85mm f1.4 or 85mm f1.8

donek

I shot a fair bit of Vollyball earlier this year with my 50mm f1.4 lens. It provided adequate light, but didn't quite get me as close I would like.

I'm thinking about getting a new lense for shooting indoor sports. I am looking at the 85mm f1.8. It runs $400. The f1.4 version is $1000. The question is should I buy the f1.8 or hold out and save up a bit more for the f1.4. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

mmroden

We'll need more information, like, are you making money off of these shots? If so, will the 85 1.4 pay for itself quickly? How was the depth of field on your 50 1.4 when shooting inside for light? Were you always wide open, or stopped down a bit to get more DOF?

Are you shooting Nikon? The 85 1.4 nikkor is supposed to be one of the best lenses made for that system. The 85 1.8, which I have, is decent, but when shooting wide open can have some harsh bokeh. Whether or not that matters to you is another question as well . I tend to shoot with my 85 at f/2, just so it's a tad nicer in the out of focus areas, but I haven't gone to shoot my niece's basketball games yet.

Steve Cavigliano

Mark brings up some good points. I shoot with a Canon and the reason I went for the 85 F1.8 was because the F1.4 version is heaver, more expensive and has a slower AF (not good for sports). I am not sure if there is a big difference between the 2 Nikkors

I would definitely suggest that you read up about the F1.4's AF speed. If it equal to or faster than the F1.8 version (and you have the extra cash), then the 2/3 stop difference would be worth paying for, IMHO.

Steve

johng

in all honesty, focus speed asside, I'm not sure you'd want to shoot wider then 1.8 for any sport activity. Margin for focus error at 1.8 is bad enough.

As with Mark, I tend to shoot my 85 1.8 at f2 more often than not. I'm just not sure what the extra stop buys you for sports shooting. Are you shooting in dungeons where 1.8 isn't getting you the shutter speeds you need?

It would be different if the 85 1.8 was slow to focus (for example in the Canon camp, the 50mm 1.4 is faster focusing than the 1.8 so people will use the 1.4 for focus speed). But in both Nikon and Canon, the 85 1.8s are fast focusing lenses.

RandySmugMug

i think af speed on both may be a disapoint to you for capturing fast moving action

Steve Cavigliano

johng wrote:

I'm just not sure what the extra stop buys you for sports shooting. Are you shooting in dungeons where 1.8 isn't getting you the shutter speeds you need?

I wasn't necessarily suggesting using the lens wide open. Although I have been in dungeons where I longed to have just an extra 1/3 stop. Places where you have the choice of speeds less than 1/400, or ISO3200. Even using F1.8 apertures.

Steve

RandySmugMug

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

I wasn't necessarily suggesting using the lens wide open. Although I have been in dungeons where I longed to have just an extra 1/3 stop. Places where you have the choice of speeds less than 1/400, or ISO3200. Even using F1.8 apertures.

Steve

the diff between f2.0 & f2.8 (for night fb) is iso 1600 instead of 3200, so 1 stop can be very significant...it's nice to have it in case you need it

chuckice

RandySmugMug wrote:

i think af speed on both may be a disapoint to you for capturing fast moving action

Works great on a D2X for NCAA D1 basketball.

donek

I got a smokin deal on the f1.4. Only catch is it could take about 4 weeks to get. I'm willing to wait for the price. Talked to a friend who knows both lenses well. He said the focus speed should be adequate on both, but the f1.8 was a bit faster. I'll give my feedback and post some shots when it arrives. Thanks for all the advice.