Nikon portrait lens shoot out - 85mm 1.4G vs 70-200 VRII (NEW)

[dombower]

wow matt! just come accross this video... are you secretly a giant! You make the 70-200lens look tiny in your hands... do you have giant hands?

[thatnikonguy]

@dombower hah, really? ummm, I am not small - but regularish hands I think!

[Maevemia]

Hi Matt....

Need your advice & after looking at many video reviews ~ have found yours articulate fast & true;~)..

SO ~ I have just purchased a D7000 & the shop convinced me to buy as an all round 18 ~ 200mm 1.3 to 5.6mm i feel i have truly been done you might advise! As for one it keeps slipping down my leg & it is heavy clumsy? to my feel (it is driving me nuts)..

These are cost mistakes PLEASE all i want is a portrait lens perhaps 50mm 1.4G? and a general mid zoom HELP ~ Best M

[lycos12]

Completely agree. I have both (VR1 though instead of VR2). Another thing to consider is the point-of-view. As much as I love 85 sharpness and color rendition, photography is more about composition. 70-200 allows me to give variety of pov that i want and easier to compose.

[arubaforever]

Good vid. Bokeh is better on the 85 1.4 (obviously). Bokeh can sometimes be a little distracting on the 70-200. 70-200 is the lens for short range sports.

[Jolinator]

what are you thoughts on a 70-200mm on a dx (d7000) , i am flying over antartica soon and am trying to decide what lenses to use

[thatnikonguy]

@Jolinator Antartica - very cool, how exciting! I ahve never been somewhere like that, there must be some great guides out there. As a simple reply, the 70-200 is sublime, on any body and it will shine on the D7000. On that trip, you may want even longer. Maybe take a teleconvertor (1.7 is great), or look at renting a super tele?

[Jolinator]

@thatnikonguy cant wait!, just picked up a 70-200 and 1.7 teleconverter today, super tele would be to big to use in the aircraft i think, however my 70-200 vr 2 had no warrenty card in the box so back to to the store we go:(

[thatnikonguy]

@Jolinator oh you are shooting from an aircraft, not a boat? That is great!

Good luck with the lens and warranty (make sure you insure it too!), and I hope you will share some shots on the facebook or flickr group.

[nikonlickon]

@thatnikonguy iv got a d7000 with a 70-200 and love it to pieces :D

[thatnikonguy]

@moratis1 thanks mate.

[Barnyrubbleism]

I just had a look at your portfolio and its pittyfull. Really crap. Why are you reviewing lenses? Amatuers do better and there isn't even one real client listed on mattgrangerdotcom. Also why don't you ever use real models or even just friends? Even a model at the end of a shoot would do, but then you don't really shoot for money do you, just pretend you do. Douchebag and a fraud.

[thatnikonguy]

@Barnyrubbleism thanks for taking the time to watch and comment on so many of my videos - and for your concern about my business! (Things are going great btw) Clearly you would prefer I list previous clients on the website, and use models in my reviews instead of objects. Unfortunately, I don't do that. Generally I don't do head to head lens comparisons when it would take up others time as well as my own.

I hope you don't mind I copy the same response onto all of your comments.

[Barnyrubbleism]

@thatnikonguy ?

[Barnyrubbleism]

@thatnikonguy The problem is you don't do anything worth while, you don't know how to review a lens, your barely able to take an interesting well exposed photograph, your crappy portfolio is evidence of that. Do you realise ignorant people may come here and waste their money because they actually think you know what your talking about. You can't even select a background that really demonstrates proper bokeh differences. No MTF charts, no standard sharpness chart, nothing! Fool.

[thatnikonguy]

@Barnyrubbleism Welcome back! For someone who doesn't like my videos, you sure have watched a lot. I think you have made your point, I will leave your comments up so that people can take your warning about following my advice, or not. But that is enough negativity now, I am blocking your account.

[LearnToFly1000]

@thatnikonguy Dear Matt, I just wanted to comment to let you know that unlike this pathetic troll who seemingly has nothing better to do with his life then plot against you out of what I can only describe as a lack of self confidence or possibly an overcompensation for something else, I love your reviews. You give us great examples of how the lenses perform without all of those charts and things that real photographers don't care about. Thanks for every video you've made, they truely help a lot!

[thatnikonguy]

@LearnToFly1000 thanks mate

[lgmphotography]

Any real professional wedding/portrait photographer should own both of this lens. 80-200mm is also a great choice.

[jh3835]

i love to have both lenses but my bank only allows me to get one. i picked up a sigma 70-200 2.8 for $750 tax included since it is more versatile.

[mabillonify]

Which one to buy between those 2 lenses? Tough decision in my opinion since I'm lucky enough to have both.

But if you are a ultra shallow depth of field fanatic such as I, the 85mm is the best.

If you're the kind of photographer who rarely opens wider than 7.1 for a portrait, perhaps the versatility of the 70-200 will be more appealing.

But bottom-line, the 85mm is a specialized lens for a very particular application where it excels beyond benchmarks. The 70-200 can be used for many app...

[abybryan]

3:10 why not use the tripod collar??? the weight of that big lens can damage your body. that's what it is for. nice video anyway!

[gonetoworkbbackin5mi]

Why do you not use the tripod mount on the lens? Mounting the camera body on the tripod will stress the mount and the body.

[rokoksejuk]

Hi Matt. Need advice on 50mm 1.4 vs 85mm 1.4. Which one is better in term of usability in general photography? Thanks :D

[bernhardtsen74]

would love to use one!

the price is way over my budget and wish they made a cheaper one!

[thatnikonguy]

@bernhardtsen74 rent one for a day,.it wil motivate you to start saving up to buy one :-)

[bernhardtsen74]

@thatnikonguy Will try and ask the local photo shop!

[SLRist]

Hi Matt. Great video as always. Thanks so much for posting this comparison; it's just what I was looking for. I completely agree with your characterisation of the 70-200 VRII compared to its predecessor. I guess you don't have the 105mm VR Micro if the 85mm is your slowest focusing pro lens! I love the bokeh of the 85mm. Given that the older variant is about half the price, how would you justify opting for the newer 85mm f/1.4?

[thatnikonguy]

@SLRist Thanks. No, I don't own the 105.

How did I justify it? Well I didn't have either, and I was able to get it from the HK distributor direct for under the RRP (at a time it was sold out world wide). For others, it is just if they want the new optics, better lens hood, etc. If you already own the D variant, would be hard to justify the upgrade.

[thatnikonguy]

@MichaelJordon1 why did you watch it? The lenses are named in title...

Youre welcome to comment, even nonsense, but please dont swear in your posts.

[padlockd]

@thatnikonguy "please don't swear" Nice shirt BTW...

[Stevearno11]

@MichaelJordon1

Yeah but at least he doesn't pronounce 'Nikon' like the American jackasses do. I mean he pronounces it properly.

[SLRist]

@MichaelJordon1 - does your Mummy know you're using her computer to post this kind of rubbish on the Internet?

[SLRist]

@MichaelJordon1 - Q.E.D.

[Wes2299]

@MichaelJordon1 Christ, how old are you 14? You're immature as hell. You insult Australians (spell it correctly, dumbass) and then get offended over a mother joke when you made fun of a group of people. Irony at its best. Oh what? You're gonna bitch at me or you gonna keep sucking yourself off of your ego?

[CAJUNNSC]

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone feels the need to use auto focus especially when shooting portraiture. Even wildlife as well as sports, I can surely see why one may feel auto focus is helpful, but I never use auto anything NEVER! I find no matter how good the lens is or how fast it auto focuses it still isn't going to give me what I need my eye to see. Sure you get lucky now and then but as an artist I don't want luck, I want skill and artistic form that reflects the subject and me.

[thatnikonguy]

@CAJUNNSC without installing a special focus screen, you cannot accurately focus most cameras manually beyond about f2.

[drouleau]

@CAJUNNSC I take it you don't shoot anything that really moves? Try shooting a wedding reception sometime where people are all over the place dancing and in a darkened room. You may get lucky and get a few clean shots, but you will miss most of them.

[robodobo222]

Great review, thanks. I just got the 70-200 VRII today but would love the 85 1.4.

[Kornkrlz7]

Love it! Gotta go with the 85. Also like my 50mm for portraits!

[Kornkrlz7]

Hey nice video and cool shirt haha

[jerseyman9080]

I just can't make up my mind.. I do want to buy 70-200mm vr2 and also 85mm 1.4 but 85mm 1.4g is almost same price as 70-200mm vr, so i am considering to go with 85mm 1.4 ( I am not pro yet) so do you think it's worth to buy 85mm 1.4 or 1.4g ?

[thatnikonguy]

@jerseyman9080 Well, 70-200 is much more versatile - likely to use it a lot if you shoot sports etc.

Both 85mm are beautiful - you can't go wrong with the original 1.4 - go for it.

[bwinn10]

ya i love my canon 70-200 2.8 v2 i use it for everything lol. the 85 i would use for post wedding stuff .

[bwinn10]

i like the 70-200 but the 85 gives you that special something and its a prime so its gonna be sharper.

[thatnikonguy]

@bwinn10 Yep - but the 70-200 is razor sharp too.