Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

[advancedrider]

As a relative newcomer, I am totally baffled as to which lens to buy. I have already made the mistake of buying a telephoto lens that is totally unsuitable for my needs and I am being drawn to the Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM lens. I have a 50 D camera and realise that this lens is effectively a 136mm on my camera.
I would wish to use it for portraiture but would also like to use it for general photography such as basic landscapes and the occasional moving objects (motorcycles). I am looking for acceptable results, not professional results.
How well would it cope with this scenario?

[wavemachine]

What lens do you currently have and what are the issues?

I will give some general answers but the more info you can give the better as well as a budget.

The 85mm Canon is a great portrait lens but for landscapes you would generally want a wide angle or standard zoom unless you are picking out detail. I tend to use my 15-85mm kit lens which does a pretty good job, there are some good sigma options such as 17 mm - 70 mm - F/2.8-4.0.

As a cheaper option for portrait there is the nifty fifty Canon EF Lens - 50 mm - F/1.8 - Canon EF this can be had for around 80 notes new and whilst it is not the strudiest of build it is very sharp and is a great portrait lens.

With regards to motorcycles what scenarios are you looking at i.e. track racing? If it is track racing then you will need something with a bit of reach such as a 70-200mm at a miinimum and the faster the lens the better i.e. F2.8 will allow you to get faster shutter speeds without having to bump the ISO up so much.

You can get superzooms such as the Tamron 17-270 and the sigma 18-250 but these cover a wide range so are a bit of a compromise.