So I finally pulled the trigger on the R8 after years of shooting on my old 5D Mark III and honestly Im kind of panicking right now because I didnt realize how expensive the native RF glass ecosystem is for portraits... like I spent almost my entire savings on the body and now I have a shoot for a bunch of high school seniors next Saturday and no actual lens to show for it. I have the EF-RF adapter but my old EF 85mm 1.8 has seen better days and the focus is hunting like crazy on this new body which I totally didnt expect. I thought the R8 autofocus was supposed to be magic but maybe my old lens is just dying or the motor cant keep up with the new tech?

I really need something sharp for headshots but I only have about $450 left in the budget after buying extra batteries since the R8 battery life is... well, it isnt great. I am looking at a few options but I am worried about making the wrong call and having soft shots for a paying client. Chicago weather is finally getting nice so well be outdoors in a park for most of it and I need something that can handle that bright light but still give me that creamy background.

Here is what I am looking for:

• Budget under $500 max, preferably closer to $300 so I can buy some ND filters
• Fast autofocus because these kids dont stay still and I need that eye-tracking to actually work
• Decent bokeh because the background at the park is gonna be pretty distracting and ugly this time of year
• Not too heavy because I dont want to be lugging a brick around for a 4 hour session

I keep looking at the RF 85mm f2 macro but I heard the autofocus is clunky and loud compared to the L series and I am worried it wont keep up with moving subjects. Then theres the cheap 50mm 1.8 but is that really pro enough for paid work? I feel like I might need more compression for those flattering headshots. Should I just bite the bullet on the RF 85mm or is there some third party stuff like Viltrox that actually works well with the R8 mount without throwing errors every five minutes? I feel like I am overthinking this but the clock is ticking...