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

Product Information

Grab the ring at any time for instant manual-focus override, unlike the previous 85mm f/1.8 AF-D which requires moving a switch on the camera. It has a tiny bit of barrel distortion which can be corrected for critical use by plugging these figures into Photoshop's Nikon made about 70,000 of these f/1.4 manual focus lenses. Nikon's only made about 30,000 of the AF version — so far. This is a professional lens for use on FX and 35mm cameras. Unless I specifically call it out, I'm not talking about DX cameras like the D7000, D300 or D200 in this review.

It will come with "metal" lens hood. Unfortunately the lens hood it screw in type and you can't reverse it for more compact storage. In spite of that, the lens hood is fully metal, so it is better than regular plastic type and a lot more durable. At smaller apertures, these three 85/1.4 lenses are the same, except that the AF-D version never gets that sharp at the sides, while the AI-s and this AF-S lens certainly do. Manual focus on the Nikon D800 is also fast, easy and accurate using the electronic indicators, even at f/1.4. Coma ( saggital coma flare) often causes weird smeared blobs to appear around bright points of light in the corners of fast or wide lenses at large apertures. In lenses that have it, coma goes away as stopped down.An anti-reflective coating developed by Nikon that virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections across a wide range of wavelengths. Everything works perfectly on every digital Nikon ever made, both FX and DX, from the best D4, D800 and D800E to Nikon's cheapest digitals like the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D5000 and D5100. The Nikon 85mm f/1.4G IF AF-S NIKKOR Lens offers photographers a refreshed take on the revered 85mm, f/1.4 portrait lens. As a testament to its lineage, it effortlessly melds advanced technological features, from the proprietary Silent Wave Motor (SWM) to the Nano Crystal Coat (N), bringing out the zenith of your Nikon D-SLR or HD-SLR, be it in a bustling studio or the serene outdoors.

Even with the Nano-Crystal Coating hoo-hah, there are ghosts if you insist on pointing this big lens at the sun, and putting something dark in the foreground, you can get a ghost: In case you're wondering just how far Nikon has brought optics with the introduction of this 85mm f/1.4, here's how well Nikon's current fastest in-production lens, the 50mm f/1.2 AI-s, looks stopped-down to f/1.4: 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. And on another note: While switching between the new 35/1.4G and the 85/1.4G it is very obvious that 85mm on a DX-body is already taxing your skills to keep the lens steady. Try to shoot 1/125 sec at least if you want to avoid shake and produce sharp photos hand-held! On the D200 and set to ƒ/1.4, this sample of the 85mm produced a sharp image, but not as sharp as some of the newer Nikkor lenses we have reviewed. This can hardly be surprisingly; the design and technology used in this lens is over 13 years old. That said, it's still quite sharp, at just under 2 blur units in the central region and 3 in the corners. Stopping down to ƒ/2 renders a dramatic improvement, with an impressive sweet spot of sharpness in the central region. By ƒ/2.8 this sweet spot improves to fill almost the entire frame, and by ƒ/4 only traces of corner softness remain. Diffraction limiting sets in by ƒ/11, but the effect is minimal as the lens is stable at 1.5 blur units at both ƒ/11 and ƒ/16.

Product Specification

Because Nikon 85mm f/1.4D does not have built-in motor focus like modern lenses (AF-S) lens, it relies on camera body to focus. It speed will also depend on the camera body. The more higher-end model such as Nikon D700, D3 or D3X will focus faster than the entry-level camera.

If you have any question, comment or suggestion regarding the review head over here. A selection of my shots with this lens can be found there.

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With those caveats, the Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF-S G is ultra-sharp edge-to-edge at every aperture, especially on the 36 MP Nikon D800. The Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S shares the same smooth, minimalistic design of other Z mount prime lenses. It has a plastic barrel with a plastic 67mm filter thread, although the rear part of the lens, the mount itself, and the focus ring are all made out of metal. The lens only has a single A / M switch for switching between autofocus and manual focus, so aside from the switch and the focus ring (which you can program for other tasks if desired), there are no other controls on the lens to worry about. The completely different autofocus 85mm f/1.4 D lens is introduced. This manual focus 85mm f/1.4 AI-s is not discontinued. For scientists, this 85's corner coma performance easily exceeds the exotic 58mm f/1.2 Noct-NIKKOR. Both the Noct and this 85/1.4 have no coma to keep points of light sharp in the corners wide-open, and this 85/1.4 is much sharper than the Noct in the corners at large apertures. Good-night, Noct! It won't autofocus with the cheapest new AF 35mm cameras like the N55, but if you focus manually, everything else works great. Even if you lose autofocus, these cameras have in-finder focus confirmation dots to help you.