CANON EF 85mm f/1.8 USM £489/$499

A long-time favourite, this lens ticks all the right boxes for compactness and affordability

Unless you’re a professional portrait photographer, the chances are that you won’t want to blow your budget on a single lens. This veteran Canon lens is still a firm favourite, not least because it’s reasonably compact and lightweight, ideal for popping in a spare corner of a gadget bag. Better still, it only costs a small fraction of Canon’s ‘faster’ 85mm lenses and is much more lightweight, at just 425g.

Naturally, downsizing and cheaper manufacturing costs are mostly due to the narrower aperture rating of f/1.8, compared with the f/1.4 or f/1.2 of the quicker Canon lenses.

The optical path is fairly simple, based on nine elements in seven groups, but includes Super Spectra coatings to reduce ghosting and flare. The ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system is fast, whisperquiet and has the usual full-time manual override with a purely mechanical linkage. Handling is good and the lens feels well-built although, typical of non-l-series models, it’s not weather-sealed and you have to buy the optional hood.

Performance

Given the modest aperture rating, sharpness isn’t particularly impressive when shooting wideopen but still remains sufficient for plenty of detail in the eyes. Colour fringing and distortion are minimal.

The quality of bokeh is very pleasing when shooting wide-open but the 8-blade diaphragm isn’t quite as well rounded as in some competing lenses, tending to give a noticeable octagonal shape to defocused points of light and bright objects when you stop down the lens a little.