Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G Lens

Product Information

The Nikon 85mm f/1.4 G AF-S Lens is the successor to Nikon's popular AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF lens. Designed for use with Nikon's FX-format DSLRs, this professional medium telephoto lens features a fast f/1.4 aperture, as well as a Silent Wave Motor (SWM), and Nikon's Nano Crystal Coat to reduce ghosting and flare. The 9-blade rounded aperture produces soft and pleasing blur characteristics. I love this lens for all the reasons in my list of pros, as well as what people have already said. It's the lens I reach for when in low light environments, awesome for portraits, but equally as good for landscpe creativity. I bought this lens cheap from a friend who was switching to Canon - he now regrets that switch :p Anyway, the lens was like new, immaculate glass and AF operation, just a few scuffles on the outside. Being spoiled by all AF-S lenses in my kit, I wished this lens was also AF-S but the image quality makes me forget all that. Here are a few examples of the wonderful bokeh of this lens:

This effect is worst wide-open, and reduces at smaller apertures, so I'd not worry in the daytime, even with an uncoated filter. For people on a size, weight or cash budget, the 85/1.8 AF-D is a far more practical lens. The 2/3 of a stop isn't particularly noticeable, the 85/1.8 often focuses faster, it has optics as good or better than the older lenses, but the f/1.8 85mm requires using the camera's AF mode switch to get between auto and manual focus. The 85/1.8 has been a winner ever since its introduction in 1987; don't pass it up. This Nikon 85mm f/1.8 G is the sharpest 85mm lens ever made by Nikon, sharper on the D800 than even the extraordinary 85mm f/1.4 G, and Nikon's been making 85mm lenses since 1949. On the D800 in the laboratory, it's also slightly sharper than the original and still current 85mm f/1.8 AF-D. This is the legendary Nikkor portrait lenses. The lens comes with a screw on hood, excellent metal construction and is a solid performer. Let’s take a look at how the Nikon 85mm f/1.4G does when compared to its smaller, lighter, cheaper and newer f/1.8G sibling:The very best protective filter is the 72mm Hoya multicoated HD3 UV which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints, and is also multicoated.

Film is a more forgiving medium than 12MP-and-up FX digital when it comes to lens performance, thus this stellar-on-digital lens looks incredible on film at any setting.Manual focus on the Nikon D800 is also fast, easy and accurate using the electronic indicators, even at f/1.4. See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details on your camera. Read down the "AI, AI-s" column for this lens. The lens is of an older design however, and could certainly use several upgrades for better performace (while keeping the same image quality). For starters, the screw on hood is difficult to put on the lens, and I am not happy with how I can damage the lens by bumping it against something, as I am prone to doing. With a bayonet lens, the hood flies off and is easily retrievable, with a screw on hood, there is likelihood of thread damage. Nikon's AFS autofocus motors break. I've had a couple die on me, and if this lens dies and Nikon decides no longer to supply repair parts, you've got a manual-only focus lens. The astonishing observation here is that you in fact get lower contrast when closing the aperture, although that should minimize stray-light in the lens. But unfortunately the reflections from the aperture itself cause some veiling glare.

Nikon's new 85mm f/1.4 lens is the latest professional lens from Nikon, replacing the clunkier old 85mm f/1.4 AF-D (1995-2010). Professional photographers have been expecting this AF-S lens since 2007 when Nikon unveiled their first full-frame digital camera, the D3. AF speed is as we expect. It's a little slower than the 85mm f/1.8 AF-D, and the same to maybe a little faster than the 85mm f/1.4 G.

Optically, the lens is comprised of 12 elements in 8 groups, two of which are extra-low dispersion (ED) elements. Nikon did not incorporate any aspherical lens elements into the design, because they are known to negatively impact the lens’ bokeh performance. The Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S is coated with both Nano Crystal Coat and Super Integrated Coating to reduce ghosting and flare. There are nine rounded aperture blades, and the lens is fully weather-sealed, similar to other Nikon Z S primes. NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S @ 85mm, ISO 200, 1/2000, f/2.8 The 85mm ƒ/1.4 showed excellent resistance to chromatic aberration, with the worst results consistently less than 2/100ths of a percent of frame height across all apertures. On the full-frame 5D we registered 3/100ths of a percent of frame height in the worst case, but this is still extremely good performance. When used on a DX camera, it gives an angle of view similar to what a 130mm lens gives when used on an FX or 35mm camera.