Hi--

>Once more I ask for your advice, - I hope that you are able to help me. I
>have two lenses to chose between as my portrait lens, the 105/2.5 (late
>edition) and the 85/1.4. Both lenses are in mint condition. In your
>evaluation you give both the lenses the same rating (4.8).
>
>Which one should I choose?
>
>Cheers,
>Niklas.Nikitin@kau.se

Ummm...., maybe neither...;-)
The failing of the 105 f2.5 is in sharpness near wide-open
near minimum-focus; the macro 105 would be sharper here (if
that is desireable ;-), as would the 85mm f1.4 and the 85mm
f1.8 AF. For close-in head shots, the 85 may be a bit short
(but there is not a lot of difference in the FLs, really...).
The 85mm f1.4 is not the swiftest lens to use (ditto for the
105 macro...) - the 105 f2.5, 85mm f2 (which shares the 105's
close-in-at-wide-stops sharpness limitation, and 85mm f1.8
are all more pleasant to use for fast work hand-held (and the
f2s are easier to focus than the f1.4 (screens in the good
MF bodies appear to be optimised for f2.8 - in the bad AF
bodies, for f4.5 or so...). The 85mm f1.8 AF would seem to
be the best overall choice, but I think it shortens FL to
focus, making it perhaps the shortest FL of all near minimum
focus distance. Then there is the old 85mm f1.8 MF, excellent
in a multicoated sample, but not necessarily better than the
above for close-focus. Hmmmm..... I'd be inclined to look for
the 105mm f2.8 MF macro... (though it also shortens FL somewhat
when focused close - but not very much around 4' or so...);
for not-very-close-in portraits, the 85mms should serve well,
with the f1.8 AF (and second, the 85mm MF) being good. Then
there is the new AF f1.4, untried...;-) - but I'm more into
video these days...