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Yongnuo has a new and updated version of their 85mm f/1.8 DF DSM lens on the way

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Yongnuo has announced a new version of their popular (and above average) 85mm f/1.8 DF DSM lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras. In a Weibo post, the new updated version of the lens is now all metal, including the focusing ring, a new design with a more pleasing appearance to look at (if that’s important to you), and a (very) slight reduction in length.

Two significant features of the new Yongnuo 85mm lens, however, include a 40g reduction in weight despite the all-metal construction and the bayonet mount is now equipped with a rubber ring to help with weather sealing and dust proofing. The actual optical structure doesn’t appear to have changed much although it’s had some “fine tuning” as well as optimised coatings.

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Yongnuo has launched the YN 85mm f/1.8 DF DSM autofocus Z mount lens – but only in China

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Yongnuo has today announced their new YN 85mm f/1.8 DF DSM Z mount lens. But, they’ve only announced in China with a post to their account on Chinese social media platform Weibo, followed by a handful of shares from others who’ve been testing it. It’s not even listed on their website yet.

The new lens was teased at the end of February and many of us thought it would be a global announcement. Sadly not. Fortunately for the rest of us, Richard Wong managed to get his hands on one and has already posted a complete review. So, even if those of us in the rest of the world can’t buy it yet, we can see what it’s like.

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Yongnuo teases YN 85mm f/1.8Z DF DSM full-frame autofocus lens for Nikon Z mount

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It looks like Yongnuo might be getting set to announce a few new lenses for Nikon Z mount after teasing the YN 85mm f/1.8 Z DF DSM on Chinese social media. Interestingly, despite posting this in February, Nikon Rumors reports that it’s expected to be officially announced “on the 31st of this month”. I’m not sure exactly where they’ve seen that date, but the teaser image is looking for users to help trial the lens at the moment.

So far, nothing appears to have been posted to Yongnuo’s Facebook page about the new lens, but it adds to the rumoured 50mm f/1.8 Z DF DSM and 20mm f/1.8 DF DSM lenses – the latter of which is also expected to come for Sony E mount – which leaked last month.

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Yongnuo has launched the YN RF 85mm f/1.8 – first 3rd party RF lens with a control ring

Yongnuo has officially announced their first RF mount lens. It’s the YN RF 85mm f/1.8R DF DSM and it’s actually equipped with a configurable control ring. Despite a number of other lens manufacturers producing RF mount compatible lenses, this marks the first 3rd party lens to actually include a control ring, which has so far been found exclusively on Canon’s own RF lenses.

A few reviews for the lens have already been popping up online over the last week or so, but the lens hadn’t officially been announced yet. It just kind of quietly slipped out. It’s the same optical formula as their 85mm f/1.8 for Sony FE, but in a whole new housing that shows some nice improvements over the FE mount design – like a weather sealing gasket.

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A day earlier than expected, Panasonic announces its $599 85mm f/1.8 L mount lens

Panasonic has now officially announced the new Panasonic S 85mm f/1.8 L mount lens. And it does indeed come with a rather reasonable price tag. It looks like Panasonic has listened to the complaints from many users (of all mirrorless systems) about the high prices of mirrorless lenses vs their older DSLR equivalents.

It marks the start of a new chapter in Panasonic’s full-frame L mount lineup, with primes aimed at a lower budget user – something that has been sorely missing thus far. It’s a small 85mm f/1.8 prime lens for L mount mirrorless cameras from Panasonic, Sigma and Leica that costs a mere $599.

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Leaked photos of Panasonic S 85mm f/1.8 L mount lens – reported to cost $599

It looks like Panasonic’s plan for the 85mm f/1.8 is to indeed make a reasonably priced prime lens aimed at attracting lower budget users into the L mount ecosystem. At least, it is if the price tag being reported by Nokishita turns out to be true. They say it’s expected to be the same price as Panasonic’s 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 L mount lens, which sits at around $599.

They’ve also leaked some photos of the new lens, which shows a compact and clean looking design. There’s just a single switch on the side to flick between Autofocus and Manual Focus with a wide-banded ring for when you want to switch to the latter.

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Panasonic S 85mm f/1.8 L Mount lens specs leak – announcement expected November 5th

An 85mm f/1.8 lens for the Leica L mount has been on Panasonic’s roadmap for a long time. In fact, the updated roadmap shows lenses that weren’t there in February’s list when the 85mm f/1.8 appeared on it. Now, though, it looks like it’s finally going to be coming in just three days, according to yet another leak from Nokishita.

The leak includes the complete specs for the camera (in Polish, apparently). Nokishita also says that it’s expected to go on pre-order in Japan on November 5th, although they don’t know whether it will become available worldwide at that time, or if the rest of us will have to wait.

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The Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 for Sony E Mount can become an f/1.6 lens with just a simple firmware update

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The Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 lens has started to become quite a popular lens choice for Sony E mount shooters due to its decent level of performance vs its fairly low $399 price tag (compared to the $600 Sony). It’s also available in Fuji X flavour, too. But can this lens go even faster than f/1.8? Yeah, apparently.

The video above by Stefan Malloch was actually posted back in April, but only just now seems to have gained any real traction, but it turns out you can update the Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 lens to f/1.6, giving you an extra third of a stop, rounder bokeh and a slightly (barely noticeable, really) shallower depth of field, with just a simple firmware update.

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Z mount and F mount go head-to-head in this Nikon 85mm f/1.8G vs 85mm f/1.8S comparison

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One of the biggest issues any time a new camera system is released, is the lack of lenses. It’s what held back Sony’s first couple of generations, and it’s one of the hesitations amongst buyers towards Canon and Nikon’s mirrorless offerings – especially when the native RF and Z mount lenses are so expensive.

Fortunately, both Nikon and Canon have a long history and have released their own lens adapters for the new systems. But how does a Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens compare to the Nikon 85mm f/1.8S? That’s what Dariusz Breś wanted to find out, so he compared the $427 F mount lens to the $797 Z mount lens on the Nikon Z7.

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Two focal lengths every prime lover should own

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In the world of photography, you’ll find people generally prefer primes or zooms. The main benefit to zoom lenses is that you can cover multiple focal lengths in one decent sized package. In saying this, there are some prime lenses that can work well for multiple purposes.

Two of these are the 35mm and 85mm primes. Now just to be clear, like any article this doesn’t apply to all people. With the genres I shoot, these two lenses can cover so many uses and really prove their worth. Regardless of which mount you own, there are great options from both first and third party manufacturers.

I actually feel these lenses have the same benefits and I will discuss why you should own these two lenses.

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