NIKON 85mm F/1.4 D-Series Telephoto

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant lens
Review: (purchased Jan 2003) I bought this lens to use for "candid portrait" photography, and have captured brilliant images of my two fast-moving sons. The wide maximum aperature (f 1.4) and nine-blade aperature mechanism draw attention to the subject of the photographs by causing things that are not in focus to be blurred nicely. More importantly, this lens is extremely sharp. Its images are very detailed and the color contrast is excellent. I have not had trouble with flare, but when the sun strikes the front element, image contrast suffers. Therefore, keep the large lens shade on when shooting outside. The focus is very fast on a Nikon F100.

The only downsides? Closest focus is not great, and the cost!