Far cheaper than Canon's f/1.2 equivalent, but still a mighty good performer for a more than reasonable price

Quality and price

f/22 performance

The Canon 85/1.8 prime lens is inexpensive and lightweight. It is a very good portrait lens for a film or full-frame Canon digital SLR and a great portrait/telephoto lens for a Canon small-sensor digital SLR, such as the Canon Digital Rebel XTi (Black) , ( compare prices ) ( review ).

The Canon EF 85/1.8 USM is a very good lens. It's one of Canon's best lenses and it's certainly near or at the top of the list of Canon's best value lenses. It's far and away better in all respects than any comparably priced zoom lens, and probably arguably better than any zoom lens regardless of...

Looking for a good value in a small, light, great performing, fast lens ? Try the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens. The Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens is relatively inexpensive but yields very good image quality. It is reasonably sharp wide open, but really shines from f/2.8 on.

Gary Wolstenholme reviews the medium telephoto Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Interchangeable lens.

Excellent sharpness; Virtually no distortion; Low CA levels; Fast auto focus

No lens hood supplied

The Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM is a very desirable lens and, surprisingly, a very affordable one. Both contrast and resolution are very good straight from f/1.8 and excellent at medium aperture settings. On APS-C DSLRs there's only a moderate degree of vignetting at f/1.8 and beyond it's a non-issue.

An excellent lens in all regards for full-frame use. A true oldie but goodie. Very good performance from f/2.2 to f/18. f/2 is where it starts performing well. I use mine for shallow DOF close-focus and landscape.

This is really a great lens. I remain blissfully unaware of what life is like for 85L shooters, but I have a hard time imagining how much better it really can be. I guess an extra stop is important, but for 4x the cost I don't think I'll ever try it - the 85/1.8 is too good in so many categories.

Great IQ; great AF; great build; great value

That Canon hasn't managed to replicate this lens at 50mm

This lens takes beautiful pictures! I'm an amateur photographer. I am a seamstress and wanted to get great pictures of the clothes I sew to post online. This lens helped me accomplish that. The pictures are just beautiful. I can't say it enough.

I am a professional photographer & wanted a lens that took close up portraits...This lens was just what I was looking for! It take great pictures & I'm absolutely pleased with my purchase! I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to take clear close up photos!

photography; personal use