One of my main projects for 2019 was a plan to pit all the current autofocus 85mm options on the full frame Sony E-mount platform head to head. I’ve done something similar for 50mm options (and, to a lesser extent, 35mm options) on Sony. I’ve done a major 85mm shootout on the Canon platform and found it personally helpful and enjoyable, and this will be the biggest test ever due to several new players at 85mm in the past year. I will be looking at all the autofocus options (6 of them!!!), including 3 85mm F1.8 lenses (Sony FE, Zeiss Batis, and Viltrox AF) along with 3 F1.4 options (Sony GM, Samyang AF, and Sigma ART). Three of these lenses are ones that I have never previously reviewed, however, so I will be carefully looking at the two Sony options along with the Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8 (the only Batis lens I hadn’t reviewed yet). I’ll be doing individual reviews on the two Sony options along with the Zeiss, and will do a mini-review on the Sigma in FE form. I’m doing these tests and comparisons on the Sony a7RIII.

This post will serve as the landing page for the various reviews along with galleries of images from each lens, including photos that are shot in identical conditions for comparison along with unique photos from each lens. I’ll also post the videos here as I release them.

Individual Reviews:

- Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8: Text | Video
- Sony FE 85mm F1.8: Text | Video
- Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8: Text | Video
- Samyang AF 85mm F1.4: Text | Video
- Sigma 85mm F1.4 ART: Text | Video
- Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM: Text | Video

Photos of the Sony AF 85mm Lenses

Photos taken with the Sony FE 85mm F1.8

Photos taken with the Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8

Photos taken with the Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8

Photos taken with the Samyang AF 85mm F1.4

Photos taken with the Sigma 85mm F1.4 ART

Photos taken with the Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM

Gear Used:

BenQ SW271 4K Photo Editing Monitor – B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X4 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
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