The Sony 85mm f/1.8 FE has the potential to quickly become one of the favorite lenses of the FE range. On the downside it is more expensive than the Nikon 85mm or Canon 85mm equivalent lenses. But I guess that like it happened with the 50mm FE the lens will get some price drop later. Moreover this is a new lens designed for high-resolution sensors (and the MTF graph is promising). So here are a couple of interesting bits about that lens:

Lens design and MTF graph:

Image samples:

More info about that lens at Sony.net

Preorders start 10am NYC time Thu Feb 9:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

Note: At 10am New York time the new FE lenses and the radio flash will be available for preorder here:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.
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Sony announced two new FE lenses: 100mm f/2.8 STF FE at BHphoto and the 85mm f/1.8 FE at BHphoto. Now let’s take a close look on the exciting 100mm STF lens. Sony claims this is the Fe lens with the bext bokeh!

Short description:

Delivering both smooth bokeh and fine sharpness, the FE 100mm f/2.8 STF GM OSS Lens from Sony is a short-telephoto prime featuring a unique, yet sophisticated optical design. Separating itself from other portrait-length lenses, this 100mm f/2.8 features Smooth Trans Focus technology, which uses an apodization filter to realize notably smooth bokeh with rounded out-of-focus highlights in both the foreground and background. Contributing to a high degree of sharpness and clarity, the lens also incorporates one aspherical element and one extra-low dispersion element to suppress both spherical and chromatic aberrations. Additionally, a Nano AR coating has also been applied to reduce lens flare and ghosting for greater contrast and color fidelity when working in strong lighting conditions.

Lens construction and MTF graph:

Image samples (Click on it to enlarge):

More info about the new 100mm FE lens at Sony.net and BHphoto.

Preorders start 10am NYC time Thu Feb 9:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

Dpreview posted a set of hand-son pictures with the two new FE lenses.

Note: At 10am New York time the new FE lenses and the radio flash will be available for preorder here:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

Image on top shows the new 100mm STF versus the new 85mm f/1.8 FE and the current 50mm f/1.8 FE

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CameraSize added the new 100mm STF and the new 85mm FE lenses in their database.

Preorders start 10am NYC time Thu Feb 9: 100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama. 85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama. HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

Let’s check out a couple of size comparisons:

Sony 85mm vs Nikon 85mm

Sony 100mm GM vs 85mm GM

Preorders start 10am NYC time Thu Feb 9:
100mm f/2.8 STF FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
85mm f/1.8 FE at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
HVL-F45RM Wireless Radio Flash at BHphoto, Adorama.

This is the first time we see the new 85mm f/1.8 FE lens in “real”. On top you see the introduction video from BHphoto. And below a quick 85mm hands-on with Patrick Murphy-Racey:

And while Matt Granger seems to like the new 85mm FE lens he is not convinced by the 100mm STF lens:

But I would be cautious with judging a lens from the pure specs yet…

The following is a Guest Post from Austrokiwi and has been first posted on SonyAlphaForum.
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Canon “Dream Lens”

After almost two years of consideration I becamethe owner of a Canon 50mm F0.95 lens.I finally obtained onereasonably affordably when a Westlicht Auctions in Vienna( where I live) were auctioning one at a time that coincided with my bank account having enough in it for me to bid. Thisrarelens has a small but strong followingand is often found modified to Leica M mount. Exculding prototypes there are two variants a range finder coupled and a TV version. The version I have is Range finder coupled.