After writing about the Sony FE 1.8/35mm and the Sony FE 4-5.6/28-60mm , I want to conclude the review series of the lenses I use (as of 2022) with the Sony A7C: The final one is the Sony FE 1.8/85mm. How to read it: As written before, I am valueing a lean and high-quality setup that supports a casual photography style.

The Sony FE 1.8/85mm is a great choice for this requirement, as part of the mentioned lens setup with the Sony A7C full-frame camera.

Plus and minus

What I like:

• Autofocus: The AF is very fast, silent and accurate, it can even keep up with tracking the moves of a toddler with ease.
• Handling: For a fast 85mm lens the Sony FE 1.8/85mm, the lens is rather small and light.
• Build quality: The look and feel is very solid for its class, Sony also promises basic water-resistance.
• Sharpness: The lens is very sharp, starting at F1.8 and even improving with stopping down to f2.8.

What I do not like:

• Minimum focus distance: With a minimum focus distance of 0,8m you often reach the proximity limit. (For close ups I use simple third-party extension tubes - these make the lens a nice and cost-effective macro option.)
• Vignetting: The edges of the frame are notably darker at F1.8, which is however easily controllable with automated lens corrections in Lightroom.
• CA: You’ll find some purple fringes at high-contrast edges when using this lens at fast apertures. Again, this is rather easily controllable.

My conclusion

I use and like this lens more than I thought before I purchased it. To utilise the benefits of a full-frame camera body for family and people photography, you need a fast ~85mm lens. The Sony FE 1.8/85mm is a perfect choice as the optical and build qualities are almost without flaws, while being reasonably small and light. When using it for family, but also for nature & macro purposes, it is really versatile and therefor the perfect match in my lean and high-quality photography setup.

Samples

How the Sony FE 1.8/85mm performs on the Sony A7C you will see on the images below. As always, I applied my normal processing using Adobe Lightroom and developed the RAWs according to my taste. Click to access the full-sized image.