Hi and welcome back to Asian Photography and today is special. Special because we are going to review Nikon’s latest prime lens, the 50mm F/1.4, which is only their second 1.4 prime lens for the Z mount, the first one being the 35 F1.4, we have reviewed that one as well.

When I see this lens, then I am wondering – is Nikon trying to redefine the market one lens at a time? Because there is one thing that Nikon is doing much better than the competition. Priced at ₹80k while the competitors are ₹1.3 lakh+

Whose it For?

The 50mm is probably my favourite lens and for the ones that’ve been shooting for a while, these were the lenses that everyone would invest in, before brands started giving the options for the 24, 35mm, etc. The beauty of this lens is that it is versatile and can be used for a variety of applications – street photography, portraits, weddings, etc. And it is built like that as well.

Look, Body & Feel

At first glance you can instantly feel that this lens is light and compact as compared to other 1.4 lenses. It weighs 420g with a filter size of 62mm. It feels well-built and premium, which means that the materials used are good and at this price point it is weather sealed.

And when attached to the Nikon Z6III, which we have used to review this lens, it feels well-balanced.

This lens has very minimal controls. There is one ring set to control focus, and another ring you can set to do other functions like exposure compensation in-camera. And that’s it. There’s no dedicated aperture ring, no more custom programmable buttons, no AF-MF switch, and no other bells & whistles. It also doesn’t come with their VR image stabilization technology.

With that in mind, let’s move on to the image quality tests, and let’s see if they have cut any corners. 

Image Quality

The pics from the lens are good. In daylight the pictures are sharp and well-detailed, yes they aren’t the sharpest on the edges but the quality that it is able to deliver is great.

In lowlight, the image quality is similar to daylight with adequate amount of sharpness throughout the frame, more in the center and tapers off in the sides.

Autofocus 

Even the autofocus performance of the lens is good. This has a stepping motor and at most it works fast and silent, which makes making pictures very easy and stealthy. So be it day time or night time, due to its wide aperture this lens is super fast at acquiring focus.

Bokeh

With a prime lens you are always looking for those beautiful bokeh and this lens doesn’t disappoint. The bokeh are well rounded and nice. In some cases, you do see the onion or egg shapes but overall they are very pleasing to the eye.

CA Value 

As usual, we tested the lens through QuickMTF and got a CA value of 0.60 pixels, which at this price point is decent. This is one area where more expensive lenses might have the edge on this one, but regardless, it can be corrected in post very easily.

Lens flare and ghosting

There is very minimal lens flaring and ghosting in the lens and if you use it smartly then it can actually give you some creative output.

Conclusion

So what do we think about the NIKKOR Z 50mm F/1.4 lens? Nikon has possibly hit the sweet spot with this lens. You get all of this performance in a compact and light body for a price of Rs. 80k. And in comparison there are options from the competitors that start at ₹1.3 lakhs and I know what you are thinking. Nikon also has that option with their F/1.8 S lens. But this also makes me wonder why would a consumer buy this when they can get a S lens for ₹50k?

Check out our video review: