Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLR Cameras

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Wow!! My friend, Matt, told me this was coming out and had just been announced. I jumped on the preorder list!! I have 85,58,50,24mm 1.4s and now this beautiful lens! I got it from Amazon and saw it was being delivered today so I sent a text to the UPS driver asking if I could get it off his truck for a shoot! Im so in love with this lens, I love shooting prime lenses and usaly wide open. I used it on a couple sessions today and it is tac sharp! Its a bit on the heavy side but feels great on my D5. Its quick to focus and very quiet. Its not a macro which is ok with me, I rarely ever have need for that. Ive added a pic taken today with it, this is shot at 1.6 as I thought I was wide open but not quite. Its so sharp and the background goes to a buttery blur! My 85mm 1.4 was my goto lens for portraits and Street pics but I see this as being my new standard! If you like shallow depth and sharp optics, buy it!!

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This is an absolutely brilliant lens. First of all, its just plain absurd to be able to have f/1.4 at the 105mm focal length, but that aside, its not a case where the lens is useless wide open. Its an f/1.4 lens that you can actually use at f/1.4 because it is very sharp even wide open. Close it down a bit and it becomes even sharper. Being an "E" lens, it means that a number of older cameras will not be able to control the aperture, leaving the lens stuck wide open on those cameras. Personally, it makes me a bit sad that theres no way for me to use this lens fully with any film camera, but if its going to be stuck at an aperture, I suppose I prefer this lens to be stuck wide open than closed down if I ever did decide to go down that route. As you can probably imagine with a 105mm f/1.4 lens, the size and weight are no joke. This is fairly large lens that will, at times, intimidate people on the other side of it. This is something that many people dont really think about and with people used to modeling or having photos taken of them, it may not affect them, but it might take a bit for some family members to get used to it. And as far as carrying it around for street photography—yes, Ive actually tried this—be prepared to be met with suspicion like youre some sort of stalker. All joking aside, it is definitely a large lens and if youre one to be involved in long photo sessions or carry your camera around for long periods of time, I would definitely take the weight and size of it into consideration. Ive found that having a sling strap has helped a lot in this regard. Probably because 105mm makes for a really good portrait length, people assume that this is a portrait lens and while it is an excellent lens for that purpose, I wouldnt necessarily pigeon-hole it like that. Its technical proficiency makes it useful for all sorts of shooting. Ironically, there is a contingent of people that dislike lenses like this for portraits simply because they feel that the sharpness starts to work against them by bringing out all of the details—read: flaws—in the skin. I can empathize with this to a degree and I agree that sharpness should not be the be all/end all of how a lens should be evaluated. That having been said, I will point out that you can soften features in post if you have a sharp lens, but if you dont have a sharp lens, you cant exactly bring detail back. On this topic, the most obvious competitor to this lens would be Nikons own 105mm f/2 DC, which is an older autofocus design with Nikons "De-Focus Control". The 105mm f/2 DC is an excellent lens in its own right and is a very sharp lens as well. The two lenses, however, are quite different and simply render images in a different way so even though the newer lens was likely released as a replacement, I wouldnt really consider it a a spiritual successor to the older lens. Dont get me wrong, the DC does not hold a candle to the 1.4E in image quality, but I definitely think that it has some desirable attributes that have not carried over to the 1.4E there will be different situations that each one is better suited for. I imagine part of this is due to the way we judge lenses has evolved since the advent of all of these sites that will rub laboratory tests and assign numerical performance values. While there are many technical attributes, we can measure objectively, we would do well to keep in mind that a lot of photography is subjective and there are aspects of the character of lenses that can be difficult to quantify. So if you already own the 105mm f/2 DC, I would say try out both before making a decision to "upgrade". Having gone into that, as an exercise in technical excellence, the new 105mm f/1.4E is a stunning specimen of modern lens design. Attached to a D810, the lens focuses very well and I have not needed to perform any auto-focus micro-adjustments. The speed of focusing is not super fast—theres a lot of big glass to move around—so I dont know how well it will work out for something that is looking for a lens to shoot indoor sports or some other fast action. I have tried shooting some moving animals from time to time and its been hit or miss, but its entirely possible that this is due to my technique given the fact that I dont really do that kind of shooting. All in all, I am very happy to have added this lens to my arsenal and its been a solid workhorse for me since I got it. I would encourage anyone to give it a shot. In an increasingly competitive market, I really do believe that Nikon hit it out of the park with this particular release. Now if theyll just release a new 50mm and 135mm... --------------------- Update: I recently took the lens out to a soccer game and it seems like my initial concerns about the AF speed were largely unfounded as I felt that the lens performed pretty admirably overall. Ive uploaded a few of the photos and while there were certainly a few misses, I ended up with a lot more keepers than I had initially anticipated. Granted, soccer is probably not the ideal sport to be shooting with this lens given the relatively short focal length in relation to the size of the field, but I just wanted to give it a real test and I would say that it passed with flying colors.

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This is a superb lens in the same class as the 200 f2 I think. On the D850 autofocus is instantaneous - so fast you don’t even notice it focusing, even in less than perfect light. I think the lack of VR actually helps here as there is no delay while it is stabilizing. It is noticeably sharper than the 105 2.8. Colors and bokeh are beautiful. If you love sharp eyes where you can count the eyelashes this is the lens for you. It is a big lens but it balances very well on the D850 so I don’t find the size problematic at all. Is it the best portrait lens? It is a great focal length in terms of flexibility, distance and mobility. I prefer the reach to the 85 which I always end up cropping quite a bit. Personally I prefer the increased isolation of the 200 f2 and I find the 200 has a bit more color pop than the 105. I absolutely love the new 300 f4 FL. It is a great portrait lens - very sharp and fantastic isolation. Also easy to handhold and very mobile. Minimum focusing is a bit restricting and obviously you need to be able to put some distance between yourself and the subject but I have gotten shots I really like indoors. So for a posed shot I think the 200 wins. For a candid where I have the distance and light I would give the edge to the 300. For just about everything else the 105 wins. For added flexibility - ie also doing group or other the 85 1.4 or 58 1.4 (an unfairly maligned lens I think) have more flexibility. If money were no object for an FX lineup I think the 58, 85 1.4, 105 1.4, 200 f2, and 300 f4 can’t be beat for image quality and usability. The 200 is a beast but in situations where the size and weight are problematic either the 105 or 300 can substitute.

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UPDATE: I have had this lens for a while now paired up with my D850. It does take spectacular pictures and the bokeh is worth every penny! However, I would buy other lenses BEFORE you buy this one. What I mean is that if your willing to spend 2K on a genuine Nikkor lens that you should probably get the 20-70 lens or the 35, 50, or even the 85 first. This is a big lens and is not for shooting casual close up shooting. I still love this lens but it is now my third place lens. I find myself using the (2.8) 20-70 lens for family shots and my Rokinon (1.4) 35 for many of my night time and landscape shots. Just got it. Wow! Ive got it paired up with my D500 for now but expect to pair it with the D850 soon. Its super expensive and I cant tell you if its worth it yet but the pictures are spectacular. The bokeh will rock you. Its one thing to see a super clear and focused picture with awesome bokeh that someone else took but its just fantastic when you realize you can also take fabulous pictures with the right equipment. Im not even a good enough photographer to call myself an amateur yet but I can take some really nice pictures of people and landscape with this lens. I shot down the block and up in the sky just to see what the difference was (nighttime). It was very significant upgrade from my 2.8 16-80 zoom. I cant wait to try it out on people and some nighttime landscape and milky way shooting. Definitely need to pair it with the D850 now.

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Im a professional wedding photographer, and shoot with a bunch of Nikon primes. For years, I used the Nikon 85mm 1.4G for my telephoto, but always wanted a little more reach. Prior to the release of the 105mm 1.4E, the downside to Nikons prime tele lineup was that their DC series (105 and 135mm) hadnt been updated since they were released in 90s. When the 105mm 1.4E was released, I was very excited and pre-ordered it. After shooting with it for 3 months in the field, here are some observations: 1) This lens is SHARP wide open. It beats the 85mm 1.4G, both in sharpness and contrast. Colors are beautiful, and spot on. Like the 58mm 1.4G, this lens has a look all its own. It can isolate subjects in a very special way, and really makes them pop in images. Nano coating combats flare well, maintaining contrast and color, which is very useful to me, since I shoot during sunset quite a bit. 2) Dont be fooled, the 105 is comparable in size to the beastly Canon 85mm 1.2. Its very large (takes a 82mm filter!) and is quite heavy, over 2 lbs. I notice its weight whenever its in my camera bag, compared to the 85mm 1.4G. This is the biggest drawback of this lens to me, because when you shoot 8+ hour weddings, you feel the weight from this piece of glass on your shoulder. It balances fine on my D4s, but feels front heavy on my D810. 3) AF speed and tracking is about 30% quicker and more accurate than the 85mm 1.4G in my experience. Its not a speed demon like the 70-200, but its the fastest Ive seen in a Nikon prime. 4) Build quality is solid, with the same polycarbonate exterior as Nikons other nano primes, along with a gasket at the lens mount. Ive shot with it in rain and its been fine. Focus ring is large and nicely dampened. 5) Price tag is steep, but if your bread and butter is shooting portraits, and you like the telephoto look, this is the lens for you. Happy shooting!

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What can I say that hasnt been said about this lens? Lets see, it is the worlds fastest 105mm lens that takes fantastic portraits, with very, very soft backgrounds and beautiful bokeh. It is also worth noting that this lens is aimed primarily at portrait photography. It’s designed with a range of ideal focal lengths for portrait photography, and the wide maximum aperture makes it easy to blur the background—which I love! I enjoy being behind the lens and I simply LOVE portrait photography—and I wanted this lens to add to my collection. I carefully researched the pros and cons of the capabilities. It definitely has changed the game for capturing stunningly sharp images, even so, the cost gave me a reason to pause before clicking the buy button. Did I really want to spend over 2k for one lens? No, but Yessssss! I did and no regrets!

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This lens is extraordinary. Quite possibly Nikons best optics ever. Its a bit bigger and heavier than I expected, but damn, the images that emerge from it are something else!

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I had read this lens was great for portraits and it is true. I took this lens with me on my wifes birthday weekend in Montevallo. We went to visit her alma matter and spent one day walking the campus so she could show me where she had gotten her undergraduate degree. While there I went ahead and took some shots of her on the campus. We also went to a park - Orr Park- in Montevallo where they have famous tree carvings. I used the 105 f1/4 ED here as well and the shots were brilliant with excellent bokeh. This lens is a monster size wise and can be a bit much for carrying around on foot but the results are worth every footstep! Obviously the lens is fast but it is sharp as well and with the resolution of the D810 well worth the extra money.

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It is just what I expected, high quality.

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This is the best lens which I own. The sharpness really compares to my 200mm f2 lens just without the heaviness. The bokeh is really nice. This lens is in my camera bag at all times.

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