topic Re: Enter the world of flowers in Share Your Photos

Enter the world of flowers

deebatman316 — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 16:28:18 GMT

Gear used: EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM lens & Speedlite 420EX

Tv: 1/800th sec, Av: F/5.6 ISO 400, FEC +1

Tv: 1/800th sec, Av: F/1.8, ISO 100, FEC +1

Tv: 1/640th sec, Av: F/1.8, ISO 100, FEC +1

Re: Enter the world of flowers

zakslm — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 19:01:29 GMT

Demetrius,

Once again, well done!

I have to hand it to you. Your shots with the using EF 85mm f1.8 USM wide open are great! I thought the EF 85mm f1.8 USM was not well suited for macro and close-up work - particularly wide open. When I tried doing so, I found it very difficult to get acceptable results. My attempts were on crop sensor bodies using a T7 and 90D. It took a lot of effort to produce too few acceptable shots. Perhaps itt was because I was using crop sensor bodies or perhaps due to my technique.

The EF 85mm f1.8 USM was my favorite lens when I shot film decades ago so I bought a used lens to use when I went digital. I liked the (non-macro) results I got with the T7, but using that lens on my 90D didn't excite me. So I sold it and got an EF-S60mm f2.8 macro and I'm excited again and I'm having fun with it.

Anyway, your excellent results with that lens demonstrate that in my case, it's the poor workman that blames the tool!

Regards,

Re: Enter the world of flowers

deebatman316 — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 19:02:15 GMT

The EF 85mm F/1.8 USM lens has a long minimum focusing distance. Which makes the challenging to use for macro work. It’s even more amplified when using an APS-C body. My copy of the lens is an older version from the 90s that was given to me by a friend. The only thing that was replaced was the lens cap which is cheap.

Re: Enter the world of flowers

zakslm — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 22:57:10 GMT

Demetrius,

I'm not sure, but per a serial number database I found on ther Internet, the 85mm f1.8 USM I had was made in the first decade of the 2000's. To the best of my knowledge, Canon still sells the EF 85mm f1.8 USM and like me, it has lots of fans. I enjoyed using it on my T7 but didn't feel the lens had the same "snap" when I used on on the 90D. That is totally subjective and there may be situations that arise in the future where I miss the extreme "focus blur" of the backgrounds in wide open or close to wide open 85mm shots.

Regards,

Re: Enter the world of flowers

deebatman316 — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 23:06:25 GMT

My friend’s mom bought her copy back in 1995 to go along with her EOS Elan II. So it has to be around 30 years old now. I know Canon still sells the lens but I’m not sure if that’s existing stock. Or if they’re still actively making them. Canon makes lenses in batches as needed. So I don’t think there’s ever a last lens until the batch sells out. Until they decide to discontinue it or keep it in production.