I had one of these for a long time and made the mistake of letting it go because I thought the Sigma 30mm 1.4 would replace it. It wasn't long before I missed it so now it's back to stay. It's a great lens on a digital SLR up to at least a half height portrait.

Fast; sharp; light

Noisy AF; Soft in corners on full frame (film) at 1.4

Basic tools are a necessity in any field of work. Construction workers have circular saws. Painters have primer coats. Mechanics have socket sets. And good photographers have fast, sharp and ideally inexpensive lenses. These are tools good tradesmen require.

It's the sharpest lens I own, and I have the 85 f/1.4, 70-200 and 17-55. This is the lens I reach for when I'm shooting billboard images or need that tack-sharp bridal portrait.Bokeh is pretty decent, not up to the 85mm, but I get very nice results at f/2-2.8.

Sharp, light weight, solid; Fairly cheap

Noisy focusing, not very smooth; Made in China

Similar to its cousin (AF 50mm f/1.8 D) the Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.4 D is a very good performer. At f/1.4 the contrast is a little on the low side and the borders may be a little soft but from f/2.8 & up the performance is really superb.

The pictures below illustrate the angles of view on FX (35mm full frame) and DX camera bodies:

Excellent image quality when stopped down; Essentially no lateral chromatic aberration

Distinctly soft at wider apertures; Bokeh chromatic aberration; most visible at wide apertures; Broad blue-coloured halation at wide apertures; Vignetting at wide apertures on full frame (essentially disappears by F2.8

Excellent image quality when stopped down ; Essentially no lateral chromatic aberration;

Distinctly soft at wider apertures; Bokeh chromatic aberration, most visible at wide apertures; Broad blue-coloured halation at wide apertures; Vignetting at wide apertures on full frame (essentially disappears by F2.8);

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D is one of two 50mm primes that Nikon currently offers in its modern lineup. The second 50mm prime is the slightly slower Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D. The current version of the 50mm f/1.4D was first released in 1995, replacing the fully manual version of Nikon Nikkor 50mm...

Despite using a 15-year-old optical formula, the lens still stands up to scrutiny: while it's not tack-sharp when used wide-open, it's still quite good, and stopped down to ƒ/2.8 image quality is excellent. At ƒ/8, it's as sharp as sharp gets.

In addition to backwards compatibility with AI models of the past, what else does this fast yet affordable prime offer? Find out in the AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 D review

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Non-IF focusing

The Nikon 50mm f/1.4 D is an entry-level prime lens that offers with AI cameras of yesteryear. It even features Nikon's once-standard 52mm filter thread. Yet despite all this, its D-series specification indicates that it will transfer distance information to a suitably interfaced camera body in...

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Non-IF focusing