Zoom lenses are all very well, but while they’re certainly sharp enough, they lack the distortion and aberration control found in older prime lenses. More than that, though, they have much smaller maximum apertures.

A generation of photographers raised on kit zooms may think that f3.5 is pretty reasonable, but 20-30 years ago that would have been considered slow. Most ‘standard’ lenses were f1.8 or f1.4, a 28mm wide-angle would be an f2.8, and while you might put up with a 135mm f3.5, f2.8 would be better. It’s much easier to design good-quality fast prime lenses than it is fast zooms, and even today a constant-aperture f2.8 zoom is considered ‘exotic’ and comes with a hefty price premium.

DSLRs produce better quality at higher ISOs than these film cameras of old, so it’s easy enough to increase the sensitivity to make up the difference. A fast prime lens nevertheless promises shallow depth of field effects and a degree of optical quality that’s just a little outside the scope of a zoom.

The new Nikkor 50mm f1.4 is quite an interesting lens, then. On a full-frame Nikon like the D3, D3x or D700, it makes a good, fast standard lens in the traditional style; on a DX-format Nikon, though, like the D60, D90 or D300, it has an effective focal length of 75mm because of the smaller sensor. That makes it more of a fast-portrait lens, and possibly more interesting still. Longer focal lengths are better for portraits because they produce more pleasing facial proportions, and the f1.4 maximum aperture will allow shooting in very low light and some very atmospheric shallow depth of field effects.

Actually, though, Nikon already has two 50mm lenses in its line-up – an f1.8 and an f1.4 – and both are cheaper than this one, so what’s going on? The difference is that this latest lens incorporates Nikon’s Silent Wave AF motors, whereas the other two rely on the AF motor built into the body. That’s not a problem with the more expensive Nikon bodies, but it is with the D40 and D60, which have dropped the motor from the body altogether (most current Nikkor lenses have their own AF motors now).

Optically, this lens proved faintly underwhelming. The resolution was good but not exceptional and to be honest we were expecting a little more from the Nikon D700 body we tested it on. As we mentioned in last issue’s review of the 24mm PC Nikkor though, it may just be that the D700’s style of detail reproduction doesn’t mesh too well with the image-analysis software used to calculate the resolution figures. Certainly, in normal photography the results do seem crisper than the test figures suggest.

Indeed, while most f1.4 lenses produce pretty marginal quality wide open, this one is actually pretty sharp. It really hits its stride at f2.8 and beyond, and remains consistent right down to f16, where diffraction is just starting to take the edge off the detail. Surprisingly, though, there was a touch of barrel distortion in the edges of our test chart, as you can see below.

Overall, this is a good lens that handles nicely, delivers consistent results and works well wide open, too. It does seem a little expensive, though, especially when you consider that this lens is good, but not great. It might be worth the money if you are likely to use it a lot, but if you only want a fast 50mm occasionally, you might want to consider the much-cheaper 50mm f1.8 instead. And there are a number of these around.

Final Verdict The performance is good, especially wide open, but there is a hint of barrel distortion and you’re paying a lot for an extra half-stop over the older Nikkor 50mm f1.8 OVERALL

Our lens reviewer, and technical expert, Rod is a veritable photographic encyclopaedia. His illustrious CV has seen him write for many mags, websites and journals.