85mm GAS

smoke665 · May 19, 2025

Okay I'm having the craving for an 85mm f/1.4 really bad, but at just shy of $2k after taxes, the Pentax model is hard to justify right now with all the other expenses we've had. I've also been looking at the Rokinon 85mm f/1.4. At just over $250 that's a huge savings, plus its over half the weight of the Pentax. The down side is it's a manual lens but in portrait work I'm usually using manual focus anyhow. Anyone have experience with the Rokinon? Is it any good at that price or just throwing money down the drain?

cgw · May 19, 2025

Not sure Pentax makes an 85/1.8 for civilians but if so it might scratch the itch. The Korean and Chinese-made fast primes are worth researching. I have the ancient Nikkor 85/1.8 MF and the Chinese-made 85/1.8 G AFS that's very sweet but both are 135mm coverage. On crop sensors, good fast 50s of many vintages work nicely on my Nikon crop sensor and Fuji bodies via adapters. The Fujinon 50/2=75mm and is nice.
BTW, Happy Victoria Day!

smoke665 · May 19, 2025

@cgw You can find a few manual Pentax Auto SMC FA85mm f/1.4 occasionally in the $500 range, and the legacy Takumar 85mm f/1.8 manual, in the $300 range. Actually they'd probably be a better choice than a new Rokinon, because they're built like a tank.

DanOstergren · May 20, 2025

85mm 1.4 is definitely a worthy lens for anyone who does portraits. Some things to consider about the Rokinon brand may be chromatic aberration and color rendering. Even on my high end 85mm f/1.2, chromatic aberration can be a major issue when using wider apertures depending on the lighting, and while it can sometimes be easily fixed in post with ACR or Lightroom (and I'm sure other softwares as well), sometimes it's so much that it can't be fixed without some editing done by hand in Photoshop.

I don't use the Pentax system, so take what I'm about to suggest with a grain of salt, but is your camera a newer one with a new mount? Last year I was able to acquire my dream lens (85mm f/1.2L II) because it has the previous Canon EF lens mount, making it significantly less expensive than it used to be. I use a camera with an EF mount so adapters aren't something I needed in order to use it, but perhaps an adapter for an older Pentax mount for an older Pentax 85mm lens could be a good option? From what I have been told, modern adapters don't reduce the image quality or lens performance. When I move up to a mirrorless camera I will definitely be keeping my EF 85mm f/1.2L II and getting an adapter for it instead of upgrading to the RF mount 85mm f/1.2. I love the lens and don't see a reason to replace it if I don't need to.