Lens Testing - Nikon 85F1.8 AF (non-D) - page 7
Non-scientific, seat-of-the-pants shots with a Nikon 85 F1.8 AF lens. When I got my D700 I took out several lenses one at a time to see how they performed on FX.

I've had this lens since about 1994, and I've always liked it on film and
digital DX format. I'm pretty happy with it for portraiture, but I wanted to see how it performed in less-specialized uses so I took it for a walk around the neighborhood.

It is a bit soft wide open, vignettes somewhat, doesn't focus all that closely, and it only stops down to F16, so you can only get so much depth of field. These characteristics make it much more of a specialty (portrait) lens than a general purpose prime. I still like it.

I've had recent issues getting the focus point where I want it when shooting portraits, and I need to carefully check autofocus accuracy with AF Tuning on my D700.

Converted from NEF to JPG with ViewNX 2. For more information, view the EXIF data. Images are not resized.
NIKON D700, 1/3200, F2.5
NIKON D700, 1/3200, F2.5 		NIKON D700, 1/640, F8
NIKON D700, 1/640, F8 		NIKON D700, 1/2000, F3.5
NIKON D700, 1/2000, F3.5
NIKON D700, 1/5000, F3.5
NIKON D700, 1/5000, F3.5 		NIKON D700, 1/640, F7
NIKON D700, 1/640, F7 		NIKON D700, 1/800, F7<br><br>This was a minimum focus distance <br>test. This lens does not focus <br>particularly close.
NIKON D700, 1/800, F7

This was a minimum focus distance
test. This lens does not focus
particularly close.