Nikon 50mm f2 AI (late version) vs 50mm f1.8 AIS (long nose)

[David H. Hartman]

I know this is an old thread, but hey, how is your experience with Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AIS. having 50mm f1.8, is there any reason I should try 50mm f1.4?

Years ago I bought a 50/1.4 AI and found it was not as sharp at f/2.0 as my 50/1.8 AI was wide open. Those who know more about optics and these lenses may comment. Today my guess is the 50/1.4 AI exhibits more spherical aberration at large apertures than the 50/1.8 AI. There is an soft veil over the image with the 50/1.4 AI and AIS at f/1.4~2.0. With today's high ISO performance DSLR(s) I see no need for a 50/1.4's extra speed over a 50/1.8.

My favorite 50mm lenses today are my 50/1.8 AI and 50/1.2 AIS. Some claim the 50/1.2 AIS is the sharpest 50mm Nikkor at f/2.0. If true I’m not sure this really matters. The 50/1.2 AIS has a buttery smooth focus feel. The 50/1.2 AIS exhibits slightly more barrel distortion than the 50/1.4 AIS and has hard vignetting in the corners at f/1.2 to f/1.4~. I would not spend the money I did on the 50/1.2 AIS again.

I also own a 50/1.4 AIS but it's aperture blades are oil fouled. It's been cleaned twice and the problem returns so it needs a full strip and re-lube. I've never gotten around to it. I intended to sell the 50/1.4 AIS after buying the 50/1.2 AIS.

Dave

[MEPER]

I also found that the 50/2 is a very nice lens. It made very sharp images when I used the "Gigabitfilm" for a short time. I was advised to get some 50/2 as they are quite cheap (the non-AI's) and then use the best of them for "Gigabitfilm". I was told that if I got a good one it could resolve about 400 lp/mm ......but not so sure about that......maybe +100 lp/mm is more realistic....

[Jack Dahlgren]

I use the 50mm Nikkor-S as my webcam lens. I have 6 other lenses in that range, but it gives a nice rendering at f/1.8 that none of the others do. I don’t use it at all in other uses. 

[Roland Vink]

Given the excellent high-ISO performance of the current digital cameras, I don't see any benefit of getting Ais 50/1.4 at any bargain price.

Does anyone see any advantage to the AIS (or AI) 50/1.4? I have one in nearly mint condition but I always grab my AI 50/1.8 instead - it's fast enough for my needs, has less distortion, and I think the bokeh is nicer. It's actually so long since I used the 50/1.4 that I have forgotten what its rendering is like, just wondering if I am missing something or if I should sell it.

[Akira]

A slight off topic:

I bought a single coat Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-H Auto 50/2.0 two years ago originally for its vintage rendering wide open but eventually found it performed very nicely for IR.  The image is quite sharp, and no hot spot is observed.

[David H. Hartman]

...I do not like vivid colors and over sharpened images...

In Nikon Capture NX-D under Picture Control, Latest Picture Control there is a slider for Sharpening and Mid-Range Sharpening. Both offer values of -5 to +5. It's quite sophisticated. You can sharpen eyes and soften skin. I'm sure other RAW image developers offer similar controls. There is also LCH (Master Lightness, Chroma, Hue) where you can adjust Master Lightness and Chroma separately. You could increase the mid-tone contrast slightly with a soft S curve and then you might take the Chroma (saturation) down a little. Once again these controls are available in many image processors.

Just some ideas. 

Dave

[Zang]

That is cool. Thanks David for sharing. I have been using only some basic features up to now.

[David H. Hartman]

This pertains to Nikon's Picture Controls found in camera, Capture NX-D and NX Studio and is also found in Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 where one can create their own custom Picture Controls.

Sharpening and Softening Images - NPS Global

If the functionality of Sharpen, Mid-Range Sharpening and Clarity are not all available in non-Nikon RAW editing software I would be worth reading this link to see what you might be missing.

Dave

[David H. Hartman]

In Capture NX-D, “Latest Picture Control” can be made the default in the Picture Control pallet using Preference or Option> NEF (RAW) Processing> Color Reproduction Control (x) Latest Picture Control. If you always want to use Latest Picture Control then setting this in the Preferences or Option makes sense as it saves an extra step when fine tuning Picture Control settings. This allows camera older than the Z6 and Z7 to use the latest picture controls.

The same options is available in NX Studio.

Dave

All typographical anomalies are expressly intended.