But in casual handheld or low-light usage, even at a large aperture, I have trouble getting any "keepers"-- lots of less-sharp shots

Beautiful shots

Used this to shoot indoor volleyball matches - probably a more difficulty subject than even basketball to get decent shots.

I shoot with a crop 7D (so 136mm lens on a full-frame) and get amazing shots with nice bokeh

Nice close shots from far away with beautiful blurry edges

If you already have a good range of zoom lenses and are looking for something that will just take really nice, sharp, handheld shots, consider this lens.

If you are on the fence about whether this lens will get you beautiful shots, get off the fence

After the 50mm 1.8 I acquired the 35mmL F1.4 which allows for outstanding indoor candid group shots and portraits - beautiful shots indoors and out on the fly - capturing children outside running, jumping, laughing at lightning speed and with amazing clarity and colors.

They both take beautiful shots for an amateur photographer ;)Highly recommend.

The lens that I primarily use is the Canon EF-S 18-135 f3.5-5.6, which I find very versatile and which allows me to get many great shots, but sometimes I find that it is too big and heavy to bring with me

I have even used it with a 1.4 teleconverter to capture a few excellent night football shots.

One of the guys took the camera and shot random shots and said this lens always takes good shots, it just can't take any bad ones

I can get some really nice shots on my 60D. Looking forward to using it on a 5D hopefully soon.

but I still get many great shots!

As a serious hobbyist with a Rebel model, I am primarily interested in capturing natural, realistic indoor shots without flash - of my very wiggly children, candids of adults and children, and indoor parties and sports events.

Only downside is no macro shots

I was using auto-focus with both lenses, but was sometimes getting slightly blurry shots when using the zoom lens.

It also does excellent head shots and portraits.

I use it to take pictures of live theater shows I have worked on, and I needed a fast lens to deal with the sometimes dark scenes, and the ability to get good shots from the center of the auditorium instead of the front row

Between my 7D and this 85mm I've gotten some awesome shots

This camera lens with the large aperture allows very fast shots in poor lighting conditions, with ISO set around 800.

Can't get great shots from high up in the stands.

be careful with your aperture (like any other fast lens) because shots can easily get soft on the edges if you aren't careful.

everyone that sees my pics taken with this lens says how wonderful my shots are.

I had enough decent shots thanks to the 7Ds

I absolutely love the shots I am getting with this lens, it focucses fast and the DOF is great.

Because it is small for an 85mm (approx 135mm on cropped sensor cameras), it doesn't freak people out when you are using it and pointing it in their direction so it can be very nice for candid or, at least, "comfortable" shots.

I also often use this lens, hand-held, to capture available light shots of my younger grandchildren

I would recommend this lens to anyone who is new to photography as I am for excellent close up shots.

Using this for a side angle in a 2-camera set up, but frankly, the shots from this lens are so beautiful, I am thinking of changing the set up to use my 50mm 1.4 prime as the side angle, and the 85 1.8 as the front angle

I have had nothing but awesome shots from this lens

I'm definitely happy with this lens, works great, wonderful portrait shots are being taken often, my go to lens now!

I've created some beautiful family and individual portraits, as well as sports action shots.

I found this lens generally produces my best portrait shots, and is fast under lower light conditions.

But I find I get consistently sharper shots with my 70-200 f2.8L. (I know I'm comparing an L to a non L)

If you want to make your first step up from a kite lens and don't want to spend L money I would recommend buying this lens, I use it at wedding all the time and it gives you nice crisp shots with great

When I film, I go to the 85mm 1.8 for portraits and isolated close-up shots

I highly recommend this lens for portraits & close up shots.

I've had quite a few good shots ruined because at 1.8, in a high contrast shots, the purple lines were thick enough to be a big problem even after trying my best to correct them in Lightroom and Photoshop (I'm especially annoyed when I need to spend ten minutes doing this in Photoshop because Lightroom doesn't cut it)

It rocks at indoor, daytime and night time sports with a fast lock, good focus and clear shots.

Many of my best shots have come from this lens

and you can get great shots of indoor performances

I'm very excited to shoot more with it, hopefully some more portrait shots and such

My images are super sharp and make beautiful portrait shots