Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM £340/$350

A space-saving, lightweight and affordable option

there’s a lot to love about this lens for portraiture with a full-frame camera like the 6D and the various editions of the 5D. Indeed, it’s one of Canon’s ‘recommended’ lenses that are sufficiently sharp for use with the ultra-high-resolution 5DS and 5DS R bodies. A reasonably simple design enables a comparatively small and lightweight build for an 85mm lens. It’s only about one-third of the weight of the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 lens on test, and is also rather lighter than the Tamron 85mm f/1.8, the latter having the same aperture rating.

Like the Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, this one has a fairly well-rounded aperture based on eight diaphragm blades. It beats the 50mm lens by having a ring-type, rather than motor-based, ultrasonic autofocus system, which is both fast and very quiet. The speed increase isn’t just down to the ring-type USM system, but is also due to the middle elements being moved to achieve focusing, rather than the bigger, heavier front section of elements. With focusing being fully internal, the front element and filter thread are fixed, without any extension or rotation.

Performance

Our lab tests reveal that sharpness isn’t spectacular at f/1.8 but, for portraiture, it’s easily good enough to capture individual hairs and skin pores, along with excellent detail in the eyes. For convincing sharpness around the edges and corners of the frame, you need to stop down to around f/5.6. However, border sharpness is generally unnecessary in portraiture, where you’re normally more concerned with defocused softness or ‘bokeh’, which it does very well. It’s a top value choice for full-frame shooters.