So as some of you already know, my best friend (the UPS guy) dropped off a package at my house the other day. It was the 85mm f/1.4D Lens that I bought. I am pretty very excited about this lens and have been eyeing drooling over it for some time. I have been reading about the differences between the 85mm 1.4D, the newer 85mm 1.4G, and the 85mm 1.8D to see which lens would best suite my needs.
The Main Differences
Price Range (Used – New)
1.4D = $800-$1,230
1.4G = $1,600-$1,700 (this lens used on eBay is almost as much as it is listed New on BHphoto.com because everywhere is out of stock, they are more around $2,000 on eBay right now)
1.8D = $250-$480
So you can see the price is significantly cheaper between all three lenses. The main reason I didn’t want to get the 1.8 was because I wanted nothing less than 1.4 quality glass. So even if it would have saved me a few hundred dollars, I didn’t care. So the 1.8 is out of the picture.
Image quality
From reading around different comparisons, I understand that there isn’t $1,000 worth of difference to justify upgrading to the 1.4G from the 1.4D. It is a bit sharper all around when shooting completely wide open. The 1.8D is sharper around the edges wide open. But the way I saw it was, the 1.4D was the best glass on the market for so many years and plenty of professionals still have this lens in their bag and love using it, I don’t think there are people looking at my photos who will even be able to tell the difference.
AutoFocus
So the 1.4G has an internal focusing motor built into the lens itself which helps with continuous focus, faster focus, and quieter focus. I have read that if you have a nice camera body, then the 1.4D should focus quite fast. The fast continuous focus is really nice to have but I don’t shoot with that option anyway. I’m a single focus kind of guy. Quieter focus I could care less about. I never had someone pull me aside and tell me that my camera was too loud.
Nanocrystal Coating
The 1.4G has the big letter “N” on the side of the lens. That stands for NanoCrystal Coating. From what I understand, this coating is supposed to help reduce lens flare. But as you can probably tell from my previous photos, I welcome the sun into my lens at very interesting angles. I like lens flare. Soooooo………I don’t really care for that.
Conclusion
So I wanted an 85mm lens that was top glass but also something that I could afford. I didn’t want the 1.8, so that was out of the picture. My decision was between the 1.4D and 1.4G. The G is about $1,000 more than the D. My next objective was to find out whether the G was really worth $1,000 more (in my opinion) than the D. The image quality of both lenses are supreme. I knew that which ever lens I went with, would still be one of the best glass out there for portraits. As for the autofocus and NanoCrystal Coating, I didn’t think that those upgrades justified the $1,000 upgrade in price.
Anyways
I went out to the park today with my prego wife and decided knew I should take the new lens with me and take it for a test drive. So here are some pictures that I took today. I could tell that wide open at f/1.4 my wife was not as sharp as f/4. And the way that this thing handles the sun is pretty sweet. Take a look at the photos and let me know what you think.
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Valentin
This is a little DOF test. Look at how the bullets just disappear!
Some inside shots from the day before with my off camera strobe.
The park today
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