{"id":7347,"date":"2018-04-28T13:05:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T11:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soerenhese.de\/sailpower-blog\/?page_id=7347"},"modified":"2022-09-20T15:48:52","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T13:48:52","slug":"the-cream-machine-the-nikkor-af-d-85mm-f1-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpower.de\/?page_id=7347","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Cream Machine – The Nikkor AF-D 85mm f1.4 ### outdated ###<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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The “Cream Machine” –\u00a0using the AF Nikkor 85 1.4D IF <\/span><\/b><\/span> (outdated!)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n


Review Versioning: <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

9.4.2008: Initial upload<\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Introduction:<\/span><\/span><\/u><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nikon AF 85 1.4D  is a lens dedicated to low light photography and portraits. No question: this lens is for beauty photography – it renders reality at its wide open setting in a fashion that is best described with “magical”. However low depth of field and soft bokeh should fit to your intentions.<\/span><\/span>
With this lens people come to very different conclusion. Some rave about the beautiful background blur and most of the full time photographers agree that the lens is sharp right from the wide open setting and just the perfect portrait lens with
unrivalled abilities to throw the background into a soft and creamy soap of fading colours. Others however indicated
that sharpness wide open isn’t on a high level, but as you usually get this lens to use it at the wide open side of the ring, this is an important piece of the 85-story (actually my findings are that the lens is indeed unbelievable sharp at its wide open position at least in the centre of the frame, it seems however to be difficult to find the right focus point with a f1.4 lens opening with some DSLRs).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The AF 85 f1.4D
mounted on a FM3A<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finally decided to get this lens because I find myself shooting mostly under avail. light conditions, I am not a flash type of photographer and I prefer to play with a blurred background. I rarely shoot closed down with a tele lens. So I expected to be able to broaden my creative work with unsharp and smooth backgrounds with this lens. Another aspect where this lens shines is portrait photography. Pointing a 70-200 mm f2.8 lens towards a person is intimidating and usually creates unspecific
reactions that interfere with your photographic intentions – a dedicated people lens is much better suited for this task and gives an additional flexibility with faster shutter speeds you wouldn’t have with a 2.8 zoom – especially with kids or on stage etc.. <\/span>
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Lowlight photography is technically easy when a tripod can be used. If you want to freeze motions a tripod doesn’t help much and using high ISO sensitivity values and fast lenses is a must. With increasing ISO abilities of the new DSLRs – as of march 2008: D3 and D300 – very fast lenses will allow to use available light with low light situations beyond good & bad. It just
“defies limitations” to use Nikons clever slogan.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lens comes with a massive metal hood that must be screwed on and with the lens hood mounted the whole lens\/hood combinaton looks big – no question (and its not a lightweight: 550g). This is not a shy setup for church photos with an “I am not here!” attitude (though must be great for church events on a D3). The large and impressive front element of the lens looks kind of light hungry and the hood is also a good way to protect the front. The 85 uses the old AF-D design of the MF\/AF-switch also used with the old two-ring 80-200 mm lens and with the old 20-35 mm AF-D lens design. The lens depends on the camera body screw driven autofocus system, therefore a quick manual change of the focus – overriding the AF system – isn’t possible. You’ll have to switch the AF\/MF selector ring towards the MF-setting to override AF. Lots of comments in the net indicate that most people interested in that lens are waiting for an AFS version update of this focal length. Although I agree that an AFS version with N coating would be a nice update for this legendary lens – I am afraid to see this lens being “downgraded” to a G-type lens design with “lost” aperture ring. This would make this lens obsolete for the use on old FM-series cameras and would be a show-stopper for me. Others wouldn’t mind to much probably. Because of the conversion towards G-type lenses [seems to be a trend these days] I am also watching what is happening to the 17-35 f2.8 lens which is at the moment (march ’08) still avail as an non-G AFS incarnation with aperture ring (which is just the perfect functionality:
non-G type + AFS).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 85 mm f1.4 AF-D is one of these lenses that comes with the old fashioned crinkle paint that feels just perfect in your hands even when the conditions are hot and sweaty. Its a pure subjective feeling but I really like this surface finish and I regret that the crinkle paint disappears slowly with new lenses having a hammered painted finish.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 9 aperture blades at f16<\/em> (as seen from the rear element).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The 9 aperture blades at f2.8 (as seen from the front element)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Focusing the lens in manual mode is a breeze but does not reach up to the feeling of the newer AFS 70-200 or older well dampened manual AIS lens designs. Its the tribute you pay for the AF coupling. Newer AFS lenses show a slightly smoother manual focus feeling imo. Its something worth to be mentioned but definitely not a show stopper. The lens comes with front and rear caps and includes a robust metal lens hood that has to be screwed onto the lens. On my sample the lens hood sits tight and doesn’t seem to dismount easily but others have reported problems here, some had even problems to get the lens hood off the lens again. There seems to be agreement that the lens hood design is a problem with this lens. All new lenses use a snap on system that is locked easily. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The lens uses 9 curved aperture blades that form a nearly perfect round opening at least until f4. Some mentioned that the aperture closed down has no regular shape. As I also like these details I can confirm that but basically I don’t care very much. This lens has to be used wide open between 1.4 and 2. I also thought (as many others out there) about the f1.8-version. If
you rarely use the lens wide open the 1.8 might be the right alternative but build quality and the round diaphragm could be also important to you. You get the 85 f1.8 for a fraction of the price you pay for f1.4 and you could easily buy another AIS lens for what you saved with the f1.8 version (if you don’t need f1.4 than maybe the 105DC f2 is the better
option, see below).<\/span><\/span> The reasons to buy the f1.4 version are<\/span><\/span>: motion freezing shutter speeds!<\/span><\/span> extreme selective focus with very good optical performance<\/span><\/span>, very good “bokeh”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n



Portrait lens alternatives for the Nikon F-mount:<\/u><\/b> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n