topic Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8 in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

Ramsden — Fri, 01 May 2026 14:28:00 GMT

Hi folks

EOS90D currently with my EF 85mm 1:1.8 attached.

I've had my camera nearly 2.5 ys now and bought a few lenses early on, in a waive of enthusiasm.

Now I'm trying to work out what they all do!

The 85mm is, on the face of it, a decent lens for a day out. Not to heavy, and reasonable price.

But this week, having rediscovered my 24mm, I took the 85 for a walk along my Yorkshire footpaths and lanes. At first I thought I was doing something wrong, till I did some more research into the 85mm.

When I was trying to photograph a plant, for example, I could only get a small part in focus. But this is what the 85mm does, as it creates loads of bokeh.

Apparently if you try to take a portrait, sometimes, it can only get one eye in focus.

Today I went back to get some pictures of Scotch Broom, which were beautiful yesterday. Of course today, they were passed their best, but I hope the photograph makes my point.

So my question to my learned friends across the pond, is, have you used an 85mm, and how do you get the best out of it?

Thanks

Ramsden

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

wq9nsc — Fri, 01 May 2026 14:57:06 GMT

To me, the two most underappreciated lens in the EF series are the EF 85 f1.8 and the EF 400 f5.6. Both perform well beyond what their relatively low cost would imply.

I used my EF 85 f1.8 many years for basketball and indoor soccer and it is a very decent low light sports lens. And the ability to create nice bokeh in other applications is a natural for it.

The most important advice I have when shooting wide open at short distance with this lens is to remember that you need to choose the best focal point to optimize desired depth of field under these conditions. The area to the front of the focus point is shallower than the point beyond the focus point so consider using a focus point biased forward within the desired area of depth to provide the best result.

Also, if you have not already done the micro focus adjustment for this lens for your camera body I would do so because this is critical with shallow DoF setups. It is easy to do and explained in Canon's micro focus online documentation but I use a slightly modified system because I have multiple camera bodies so I want to minimize calibration time when adding a new lens.

Instead of exactly following Canon's method, I mount the lens on the body and take 3 images at each of 7 micro focus offset points and then download the images to the PC to closely examine the results. You want to use a single micro point in AF select, have plenty of light so that you can use high shutter speed, and of course shoot with the aperture wide open. Although the micro focus adjustment holds over a wide variety of conditions, it approaches perfection for the conditions used for setup so in your case I would do fairly close spaced shots for your test.

I take 3 shots at calibration offset 0 then another 3 shots each at plus 1, 3, and 6 and then repeat at minus 1, 3, and 6. Then dump the images to your laptop or desktop to examine in detail and you will either decide that one of these offsets is perfect or you can see where to interpolate between offsets to take a second series of test shots. This is fast and easy and well worth the time spent.

Of course you can always step the aperture down to make things less critical but then you lose some of the capabilities of the lens and in my experience, a properly set up f1.8 is a pretty forgiving lens. A couple of years ago I bought an EF 85 f1.2 which produces amazing results but I am always a little nervous using it for critical shots that can't easily be repeated because just a slight error with the tiny depth of field at f1.2 results in garbage.

Happy image capturing, that is a gorgeous plant and a beautiful image capture by you! My daughter is headed to the University of Manchester in the fall for her PhD in applied math/epidemiology so I am looking forward to some photo trips to the UK. I have been in England multiple times but it was always on business/consulting trips so I look forward to some relaxed sightseeing of the beautiful countryside.

Rodger

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

stevet1 — Fri, 01 May 2026 15:13:58 GMT

Ramsden,

If my memory serves me right, if you are using the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8, that lens does not have image stabilization.

If that's the case, you'd probably be better served by using it on a tripod, where you'd be inclined to turn image stabilization off anyway.

Supposedly, Tamron was the first (and probably only) company to offer a stabilized 85mm f/1.8.

Steve Thomas

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

Ramsden — Fri, 01 May 2026 16:33:21 GMT

Hi Roger

Thanks so much for your detailed reply. I will do my best to make those changes.

But, I was so pleased to see that your daughter is coming to Manchester University. I'm a double alumni, 1st Degree and PhD. I worked there for three years as part of my research programme. In fact, they funded me to attend a couple of conferences in the USA. I think the first one was in Washington based on the Quality Management guru Dr W.E, Deming. I have sad recollections, because my friend and I went up the Twin Towers about a month before the hit.

Anyway, when you get to come to Manchester, let me know. I live about an hour away. Great city. She'll love it. I'm a very proud alumni.

Keep in touch

Ramsden

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

Ramsden — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:03:50 GMT

Hi Steve,

That's correct no IS. Its quite lively for an old guy!

But I'm also starting to use the Shoot menu to do some tricky shots alongside the river and woodlands. In fact I was giving it a go about an hour since.

Thanks for your help

Ramsden

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

Ramsden — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:33:37 GMT

This was an interesting one (for me)as it was getting cloudy and not much light, so I ended up (over adjusting) the exposure compensation slide. I'm still getting used to all the features on the camera, as well as knowing what to do when things aren't right. Plus, I'd just watched a video on how to do it.

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

LeeP — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:55:53 GMT

I have the EF 85mm 1.8 that I bought because "everyone" says 85mm is so awesome and I truly hate it. It's not "tele" enough to be a telephoto and at the same time "too tele" to be a walk-around lens. The lens itself is truly wonderful and high quality, but it's the wrong focal length for me.

In the rare instances that I've used it, I've done head shots with it. Keep us up to speed on your discoveries as you dive in and develop your competence with this lens. I will look forward to learning from you.

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

Ramsden — Fri, 01 May 2026 18:05:08 GMT

Hi Lee

Thanks for your comments. I guess that was a little bit of the thinking behind my original post. Its a strange beast to handle and I was all over the place this morning. But at the same I got some decent shots, with the obligatory bokeh. However, if you'd seen me wrestling with the branches, and then having to take 4 steps back to get focus, you'd have had a laugh!

Ramsden

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

wq9nsc — Sat, 02 May 2026 18:45:48 GMT

Thank you Ramsden and I messaged you via this site. And enjoy your EF-85 lens!

Rodger

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

Ramsden — Sun, 03 May 2026 05:25:19 GMT

Hi Rodger

Thanks, and since your post I appreciate more how and what the 85 has to offer. I noted that you used yours for indoor sports games. Here in the UK, some of us are big cricket fans, so yesterday I was watching my local team play. I set my aperture wide open, it was a grey day and I was about 70-80 metres from the players. I was on AI servo and H multi shot. There are two batsmen on the pitch, and a bowler runs up and bowls, either fast 80-90 mph an hour, or slower spin bowling. Its not great photography but I was very impressed how it captured clear shots of the bowler and the batsmen.

I continue to learn, and it will be with me on a lot of days out. Steam trains next.

Thanks

Ramsden

First a batter.

Bowler releasing the bowl, as the none strike batter is setting off to run.

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

wq9nsc — Sun, 03 May 2026 17:09:24 GMT

Nice photos! I have been to only one cricket match in my life. One of the members of my dissertation committee was from India and he insisted I attend a cricket match with him. I had fun but it would have been more enjoyable IF I better understood the sport AND if I wasn't doing my final defense the next day causing most of my attention to remain on surviving that defense 🙂 And I suspect the level of cricket played in Lubbock, TX wasn't exactly world class 😂

The EF 85 should be a good lens for capturing the steam train and a big reason I liked it for indoor sports is because it focuses very quickly. I am making plans to find a good spot to capture Union Pacific's 1940's era "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive when it comes through the area on a tour later this summer. It will be fun to get some photos of it when it passes down a rail line about 35 kilometers from me. Once I upload my students' grades next week, I am going to scout out some good locations to try to capture it where the lighting will be decent and hopefully far enough out in the middle of nowhere that it won't be too crowded

Rodger

Re: Using the EF 85mm 1:1.8

Ramsden — Sun, 03 May 2026 19:06:04 GMT

Goodness me, the 4-8-8-4 will be amazing to see. I can't imagine the size in real life. You will definitely have to share your photos.

Re:cricket, yes its an unusual game, but my Grandad played, so the 'game' is in my dna. Certainly not the kind of thing to absorb before defending a thesis. Those days stick in the mind.

Don't forget the photos please