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

Great stuff

Una delle migliori lenti Nikon in commercio, non ha bisogno di presentazioni!! Costruzione solida, nitidezza e bokeh eccezionali! Altamente consigliato

Buena calidad

I have to admit that I am an 85mm lens junkie. I have owned six different 85mm lenses including the storied Canon 85mm 1.2 L II. I have also owned the Nikon 85mm 1.8D. After giving my 1.8D to my son-in-law, I picked up the 1.8G, which is a fabulous lens clearly an improvement on the D version in terms of clarity, color and bokeh. The reviews generally claim that there is little difference between the two lenses and given the price difference, I wasn't tempted. However, when the recent rebates dropped the price of the 1.4G to under $1400, I couldn't resist any longer. So, is the 1.4 a great lens? Absolutely. Is it worth the price difference? That is a much tougher question. Obviously, this lens provides 1.4 and 1.6. If you need the speed then you have to pay the price. In addition, the bokeh at 1.4 is noticeably superior to that at 1.8. So, again if you need the smoothness difference then you have to pay the price. My 1.4 is sharp wide open (amazing) and is sharper than my 1.8 at every common aperture (some reviews differ). The difference may be due to better contrast, but the difference is nonetheless there. However, the differences are not major and are only noticeable on high magnification and close scrutiny. As for bokeh, at 1.8 and smaller apertures (larger aperture designations like 2.8 and 4.0), there are differences, but they are subtle. The fact is that the lenses are more alike than they are different. I can't say emphatically that there are shots that I can get with the 1.4 (other than shots taken at 1.4 and 1.6) that I couldn't get with the 1.8, but I'm willling to pay the difference just in case. However, I can say with a high degree of confidence that whatever that number is, it is much less than 5% of the shots I take at 85mm. So, if you are on a budget and don't require sub-1.8 aperture shots, I could not in good conscience advise you to purchase this gem when the 1.8G is so excellent. As for the comparison with the Canon 1.2, the 1.4G fares very well. Sharpness wide open is pretty close between the lenses (this is a non-rigorous comparison; a serious comparison would require mounting the 1.4G onto a Canon body and shooting both lenses in tandem). The thing that I found to be truly interesting is that the smoothness of the bokeh between lenses is very close despite the 1/3 stop difference. In fact, I give the 1.4G bokeh the nod by half a nose. However, this conclusion--as are most with respect to bokeh--is somewhat subjective and may also depend somewhat on differences in rendering between Nikon and Canon bodies. Regardless, it's good to know that Nikon shooters don't lose much (or anything) by not having the fastest 85mm lens available. The decision of which lens to use is difficult. For raw speed the Canon is faster (1/2 stop); but I prefer the Nikon bokeh and it focuses faster. Moreover, the Nikon provides better-edge-to-edge sharpness wide open. So what lens did a take on a reason hike? It was the Nikon 1.8G which was the preferred lens due to its compact size.

Mache damit Portraits, sehr gutes Objektiv.