Nikon Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.4 review - Summary

Have you rated your lenses yet?

Nikon Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.4

28 October 2024

Maciej Latałło

11. Summary

Pros:

closed mechanical construction that remains weather-sealed,
excellent resolution in the frame centre,
moderate longitudinal chromatic aberration,
lack of problems with lateral chromatic aberration,
low distortion,
slight astigmatism,
nice out-of-focus areas,
moderate vignetting on the APS-C/DX sensor,
sensible performance against bright light,
silent and accurate autofocus,
very low level of focus breathing,
good price/performance ratio.

Cons:

weak image quality on the edge of the frame in close distance to the maximum relative aperture,
noticeable spherical aberration,
huge coma,
significant vignetting on full frame.

Launching of the Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.4 is a very interesting and quite bold move of Nikon. You get one of the smallest contemporary 1.4/50 lenses available on the market that, additionally, is quite affordable. As we mentioned earlier this launch should be considered as an attempt to offer an equivalent of old double gauss constructions that will be able to perform well when combined with contemporary 40+ Mpix sensors. It seems this attempt is rather successful. What's more there's a bonus – a closed construction with immobile front and back elements and make the whole instrument weather-sealed, humidity and dust resistant. Double gauss lenses that move the whole optical system, couldn't have boasted of such properties.

Please Support Us

If you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - advertisement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Of course the Nikkor Z 50 mm is hardly a flawless device. Huge coma is perhaps its biggest disadvantage. Still the list of advantages remains impressively big and there is also that attractive price, a crucial asset that makes this lens so interesting. In the introduction we mentioned that the launch price of the reflex camera Nikon AF-S 50 mm f/1.4G, a not especially original double gauss construction, would correspond to 2650 PLN in Poland right now after taking into account the official inflation rate. Meanhile the new Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.4 you can buy for about 2100 PLN ($500). In other words the comtemporary price of the Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.4 would be an equivalent of 1185 PLN fifteen years ago. It's hard not to call it attractive. As a result we don't doubt that the tested lens is a very fine complementation of the Z system and will find a lot of satisfied users.