Pros & Cons
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- 1:2 macro lens with soft focus design.
- Crisp center when stopped down.
- Classic focal length for portraiture.
- High-quality all-metal build.
- Available for multiple camera systems.
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- Omits autofocus and stabilization.
- Uncoupled aperture.
- Heavy.
- Soft focus is an acquired taste.
The Velvet 85 ($499.95) is the second soft focus lens from Lensbaby. It's the spiritual sibling to the Velvet 56, which has a wider focal length but otherwise delivers similar effects, 1:2 macro photography, and an all-metal build with a long manual focus throw. Shot wide open the Velvet 85 is very soft, with a glowing result across the frame, but the center gets quite crisp as you narrow the aperture. It's not a lens for everyone, but if you love the look it's a great choice to set your portraits and macro shots apart from the crowd.
Editors' Note: This review has been updated to reflect additional camera systems with which this lens is compatible. It was originally published on June 27, 2017.
Design
The Velvet 85 isn't a huge lens—it measures 3.5 by 3.2 inches (HD) at its shortest position—but it's heavy at 1.2 pounds. The lens extends as you focus, reaching 5.2 inches from the mount at its closest focus distance. It supports 67mm front filters and ships with a slip-on metal lens cap and a rear cap.
We tested a version for Nikon SLRs; you can also get it for Canon EF SLRs, or for Canon RF, Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds, Nikon Z, and Sony E mirrorless cameras. Mirrorless versions have a different design, with an external lens hood. The SLR version has a deeply recessed lens element, so no hood is necessary.
The build is all metal, with a piano black finish. Lensbaby eventually sold the Velvet 56 as a silver special edition, but there's no sign of that with the 85 at press time. The barrel features three rows of raised rectangles around its center to make it easier to grip and turn. The manual focus action is as smooth as butter. The lens turns with just the right amount of resistance and has a very long focus throw, so you can make fine adjustments to focus.
The aperture ring is at the base of the lens. Wide open it's an f/1.8 design, but can also be set from f/2 through f/16 in full-stop increments. The aperture itself uses 12 blades, so it stays perfectly circular at each f-stop. This means you can expect very smooth backgrounds behind your subject, even when the lens is stopped down.
Logos, the distance scale, and other text is engraved and painted in white. The distance scale is marked in imperial and metric units and ranges from 9.5 inches (24cm) to infinity. At the closest distance the lens project subjects at 1:2 magnification, one-half life-size, onto your camera's image sensor or film.
You won't get any modern features with the lens—there's no autofocus and there's certainly no image stabilization. But, unlike some other vintage lenses, you don't get a coupled aperture. This means that your viewfinder is going to dim as you stop down when using the lens with an SLR, and your EVF may start to lag if doing the same with a mirrorless camera, especially if you're shooting at f/8 or beyond. You may want to focus and compose your shot at f/4 or so and twist the ring to stop down to the desired f-stop before taking a shot to better see your scene.
Image Quality
Shot at f/1.8 or at f/2, the Velvet 85 produces images that are evenly soft across the frame. You don't get any crisp edges around subjects, instead everything is rendered with a soft haze. It's a lovely effect for portraits, softening skin, obscuring blemishes, and giving your subject an ethereal glow.
We don't expect a soft lens to put up sharp results in Imatest, but running technical benchmarks does inform on how the lens behaves in the field, so you can have a better idea about how to use it to its fullest potential.
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On the 36MP Nikon D810, the Velvet 85 scores 100 lines per picture height at f/1.8 and 105 lines at f/2, with performance that's very similar from edge to edge. At f/2.8 the average resolution doubles to 209 lines, but that's still well into soft territory.
A typical 85mm lens, like Nikon's low-cost AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G, puts up about 2,600 lines at f/1.8, and we look for scores in the 2,200-line range to call a photo captured by the D810 acceptably crisp. But a soft focus lens isn't supposed to be crisp.
Which isn't to say the Velvet 85 can't get you sharp results. It just won't do so with the edge-to-edge fidelity you expect from a traditional lens. At f/4 there's a drastic change in the way it draws images. The average score jumps to 1,212 lines, but the central third of the frame scores 2,414 lines. The glow that gives the lens its signature look is much more subtle here.
As you move away from the center at f/4, things get soft, showing just about 300 lines in tests. This sweet spot of focus is similar to what you get with the Lensbaby Composer Pro II, but without the ability to shift the direction of focus.
At f/5.6 the central area of sharpness expands in size, and the overall soft look you get when shooting at wider apertures is gone. Resolution at the center is excellent, 3,352 lines. There's a drop as you move away, to about 750 lines, and the average score across the frame is 1,798 lines, but averages don't mean a lot when there's such a drastic difference between center and edge.
At f/8 the sharp area is larger, with the center showing about 3,759 lines and mid parts coming into clearer view at 1,387 lines. They aren't crisp, but they don't have the same glow as you get wide open. Edges are still smooth and soft, showing just under 400 lines.
Most of the frame is reasonably crisp at f/11. The center shows about 3,722 lines and the mid parts approach 2,000 lines. The outer edges show more resolution, 566 lines, but are still pleasantly soft. At the narrowest aperture, f/16, the center shows excellent detail (3,411 lines), and while the mid parts of the frame aren't tack sharp, they're good at 2,416 lines. Edges remain soft, at 868 lines. There isn't any glow at there, just a lack of crisp detail.
The lens doesn't show any distortion. There is a natural vignette, darkening edges and corners at wider apertures. There's a drop of about -2EV at f/1.8 and f/2, and about -1EV at f/2.8. At narrower apertures the corners are just as bright as the center. For landscape work, you don't want dimmed corners (usually), but they can be desirable when shooting portraits, as they help frame your subject.
Conclusions
Soft focus isn't everyone's cup of tea. That's probably one of the reasons they're not in the current lineup from any of the big camera or lens manufacturers. Sure, you can scour eBay or used camera outlets and find something that might work with your camera, but with the Velvet 85 (and 56) you don't have to. If you loved the idea of the 56mm version of the lens, but wanted something a bit longer in focal length, the Velvet 85 is a fine choice. It's redundant to own both, of course, and if you shoot on a Micro Four Thirds or APS-C sensor, you'll find the Velvet 56 to be a solid option for portraits. But full-frame shooters will likely get more use out of the Velvet 85. Both are excellent lenses, albeit ones that enjoy a more limited appeal than glass that delivers a more modern, crisp look.
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