jesus this lense is beautiful. at f1.4 with a head an shoulders shot you can isolate the smalest details. thats pretty fun sometimes. the lense is built solid.

it's big oncamera with no motordrive or vertical grip which alot of people will steer from this lense for that reason.

this is like the best available light lense there is, this and my 35 f2 nikkor and my sb-28 make a amazing little set up for action

Customer Service

no use yet

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105mm f2.8 afd nikkor, 90mm f2 leice rangefinder lenses.

Great portrait focal length. Very bright image. Beautifully finished lens.

Big price tag but the speed and image quality justifies it.

Bought this lens primarily for available light, handheld wedding photography and 35mm portraiture. Recently tried it using Kodak B&W 400 CN at a wedding and results were excellent even shooting wide open indoors. No flash was used as I wanted shadows and a more natural look. I've been shooting more weddings with 35mm instead of the big RB67 and I expect this lens to see alot of use. Due to it's expense the 50mm f1.4AF might be a good choice for alot less money.

Customer Service

Not needed but Nikon has excellent service when necessary.

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Bought and quickly sold a used 85 f1.8. Optically excellent but didn't like the plastic, cheap appearance.

Superb sharpness/contrast for it's class; excellent available light shooting.

manual focus not quite as nice as 85/1.4 AIS, but that's to beexpected...

Must-have for available light people photography

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85/1.4 AIS,85/1.8 AF, 85/2 AIS

This lens delivers! Images are razor-sharp with beautiful out of focus highlights (Bokeh). Build quality is exceptional. You will not find a better 35mm portrait lens!

None.

This is a lens of exceptional optical, and build, quality. Nikon doesn't make them any better than this. If you're truly serious about your photography, and can afford it, this lens belongs in your camera bag. Enjoy!

Customer Service

n/a

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Solid, quality finish with excellent balance. Fast focus with beautiful out of focus bacgrounds.

none

Joy to use for sports, portraits and low light interior or exterior conditions.
Great look and feel on the camera body.

Customer Service

Only telephone contact, very helpfull.

Similar Products Used:

80-200 AF Nikon

Excellent image quality at all apertures. Beautiful bokeh.

Expensive.. but worth it.

This lens is A-1 quality. Bokeh is so gorgeous I've made it the subject in some photos. I'm not a pro but purchased this lens because I didn't want to spend $400 on a mostly plastic lens (85 f/1.8).

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Sigma 70-300 macro

Ungodly sharp and snappy wide open, with very limited depth of field, this lens is THE portrait lens. Build quality is excellent for an AF lens, not as rugged as the AIS version, but very solid.
Nice balance.

Manual focus feel isnt nearly as nice as the MF version, but not bad. 77 mm filter size is a bit of a pain, especially if you have 72's stockpiled.

If you do any portraiture or basketball, you must rush out right now and buy this lens. Even if you dont, this lens deserves to be owned by everybody.

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85/1.4 AIS

Tack sharp wide open.
Great for indoor photo w florescent filter
Very fast autofocus

The manual focus does not feel as good as the MF version.

I thought that I would never give up my 85mm f/1.4 AIS lens and I had seller's remorse after selling it but before I purchased the AF version. This is the first AF lens that I have owned. I have been one of those MF purists. No regrets, this lens is substantially better that the MF version especially shooting it wide open which is the reason people buy this lens. Just don't compare the manual focus feel to the MF.

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85mm f/1.4 AIS

Extremely sharp and fast lens.
9 blades Rounded diaphragm opening makes out-of-focus pictures appear more natural
Internal Focusing (IF) make the AF operation quite fast.

Although the focus speend is quite fast but I found it noisy.
I was waiting for nikon to come up with an AF-S version of this lens for soo long but they still haven't make one.
Canon had their 851.2L USM lens for years and Contax is lauching theirs this year. This is one of the best lens that Nikon make, I don't know Why Nikon didn't an AF-S version? I think it's probably due to the low market demand.

I just loved this lens and I think this is the best lens that I owned for my portrait shots. I owned all the aboe lens plus few more NIkon lenses.
Few years ago, I was struggling whether to get the 80-200 2.8 or the 85 1.4 for my portrait shots. I brought the 80-200 at that time since I found it a bit more flexible. Nikon 80-200 2.8 is also a very sharp but not quite as fast if compared to the 85 1.4D. Few weeks ago, I still decided to get this lens. Now, I ended up buying them both. =)
Among the two, I think 1.4 is better choice if you worked indoor for your portraits shot where you don't want to use the flash. Although 50 1.4 is also a very sharp lens and at the same speed, but it's not the best distance to work with portrait. In addition, when I shot it at wide open, the blurring effects is much more natural with the 85 1.4 due to its 9 rounded diaphragm blades. I shot it wide open with the 50 1.4, it creates some "honeywell" hexagon type of blurring elements which doesn't look as natural.
In terms of value, I gave 4 star due to lack of AF-S. But overall, I still considered this as a full 5 star lens due to the superior optical quality. If you don't want to affort 1.4D, tried the 1.8D which is also an excellent lens

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF 80-200 2.8ED-D
Nikon AF 50 1.4D
Nikon AF 60 2.8D (macro)

This lens is so sharp; you can shave with it!

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Fellow PJ's (Photojournalists) and available light Portrait Pros, this lens is a must!
All other Photographers you owe it to yourself to try this lens. If photography is a serious part of your life or it is your life, this lens must be in your camera bag along side of the rest of your WORKING lens!

Customer Service

NA

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All Nikon lens.