Battle of the 85mm f/1.4 Lenses

The high-speed 85mm—a photographer’s most versatile lens. In bright or hardly any light, it produces the highest-quality portrait, action, wildlife, wedding, product, and fashion images.

In fact, at this writing, Nikon offers three different 85s, Canon two, and Sigma, Sony, and Zeiss, one each. The Pentax 55mm and Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lenses both become (near) 85mm on APS-C bodies. Each is made for pros and built to last. Spanning the price range from reasonable (the f/1.8s) to ridiculous (Canon’s f/1.2), there’s a fast 85mm out there for every photo budget—and ambition.

Click to read the full story and see how the lenses did in our lab.