Lusting for an 1.4/85mm - is this reasonable?

[springm]

I am very fond of portraits with minimal depth of field and soft blurred out-of-focus areas, so since quite a while I am on the brink of purchasing an old Minolta 1.4/85 for my A700. But before realizing such a costly dream, I want to re-check and hear your experiences with this lens. Especially I am interested if the AF works reliably with this minimum depth of field and if there are any incompatibilities or caveats to be aware of.
And then of course there is the tamron 2.0/60mm macro lens, still not available in A-mount. Could this be an alternative for the 85mm?

Markus

[Javelin]

There is a post on DPR, actually a few about a Korean (I think it's Korean) Rokinon plastic bodied 85 f1.4. it's manual focus only but they were talking it up for the money ~250 bucks if I remember. the samples looked very good. and if your using it for portraits at F1.4 you may want to be manual focusing anyway because of the shallow DOF.

See
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp ... e=32095755" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=32124044" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[InTheSky]

There is still the 58mm F/1.2 who is very easy to modify with an M42 confirm focus adapter (I have modified my second one a few days ago). The out of focus effect of the old Rokkor is amazing, almost every picture taken with it are a pleasure to look at.

But the 85mm F/1.4 is a good lens too, even the old one. The advantage is that the autofocus will work. The 50mm F/1.7 is not so bad to for a start if you don't have it. In price the 50mm 1.4 are an option (you can have two for the price of the 85mm F/1.4).

Depth of field become like drug ... once you search for it ... there is no limit

[bfitzgerald]

85mm f1.8 would be very welcomed.

Fast, reasonable price..and I bet a great seller.