The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G Lens is a standard lens with an ultra-bright f/1.4 aperture, which allows for fast, accurate shooting with available light. It is also the excellent choice for when a shallow depth of field is desired. An ideal portrait lens when used on a Nikon DX-format digital SLR, it approximates the angle of view similar to that of a 75mm lens on a Nikon FX-format digital SLR or a 35mm film camera.

The optical design of this lens minimizes flare and chromatic aberration. The SWM (Silent Wave Motor) feature ensures fast and quiet focusing action, and the nine-blade rounded diaphragm makes out-of-focus elements blend smoothly to produce natural-looking, harmonious backgrounds.

An ideal prime lens, perfect for full-length portraits, travel photography or any type of available-light shooting.

Ideal for travel, event, environmental and general photography in a wide variety of conditions, with superb optical formula and an ultra-fast f/1.4 maximum aperture.

Read more at Nikon USA

Reviews

Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S review by kenrockwell.com

At f/1.4: The 50mm f/1.4G AF-S is sharp all over, but has lower contrast in the corners of FX due to coma (slight radial blurring of highlights). The spherical aberration in the center isn’t much of a problem, so most of the image is sharp and contrasty without much veiling, fog or haze, also called glow or bloom by Leicaphiles.

A 50mm f/1.4 is mandatory for anyone shooting in available light. The older AF-D works great on all the cameras likely to be used by serious photographers, but you were out of luck with the D40, D40x or D60.

This new 50mm gives even clearer results for real-world available-light portraiture at f/1.4 than the older lenses, and it doesn’t chatter away in AF-C mode as do the older mechanically focused (AF and AF-D) 50mm and 85mm lenses. All these lenses are equally sharp by f/2.8.

Another reason to get this newest AF-S is to have autofocus on the crappiest digital D40, D40x and D60 cameras, or just to get better handing than the older AF-D lenses.

If price matters, the old 50/1.4 AF-D is still excellent. The biggest disadvantage is having to keep your hands away from the old 50mm’s focus ring as it moves by itself in AF mode.

If you worry about straight lines or distortion, this is the worse 50mm lens ever made by Nikon since at least 1950, and I’ve tried them all, even for their rangefinder cameras. For low distortion, any of the f/1.8 lenses are nearly perfect. The 50mm f/2 and other f/1.4 lenses are all better than this 50/1.4G. The 50mm f/1.2 (only made for pros, so it’s manual-focus only) is about the same, but still has a a hair less distortion than this 50/1.4 AF-S.

Enough of my bellyaching. This AF-S lens rules for real shooting. Shoot it in the dark, and the images are sharp, and dead-on in-focus with any of the cameras I’ve tried. With an f/1.4 lens, being in focus is critical, and this new lens excels at real-world performance.

Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G – Review / Test Report by photozone.de

The Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G is a very good lens that performs on a high level except for slightly soft borders and somewhat busy bokeh at wide open aperture. From f/2 onwards, the lens is able to deliver crisp images that do not leave much to desire. For most applications the silent wave AF drive is fast enough. Combined with the high build quality this results in an attractive package that might not necessarily tempt those who already own the older AF-D 50/1.4 lens, but probably all others looking for a fast standard prime. Highly recommended!

Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G review diary by cameralabs.com

In this review diary, Cameralabs forum moderator Thomas tests the new Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G lens on his Nikon D300 body.

First impressions are that focusing on the new model is much quieter and quicker than the old version – as you’d expect with its SWM focusing motor. But the new 50mm is perhaps not as quick a focuser as you’d hope as the travel of the focus ring itself is so long. This does however make precision manual focusing easier.

The build quality of the new model is “solid plastic” with the movement of the focus ring sharing the same plasticky feeling compared to the focus ring on the older AF-version. But it now has a rubber grommet at the lens-mount which provides environmental sealing.

Links

Press Release and Specifications by DPReview.com
Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G flickr group