Nikkor K 50mm f/1.4, opinions

[Peter Forsell]

First hand accounts re Nikkor K 50/1.4 (older version) vs the later brethren... 50/1.4K new, AI, AI-S ...?
A very nice condition ai'd version is for sale, but how is the lens, would AI or ai-s be a better choice?

[ArthurDent]

Don’t know about those. I have the 50 mm f/1.4 AFD. I think the acuity is pretty good when stopped down a couple of stops, but the color saturation is weak. It may just be that I have a bad sample.

[Birna Rørslett]

All the 50 Nikkors are good and a few are excellent. The latest AiS version is among the latter.

The lens age influences colour rendition and image contrast, obviously. The more "rounded" rendition of the older lenses sometimes is a benefit, other times a drawback.

[the solitaire]

Depends on whether you prefer or dislike the shorter focus throw of the later models.

My girlfriend uses the K version and I can only say that it is a very nice lens to use, wide open or stopped down.

It is very different, optically, from modern lenses, but that does not mean it's a bad lens. It is, in my opinion, a good and perfectly sharp lens, even when used wide open.

Below is an example of a photo I made using a Nikon D800

DSC_1603-Edit by b j, on Flickr

If you are looking for a manual focus 50 f1,4, and find  agood deal on this one, and the longer focus throw does not put you off, I can hoghly recommend buying it

[richardHaw]

i have plenty of sample images to publish this weekend.

K1 is the same as the Nikkor-S.

K2 is totally different and is closest to the one used in Ai-S up to AF-D

what's killing this lens is chromatic aberration at close distances but it does have its use for portraiture as you will see in my repair article 

it is a nice lens but i hated the AF-D for the reasons above but then I had different priorities then and so were my clients. they won't understand "beautiful rendering" and "natural looking" portraits.

[Peter Forsell]

This is the actual lens I'm eyeballing. Looks like a K1 with a factory AI kit, right? The price is well under €200. Looking forward to your samples, Richard.

[Peter Forsell]

Thank you everybody so far. I am still at crossroads.

[richardHaw]

Hello, Peter. That's just the Nikkor-S in a repackaged barrel and better coatings

any reviews of the Nikkor-S.C should give you the same results.

https://richardhaw.com/2016/01/23/project-nikkor-s-50mm-f1-4/

when I was repairing the K1, I can't help but think that I was repairing the Nikkor-S. It's basically the same inside (apart from the lens barrel).

many people including some collectors aren't aware that this lens even existed I won't say who tho..

[richardHaw]

from the K2, which is a totally different optic design 

[Akira]

K1 is the same as the Nikkor-S.

K2 is totally different and is closest to the one used in Ai-S up to AF-D

what's killing this lens is chromatic aberration at close distances but it does have its use for portraiture as you will see in my repair article 

it is a nice lens but i hated the AF-D for the reasons above but then I had different priorities then and so were my clients. they won't understand "beautiful rendering" and "natural looking" portraits.

Rick, you mean K1 has less CA than K2 and later models?

With K2, do you mean Ai Nikkor?

[richardHaw]

Rick, you mean K1 has less CA than K2 and later models?

With K2, do you mean Ai Nikkor?

K2 should have less, i think! but I am NOT sure.

to be honest, i think the K1 has less CA but the K2 has better output overall specially sharpness and resolution but I will have to do a test again. remember, i am working with junk lenses all the time! 

K1 is new-Nikkor but with Nikkor-S optics.

K2 is new-Nikkor with same optics as Ai to Ai-S version and i even suspect up to AF-D because they share the same character in rendering. I used the AF-D for a long time and I am very familiar about how it performs, very similar to the K2 in most respects

[richardHaw]

here are the 2 versions 

like what i mentioned, the K1 is not well-known and even some collectors don't even know they exist 

the left one is K2 and the right one is K1

K2 looks almost identical to Ai. I can't see any difference to be honest. Maybe Roland can help us?

[Erik Lund]

Best spec and serial # overview is as always provided by Ronald,,,


http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html#50fast

[richardHaw]

here's another view. 

yes, I used Roland's site for this  it got confusing at one time

[richardHaw]

OK, i found a difference! the K2 has more screws at the bayonet compared to the Ai 

damn, this thread made me want to buy a junk Ai to make my repair notes complete!