Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsTruly Stunning
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2022
Over the years I have used many, many short telephoto lenses and this one simply takes the cake as my favorite. It's tempting to think of this only as a portrait lens -- and it *shines* in that role (more in a bit) -- but this is a jack-of-all-trades that can be used for landscapes, cityscapes, event shooting, concerts, etc. etc. etc. Autofocus is quick and accurate on my Z7. Optically, the lens is stellar. It's just a joy to use.
And yes, if you want to use this for portraits, you'll have a hard time topping it. The lens is sharp enough especially towards infinity where it's bitingly sharp. Crucially, though, in the portrait distance range, it's just soft enough to take the edge off of that sharpness to not be harsh. The bokeh is very, very pleasant but what makes it really shine is that the transition from in-focus to out-of-focus is just sooooo smooooth. It's about as graceful as the transition zone gets and it really serves to make your subject pop in ways that don't normally happen.
There is a little cat's eye effect to out-of-focus specular highlights wide open, but this disappears quickly by stopping down. The aperture maintains a very circular opening at mid apertures so this helps keep the aforementioned good bokeh looking good even as you stop down. For portraits, I like to shoot this in the f2.2 to f4 range but for other subject matter, I honestly have no qualms about using it at any aperture.
There may be other 85mm lenses that excel over this one at a certain style of photography (the Sony GM 85mm f1.4 is ever so slightly better at portraits, for example) but nothing I've used so far can compete with this Z lens as an all around short telephoto. So far I've been pleased with every Z lens I've purchased but this one is easily the most recommendable. Simply a stunning optic that you should run, not walk to buy.
Very, very highly recommended.
