Rikinon 85mm 1.4 or Nikkor 85mm 1.8?

The Rokinon costs $256 on Overstock, as opposed to the Nikkor, that costs $409 on Adorama (Gray market)



Now, I've never used Rokinon, but the price difference is tempting. I normally use only Nikkor lenses, but are they similar in quality? (And the Rokinon IS a half stop faster than the Nikkor...) Advice?Rikinon 85mm 1.4 or Nikkor 85mm 1.8?
I would pass on the Rokinon if you are planning to use it on a APS-C Nikon dSLR. The tiny viewfinder of APS-C dSLR cameras, in my experience, makes manual focus lenses quite difficult to focus accurately especially at that focal length and aperture. You will likely end up with far more soft pictures than you care for.



Beyond that, reviews of the intrinsic IQ of this lens are pretty good. Probably a fun lens to experiment with, especially for digital LOMO. My guess is that you would probably get most of your coin back on re-sell.

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