New prime lens for portraits - 85mm f1.8?

[Scatterbrain]

I'm about to buy a new prime lens for portrait work. I have a Canon 5d & my current favourite lens is a cheap and chearful 50mm f1.8.

I mainly photograph young children/babies and love how close I can get with the 50mm, but do have a vignetting issue with this lens. I also have some weddings & christenings coming up in the summer and think I could do with something with a bit more reach.

I do have a lovely L class zoom (70-200 f4), but really feel happier working with prime lenses.

I'm thinking of getting the 85mm f1.8. The reviews I've seen so far seem good.
Or should I stick with the focal length I know and go for the 50mm f1.4?

What do you think? Am I overlooking an obvious lens for my purpose?
My budget is under £1000, which will rule out a prime L class I think.

[natek313]

The 85mm f/1.8 USM lens is a great lens and a wonderful price. I think you'd be very happy with it.

[inkista]

The 85/1.8 is good. But there are two other lenses that often get overlooked that you may also want to consider that are in roughly the same price range: the EF 100mm f/2 USM, and the EF 135 f/2.8 Soft Focus.

The 100/2 is a near-identical sibling to the 85/1.8, with the same characteristics: its very sharp, focuses very quickly, good for low light. I've seen shots with it, and the sharpness and bokeh come very close to what my 135L can do.

The 135/2.8 Soft Focus is an older oddity of a lens. It, too, can rival the 135L for sharpness. The interesting part is that it has the "Soft Focus" feature, where you can dial in some spherical aberration, and get that hazy gauze/vaseline-on-the-lens effect. This is, however, purely optional, and without it, it's a damn sharp lens.

However, none of these lenses will give you the contrast/color an L lens will. Your budget could just squeak by and snag you an EF 135mm f/2L USM. And they don't call it one of the Canon Portrait "Holy Trinity" for nothing. [The other two are the much more expensive 35/1.4L and 85/1.2L]. You can think of the 135L as the prime analog to the 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM--135mm is the middle of the 70-200 zoom range.