For the last few years, I shot with the Nikon D750 and Tamron SP 85mm F/1.8 Di VC USD, and it was the best portrait lens I ever used. I have avoided 1.4 lenses because of the weight and price. Switching to the Sony A7riii, I debated whether I would finally need to switch to the 1.4 lens, but I read that the Sony FE 85mm/1.8 was absolutely stellar.
A full review is on my to-do list. For now, a 100% crop of each lens at 1.8, using eye AF on the A7riii and single point AF on the D750:
Preliminary Summary
I’ll leave with minimal comment for now. These crops did not come from the center of the frames, more like the aps-c edge. ISO isn’t that low, around 800-1000 in each image, so you have a tiny bit of noise.
So first take away — Both lenses have absolutely stellar sharpness at 1.8
Second, the eye-AF on the A7riii is fantastic, but with very narrow DOF it may sometimes get the eyelashes more than the eye. Though you have to be an extreme pixel peeper to notice.
Full review to come… My goal is to eventually review every Sony lens.
