if money is no object, which one of these three 85mm lenses would you buy and why?

Nikon is killing it with the image quality of the new S lenses. Great video review thank you so much

Really great review thank you Richard.

One of the best reviews I have seen. Very straight to the point with excellent examples.

Amazing review - thank you

Superb video. The info is so well presented Richard. Thank you. I own both the f1.4 and recently the f1.8S. I love my f1.4 and I am yet to use my new f1.8S. Cheers, Antoine

great review man, thanks!

Tempted to pick this up, I’m just not sure if I want to wait for the 1.2 or the 105mm.

Great comparison and the points were very well covered. Can you please make a comparison of the Nikon S lenses with the Sigma art lenses?

Great review as usual, thank you. I want the 1.8S but I have additional DSLR bodies digital and analog, so, I need share lenses.

Very deep and interesting review! Very professional! Thank You!

Well done comparison. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Richard! very good comparison: I was so hesitant to sell my 85mm 1.4... and you convinced me

Nice review . Will eventually get that 85 1.8s .

1st class review keep up the good work.thank you.

Thank you for that!

Thanks for a very well presented and explained comparison - this certainly confirms that Nikon's recent lens design brings some very impressive improvements. I wonder how well the 1.8S compares with Sony's much less expensive but highly regarded FE 85mm f1.8. Now that my Techart Pro adapter has eventually arrived (after a two month wait!), I have that option to consider.

Amazing and thank you for this in-depth review. This justifies my switch to the Z system. I couldn't care less about losing all my 1.4G primes as these new 1.8S series are actually performing better.

Thank you RIchard, for your very thorough review. So helpful for us who are trying to make a decision where to spend our money. The new 85mm 1.8 S looks so good I may have to buy one soon!

Great stuff from Nikon

Looks like I wanna add this to my 35 and 50 S lenses eventually. Although the 85 1.8 G which I also have might actually give some nice flare to photos and videos, I don’t always want to eliminate the flare completely, it can add to the image. I guess that might be the case more often for video though

I am a Nikon fan and would love to see a comparison between the Sony Zeiss bâtis lenses and the Nikon S primes

Amazing review. You are the best!

Renting the 85 Z lens for a wedding this coming weekend! Thanks for the review! It made me feel reassured that I made the right choice in renting it!

Thank you for this video. This helps me a lot…

Excellent review. Thanks.

Where did you get that shirt from???

amazing comparison , I can definitely say that 85mm 1.8s is the best 85 mm 1.8 lens among all other companies

I used your video and another fellow KZfaqer as a deciding factor on picking up the new Nikon 85 mm F1.8 S lens. And I couldn’t be more happier with my decision. No it’s not i’ll glamorous like the F1.4 or the F1.2 lenses that the other brands have but I’m telling you why this lens is super sharp at f1.8. I have been using all F mount lenses adapted to my Z6 since I purchased it in May and had great success with them. Where as another Guy on KZfaq said these new Nikon lenses are an investment into the future of what Nikon has to offer and they are truly some sharp glass. The eye auto focus is better trying to find the eyes quicker and giving you the option to choose from which eye you want to focus on. After six months of owning the Z6 I finally picked up the new Nikon 50 mm F1.8 S and now the new 85 mm and I am really happy with these lenses. Some might say they’re not made from the best materials but to me it’s how they perform. Keep up the great work and thank you for going into such great details on all these lenses and showing us how good these new Nikon lenses really are

Superb video the best on you tube by far regards to the comparisons of the quality of the F mount versus Z mount Nikon lens

I have started to use it on my z7 and z6 and it is indeed an amazing piece of glass!

EXELLENT Video Richard.

Thanks Richard for making this comparison video, just in time when I am trying to make the right decision.

..good test.. 👍

Thank you for your very informative Video. I‘ll defenitly pre-Order the 85S

Thank you for this in depth review. VERY well done. Now I know which 85mm I am going to be getting for my new Z6... 👍

Thanks Richard for the in-depth review of three lenses, great work! The only thing that I noticed that it is still not a like for like comparison as it is tested on Z7 camera which require an adapter for F mount lenses that might make a difference if the two F lenses are mounted to D850. I am interested to know if they are used on F mount cameras will the colour fringing problem occur?

Dear Richard, with gratitude + compliments, for you have invested much time; and for your objective expertise backed up with what the full range of image makers seek - proof in your practical life images.

Regards the chromatic aberration comparison, I wonder if " in camera " corrections are applied to the S lens automatically to the RAW files, thus why it shows almost zero CA? Such corrections would not be applied to either of the G lenses ( which would require lens correction in LR for example )

i appreciate the better CA the most over even the sharpness. Seeing purple fringing is my nightmare and ruins alot of night shots in high contrast

Thanks for this superb comparison. I have the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art and delivers exquisite results with the FTZ adapter. I don’t have the Z85F1.8S yet, so I can unfortunately not contribute a comparison to the Sigma to complement your video. The Sigma is one of the solely lenses, optical resolution can serve pixel pitch of D850. And I also have only a Z6 and no Z7 yet... If you can probably get hands on the Sigma, it would be great, if you could do a comparison of the Sigma 85mmF1.4 vs Z85mmF1.8.

Thanks, great vid! Like the T shirt too...👍

I would have enjoyed seeing the Tamron 85 f/1.8 VC compared too. It seems a more worthy competitor.

thanks for posting. The 50mm 1.8S lens is also superb.

For the AF speed, Did you adjust the AF speed(only in movie mode) to the fastest? Because for the F lenses it can not adjust the speed at all(it would fastest all the time) BTW thanks a million for this video^^.

When is that 70-200 z lens coming? I don’t want to adapt lenses. Nice review as always

You are a great reviewer . So many details and aspects in subject . I enjoyed this. All what I wanted to know about these lenses, I found in this movie, even a size with ftz. Thank you. Respect from Russia. Kindness and peace for all of your family. Sorry if i made a mistakes , english is not my strong side ))

is it really so good lens?

Thanks for the great review! One other thing I am curious about is the transmission of this new lens. I think some of the new S lenses have better transmission than their F mount counterparts even rated for the same speed (aperture). Could you test if the 1.8s in fact does let through more light than the 1.8g?

Great video. It covered basically everything I'd want to see, except one thing. The coma (or lack of it) with pinpoint lights at night. Most of the time there are bat wings in the corner expecially at the max aperture. The f/1.4G is great with this aspect because it's very minimal and the reason why I purchased the lens to begin with.

Can you do the identical comparison with 50mm lens?

Hi Richard. First let me thank you for such a comprehensive and detailed comparison between these 3 Nikon lenses. Though I do have prior experience with Nikon, and currently using Fuji's X-T3 (with some stellar Fujinon XF lenses), I was strongly considering going the Z7 route, but just concerned with Nikkor S lens availability, as I shoot primarily wide (24, 35), macro/micro (80), and occasional short telephoto (200-300). I know the Sony System has some quite good optics in those ranges, but not sure about Nikon's roadmap availability (and obviously unknown image quality) of, say, the S 105 Micro-Nikkor, and how that would compare to the known stellar Sony 90 f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens. That said, I do love the ergos and body sealing of the Z7 as well as the stellar reviews I've seen of the Nikon S 50 f/1.8 in terms of image sharpness. But at the end of the day, I'm most concerned about image sharpness and detail retention when printing large. I'm thinking both systems would satisfy in that regard, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Thank you sir!

HI Richard I am a Z6 user and I love your review. I am thinking to get a set of Wide/35/85 and sadly I can only afford one S Mount lens while I will need to use G lens for other range. Which X mount lens would you prefer to buy first? 1) S14-30 + 35.8G + 85.8G 2) 20.8G+ S35.8 + 85.8G 3) 20.8G + 35.8G + S85.8

I’ll be keeping my 1.4. Post processing and saving my hard earned money is a much better trade off than blowing money on glass with a focal length I already have. Most people are going to post process their photos anyway so everything can be corrected in a couple of clicks.

Great video, thanks! Where did you purchase the Nikon T-Shirt you wore in this video?

Thank you very much for the review. Is it possible that the 1.8/85 S has a slightly longer focal length than the 1.4/85 G?

Who the heck will dislike this video, omg FKN people, thanks for the video Richard!!

At 12:24 I would buy this lens just for the better chromatic aberration alone. I have the 1.8G and I’m always cleaning up green and purple hair from having the sun backlight my subject’s hair.

Thanks for a good review! But in the size comparison you had the rear lens cap on the 1.8S but not on the other (not even with the FTZ) ... I guess that means that even the 1.8G+FTZ is taller than the 1.8S ... Also you should ad the weight off the FTZ to the weight of the G-lenses ;)

Given how relatively cheap you can pick up a (used) 85/1.4G, I'd have a really difficult time buying that 85/1.8S. I personally think I'd be waiting for the 85/1.2S.

i am terrifyed how better at sharpnes and color are the S series

Great video! But I was wondering, why is the 1.8s lens the largest in the group? I thought mirrorless, especially with the shorter flange distance and larger mount, was supposed to minimise size, not increase it.

Great video.

Great explanations

I have the 1.8G and 1.8s... I've given up on the comparisons... however the S lens is just a little better. sadly I cannot use it on my D850 and my 1.8G can be used on both systems...

Hi, help me to pick up between sigma art 85mm 1.4 and nikon z 85mm 1.8.?

Better optic quality with this new S lense… really good… but the autofocus is slow?

Im keeping my 85mm 1.8G. I always took such marvelous photos with it, Im not a pro photographer and the chromatic aberration is fixable in post easily.

You want to say that the 1.4G is faster focusing even if its not really a native lens?

Hi Richard, its good in low ligh? thanks @walocortes

You really can't hate on that 1.8G, that thing is so nice for the price. Some of the best portrait shots I've ever see were shot with that lens.

Thank you. Very good video.

More reviews, please!

Nice video. You swayed me to buy the 85 1.8s. Show this comment to Nikon and get some sponsorship $$$$

Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S is for sure my number 1 favoritisms, I'm gonna buy it!

Mirrorless was about less weight. So why is this new 85/1.8 heavier than the dslr version? Doesn't make sense. Thanks for uploading your findings.

Hello Richard from Tauranga. I like Nikon, but I cannot afford a Z series camera.

I sold my Zeiss Milvus 85mm/1.4 to get the Z 85mm/1.8 S if that tells you anything. The bokeh and micro contrast are very similiar, but the Zeiss does exhibit CA at wide apertures. The Z85 does not plus it has AF.

What about speed and Af accurancy?

Taking test shots and worry about vignetting and some optical resolition issues in the corner? I am not sure that if one's mind is fully of such worries that one has enough time to go out taking real photos for real use.

Tx for test, make same for 50mm from nikkor, sigma etc

Actually it's not surprising at all the F1.4G has the weakest edge sharpness when shoot at F1.8 when compare to other F1.8 lens, it's almost the case for all F1.4 vs F1.8 primes I have ever used in my last 20 years. but as you said, edge sharpness is never a important factor for a [portrait lens, in fact, I prefer the lens with softer edge sharpness for portrait, but I hate Cat's eyes Bokeh ball effect very much so I personally will avoid the two F1.8 lenses and go with the 1.4 version if I have pick one out of these three. But the CA is one big issue for the F1.4 also, so I guess I will pass all three and wait for the 85 1.2S which is already announced.

Leaving out the 1.4S I find the 1.8G much sharper that the 1.4G and ultimately more VALUE for the money !

Your 85mm 1.4G needs to be dialed in. All of the G lenses suffer from that, and no one addresses it. They corrected the issue on the zed lenses.

This lens is €899. The dslr version 1.8G is only €500. Mirrorless is turning out an expensive hobby. And the autofocus seems much slower. But the IQ looks good.

2:45

孙正义也来开摄影频道了啊

Ah but how cash is it going to drain from my wallet 😨

That 1.8s focus speed is painful! For video you can accept that but for still I’d be kicking that down the street!

Take a model and lets comparating the lenses one by one. Trust me, you will get more subscribers.

Kind of an unfair comparison if you aren’t stopping the 1.4 down to 1.8 and comparing them all at the same aperture. The 1.4 would obviously be softest at it’s widest aperture. There would also be less chromatic aberration if the 1.4 was stopped down to 1.8. The 1.8S is an awesome lens but the 1.4 was definitely at a disadvantage against the other two because it was compared while wide open at a wider aperture than the other two. The others were also wide open but that’s not the point I’m making.

Actually, David Busch (who writes those details books) confirmed that the Z lenses are “wired focus” a BIG NO GO for cinematic shooting. That means - when you lock in a start and end focus using something like Rhino Focus and turns the ring on the lens (rather than auto focus) you will NOT get the same focus on repetitions... while legacy mechanical lenses still do... and would ie built in prosumer assumption that everything will be shot with autofocus. That rules out using Z lenses.

$ 800 is quite heay right now...

I don’t understand the desire for a lens with zero artistic qualities besides the f stop.

This video is not an "In-Depth" review as stated in the title as you consider only the use of this lens for portraiture and not also as a short telephoto for lower light activity or for landscape use. In this context corner sharpness is very important and the new "S" lens again does outshine its siblings. I think when doing a review it is important not to become myopic and consider just your own personal uses for a given product but a full range of possibilities.

whats the point in this new Z lenses ??? If you consider the lightweight and size of leica FX lenses or fuji lenses I just do not understand this new style of mirrorless from Nikon, Canon .... You were bitching about the weight and size of DSLR so lets make even bigger and heavier lens for that mirrorless ? :DD They should not step into this hipe and stay in profi line of DSLR ... Have you seen that focus breathing and focusing ? :D its hilarious

This lens has no pop. Micro contrast on this lens is horrible. Renders very flat and has cats eye bokeh. This lens is very disappointing.

Great video, thanks Richard! Subscribed.

Great review, thank you Richard!