I have an addiction. I love photography gear. For the past few years, I’ve managed that addiction really well. Although, to be fair, I was so happy with all my gear, there just wasn’t a reason at all to upgrade any of it. But, time marches on. More than 5 years after I purchased a Nikon 60mm Macro 2.8 and a Nikon 85mm 1.8 D, I had finally surpassed their capabilites. I’ve always felt that was when you should upgrade…not when a newer version of something came out, but when you’re work was being compromised by the gear.

Well, I traded in both the 60mm and the 85mm to Calumet Photo in Chicago. Calumet is a great place; I’ve done a lot of business there in the last 10 years. My intention was to trade in both lenses for the new 85mm 1.8 G. The G lens lacks an aperture ring, is lighter weight, sharper and more importantly contains a motor inside the lens that speeds up the auto-focusing. They accepted the trade in, but were out of stock on the new 85mm 1.8. Bummer. I waited nearly a month for them to address their out of stock situation…with no dice. So, on a trip to Minneapolis, I swung by National Camera (another great place) and picked one up.

This is the very first photo I took with the lens. Keep in mind this was taken, not with my Nikon D700, but with Cheryl’s D5000.

As Fro remarked in his review of the lens, when compared to the older 85mm 1.8 D, “When comparing the sample images at f1.8 it is clear that the new AFS blows the older AFD out of the water.”  He’s right. It does. It’s fast. It’s sharp. It’s light weight. It’s a huge step forward.  I took a good 50 snaps throughout the day and was never disappointed. Definitely a good purchase.