be spoilt by camera shake. Do not buy for your D40, D60, D3000/5000 as it will not AF. And you've got no chance focusing accurately manually at f1.8. Being full frame, will last you decades should you later upgrade to d700 or D3, looking on ebay they seem to hold their value too. Loses a star for not having VR and average close focus (0.85m)
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Nikon's bargain portrait lens.
Excellent lens for available light portaiture at a terrific price. The bokah is attractive and using the lens at wide apetures brings this to the fore. Read more
Published 9 days ago by S. Donald
Superb portrait lens
This is a fantastic portrait lens, period.
I use it on my D90 and D7000 and it delivers lovely, crisp portraits consistently. Read more
I use it on my D90 and D7000 and it delivers lovely, crisp portraits consistently. Read more
Published 8 months ago by mohawk
An excellent fast prime
Get this if you want speed but cannot afford the 1.4D or G lens. This lens is sharper in the corners than the 1.4D. (1. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Steven Robinson
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
|
