Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Reviews

All of my 50f1.4's have been the earlier Nikkor-S or SC versions. Found the Nikkor-S lenses to be a little more contrasty, surprisingly, than the SC lenses. A little soft at full aperture, but great once you hit f/5.6 and smaller. Don't try to reverse it, though.

Amazing build quality and excellent sharpness and colour rendition from f/2.8 onwards. The sharpest of all standard nikkor lenses at f/11 and f/16. A bit soft at edges at f/1.4 and f/2.0, but great bokeh nevertheless. Excellent focusing ring and solid feel helps you focus extremely accurately. If you still shoot film, try to underexpose by 1/3 of a stop to get truly stunning colours from either Kodachrome 64 (rate it at ISO 80) or Velvia 100F (rate it at ISO 125).

First Nikkor I have ever owned since 20+ years ago. Bright and Sharp. A pleasure to operate one.

Best at f8.

Outstanding AIS lens. So is the F1.8 I just like a little more speed in my lenses. Plus I like the SIC on the lens elements of the 1.4 AIS (late version). This is great general use, walk around lens. To me, it's a short telephoto lens.