Review below Pros & Cons.
Pros -
Decent price point
Near silent focusing
Solid build (feels sturdy/solid)
Great image quality, great for portrait work with it's depth of field abilities.
Sharp, fast focus
Awesome low light performance + shadow recovery
Cons -
Lens is pretty big. It does look more "professional"(than 28-70mm), but might be a little bulky for walking around all day with.
NOT stabilized. No OSS in the lens. Wasn't a deal breaker for me, and I haven't noticed any unwanted motion blur yet, even in very low light.
Not really a con, (should be expected), but I feel it might be worth mentioning - This lens is fixed at 85mm, which is a flattering focal length for people's faces, but it's not going to allow you much flexibility. Won't ever effect you if you're shooting outside or in a place where you can take a few steps back from your subject. But I could see it becoming an issue trying to shoot in a tight space. This lens will definitely not work well for something like indoor real estate photography, which isn't it's intended use anyway. This shouldn't surprise anyone, but this is my first prime lens and it takes a little time to get used to.
Overall review - I wanted a prime lens, specifically to do portraits and low light photography with. Was looking for something I could get nice soft out of focus backgrounds, smooth bokeh, and sharp focus on my subject. I've been nothing but impressed with this lens's performance so far. If you want a lens around this focal length, and the Batis and G Master are out of your price range, this will be your best option.
Bought this as my first prime/fixed focal length lens for my Sony a7. Only been able to shoot with it a few times so far, but right away I was impressed with the sharpness and image quality. The other two lenses I own are the 28-70 kit lens that comes with the a7, and the 35mm macro lens. The 85mm f/1.8 is noticeably sharper throughout the frame than the 28-70. The 85mm allows you to blur backgrounds to a nice smooth, creamy out of focus. Great bokeh, pretty smooth and round. I did see that sometimes the bokeh will look more football shaped than round, but I've been able to capture perfectly circle bokehs as well. One of the main reasons I got this lens was for the f/1.8. The 28-70 is f/3.5, which really didn't allow me to do the style of low light photography I wanted to do. I've shot around/after sunset with the 85mm 3 times now, and the performance is great. I use Adobe Lightroom to edit, and I've been really impressed with the shadow recovery with the 85mm lens. I was able to expose to the darkening sky after sunset, with my subject almost completely black, and still recover that subject in post by bringing up the shadows.
I might upload some before/after images as examples if I get around to it.
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From the manufacturer
Sony FE 85mm F1.8 Sony Alpha Full-frame E-mount Fast Prime Lens
Capture beautiful portraits with this affordable 85mm F1.8 full-frame E-mount mid-telephoto prime lens. This compact, lightweight lens is ideal for both full-frame and APS C cameras. The 9-blade fast F1.8 aperture delivers beautiful background defocus effects while the dust and moisture resistant design offers robust reliability. (camera body shown sold separately)
Sample Gallery
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Quiet, precise focus drive
A double linear motor system directly drives the lens's focus mechanism without intervening gears for precise, quiet operation that is ideal for movies as well as stills.
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Fine prime-lens performance
ED glass for chromatic aberration compensation, a 9-blade circular aperture, and carefully controlled spherical aberration contribute to superb sharpness and smooth bokeh.
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Portrait-perfect sharpness and bokeh
Featuring compact, lightweight design for mobility, with high-performance optics & a large F1.8 max aperture that deliver outstanding image quality. An excellent second lens for full-frame and APS-C.
Features
Quality build, versatile features
A customizable focus hold button, a wide and responsive focus ring, dust and moisture-resistant design2, and other refinements add up to outstanding quality and versatility.
Mobile and manageable for active shooting
A compact, lightweight (13.1 oz/371 g) design that is ideally matched to the α7 series offers a great blend of portability and high image quality for portraits, events, and more.
Features
ED glass
Reduces chromatic aberration and provides superior contrast across the entire image, resulting in corner-to-corner sharpness.
Circular 9-blade aperture
Maximizes the beauty captured by this large-aperture prime-lens, the subject stands out against a smoothly defocused background.
Dust and moisture resistant
Makes this lens appropriate for heavy-duty outdoor use, especially when combined with a camera that employs weather resistant measures. 2
Large F1.8 maximum aperture
The 85mm focal length is a perfect choice for portrait photography. The large aperture allows for low-light or dimly lit shooting scenarios.
Recommended cameras
 ILCE-7RM3 |  ILCE-7M3 |  ILCE-9 |  ILCE-7RM2 |  ILCE-7M2 |  ILCE-6500 | |
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Customer Reviews
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547
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1,367
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86
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550
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1,027
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290
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Price
| $1,998.00 | $1,498.00 | $1,499.95 | $899.00 | $629.00 | $645.00 |
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Product Name
| a7R II 35mm with autofocus | a7 III with 35mm image sensor | a9 with 35mm stacked CMOS | a7R II with 35mm image sensor | a7 II E-mount 35mm camera | a6500 Premium APS-C camera |
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Lens compatibility
| Sony E-mount lenses | Sony E-mount lenses | Sony E-mount lenses | Sony E-mount lenses | Sony E-mount lenses | Sony E-mount lenses |
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Sensor type
| 35mm full frame Exmor R CMOS | 35mm full frame Exmor R CMOS | 35mm full frame Exmor R CMOS | 35mm full frame Exmor R CMOS | 35mm full frame Exmor R CMOS | APS-C type Exmor CMOS |
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Megapixels
| Approx. 42.4 megapixels | Approx. 24.2 megapixels | Approx. 24.2 megapixels | Approx. 42.4 megapixels | Approx. 24.2 megapixels | Approx. 24.2 megapixels |
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Weight
| Approx. 657 g / 1 lb. 7.2 oz | Approx. 650 g / 1 lb. 7.0 oz | Approx. 588 g / 1 lb. 4.7 oz. | Approx. 1 lb. 4.53 oz. | Approx. 1 lb. 3.61 oz. | Approx. 453 g / 1 lb. |
Compare with similar items
This Item  Sony SEL85F18 85mm F/1.8-22 Medium-Telephoto Fixed Prime Camera Lens, Black |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | -8% $548.00 List: $598.00 | $2,298.00 | -7% $1,298.00 List: $1,399.99 | $574.95 | -9% $548.00 List: $599.99 | $139.99 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it May 16 - 20 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Picture quality | ||||||
| Auto focus | ||||||
| Image stabilization | ||||||
| Sold By | AVC Photo Store & Studio | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Electronics Basket | Amazon.com | New West Direct |
| lens type | Telephoto | Standard | Standard | Telephoto | Telephoto | Telephoto |
| compatible mountings | ALC-SH150 | Sony E | Sony E | Sony E | Sony E | — |
| lens design | Prime | Zoom | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime |
| focus type | Auto Focus | Auto Focus | Auto/Manual | Auto Focus | Auto/Manual | Auto Focus |
| minimum focal length | — | 24 millimeters | 35 millimeters | 85 millimeters | — | 62 months |
| max focal length | — | — | 35 millimeters | 85 millimeters | 85 millimeters | — |
| fixed focal length | 85 millimeters | 70 millimeters | 35 millimeters | 85 millimeters | 85 millimeters | 62 millimeters |
| model name | SEL85F18 | FBASNSEL2470GM2 | SEL35F14GM | — | SEL85F18/2 | — |
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My FAVORITE Portrait Lens (HONEST REVIEW W/ SAMPLE PHOTOS)
Adrian Lard
Reviews with images
Excellent 85mm lens! 🙌
Though just an aspiring Sony Artisan (wink), I love photography and the thrill I’ve had utilizing this lens with my a6000. This review is my personal opinion based on my experience using this lens for about 6 months now.I purchased it after reading through a lot of reviews to understand what this lens can deliver in terms of the scope of what I’m after: a riveting 85mm portrait lens that can also be pushed for beauty photography. I'm satisfied with its performance.The A6000 has been my primary camera for nearly 3 years. In terms of lenses, the only other that has given me almost as much gratification in terms of portraits as this one, is the Sony E 50mm F/1.8 OSS.Besides tech specs you’ll undoubtedly find in other reviews, I chose this because of my love for the effects it provides that I'll outline below.Weight and Feel: This 85mm packs a powerful focus range and the ability to fit your entire subject and surrounding scene in the frame — yet it’s still relatively light and non-obtrusive on my a6000.Buttery Bokeh or Crisp Dimension: Being a portrait photographer and content creator (@tigstudios on Instagram) there are many times where I’ll want to shift styles quickly for the same subject. This lens easily adapts to let the subject fill the frame with creamy smoothness even in tack-sharp focus. It can just as quickly fill out very round bokeh effects in the background that let your subject pop when you’d like to frame the surrounding and still punch up your subject right in-camera before you’ve ever culled to edit.Its compression is flattering to the subject while still letting me work relatively close to them or pulled back for more of a scene. The benefit of this 85mm prime is its beautiful wider aperture, which paired with the a6000 is a killer combo for even low light situations. (*Surf shot is straight out of the camera.)It’s also sharper and lighter than my zoom.So far I have no cons. After 6 months of enjoying it I feel like I’m just getting started seeing what it can do.Happy shooting!
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Images in this review
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