“85mm or 105mm?”
“What lens do you use?”
Since late 2020, I’ve preferred the Sigma 105mm over the 85mm.
Advantages:
the 105mm is slightly more narrow (zoomed in) than 85mm.
I am further from the subject (preferred).
the optical description (perspective distortion) on the face is better than 85mm.
it comes with a tripod collar.
it has a maximum aperture of 1.4.
the maximum aperture is sharp (sharper than the 1.8 on the 85mm).
the maximum aperture has good colors (better than the 1.8 on the 85mm).
History;
I started with the 85mm (1.8g) (link), which Nikon released in 1987.
This is a very good lens, nothing wrong with it. In fact at f/5.6, it’s indistinguishable from the newer 85mm (1.8g).
Which is why the debate on new lens technology is so…
Anyways, I was a freshman in college when I saw this lens and my first reaction was, OMG it’s so big. It’s also kind of heavy. And noticeably, not super easy to use — the vision feels narrow. It doesn’t seem practical for in my daily life (so in college I resorted to a cropped 35mm lens).
When I began to focus on portraits in 2015, I had both the 85mm and 40mm. I found the 40mm more ideal.
2015
414 (85mm) v 6349 (40mm)
6.12%
In 2016 I started indoor studio portraits. I found the 85mm more useful here, as the 40mm so too much outside of my subject, which was now being lit by a light.
I also, purchased a 50mm 1.8g. I took a number of BART portraits with this at a small aperture.
2020
15425 (85mm) v 3057 (105mm)
83.46%
2021
2753 (85mm) v. 23493 (105mm)
10.49%
So clearly I gravitated towards the 105mm, as I began to value the use of very shallow DOF for headshots.
Benefits of 85mm
it is lighter
it is a wider perspective (portraits and couples)
allows for coming closer to the subject (smaller rooms)
However the benefits of 105mm for headshots are clear.
And over time I do see slight perspective differences going from 85mm --> 105mm (though not nearly as glaring as going from 50mm --> 85mm). I actually now prefer using the 105mm for headshots – the 85mm isn’t the best, as it makes the front of the face too large, due to perspective distortion. It’s not not recommended, but anything under 85mm is more noticeable, particularly for headshots.
