Nikkor K 50mm f/1.4, opinions

[Peter Forsell]

As a much younger version of me, learning photography by books, the 50mm standard drove me to the point of hating them. (I. have close to a half dozen 50's scattered around the house.)

Thank You. This thread is quite informative. My best 50mm seems to be the K1 Version, reddish hue coating, which I Ai'd myself. It took a long time to figure out, but my copy's aperture stop down lever was/had been too wide.

Set wide open at F1.4, the camera would slam the lens' stop down lever, jar the lens & invoke (what would normally be called "Mirror Slap.") I had to lock the mirror up & shoot at a high shutter speed & did quite a bit of head scratching. (I carefully filed the lens' lever outdoors with a lot of puffs from my dust off can.)


Anyone else noticed this?

Interesting. Mine is filed too. The lenses in the pic are from left to right, back row first: AI 50/1.2, K1 50/1.4, AIS 28/2 and front row: AI 50/1.8 and AI 55/1.2.

Only the K1 has the filed aperture lever.

20180813-_P3F6378b by foppa2011, on Flickr

[richardHaw]

I can confirm that both the K2 and K1 will jitter a bit when actuated,much more so for the K1 i think

My K1 jammed my Df's stop-down lever and I had to bend it back to shape

maybe I should file mine, too

by the way, the iris is adjustable on this lens so maybe that's whats causing this. somebody may have worked on our lenses and set the iris too big and so the stop down lever sits too low or too high

[basker]

Does filing the point indicated in the picture affect exposure?

[richardHaw]

Does filing the point indicated in the picture affect exposure?

depends on the lens. it will on this one but you can counter it with another adjuster inside 

by the way i just realized that mine was also filed 

[basker]

Richard, thank you. Is there a picture or reference I could study? It is something I have been curious about for a while

[richardHaw]

Richard, thank you. Is there a picture or reference I could study? It is something I have been curious about for a while

in my blog richardhaw.com

some irises can be regulated by adjusting the collar inside which I dont recommend unless you can measure f stops.

[Steven Paulsen]

Isn't it wonderful that some cameras still come with a DOF preview button?

(While I'm at it..... Please, Nikon, "Make a shutter button with threads, so you can sell me another $20. simple cable release.")

[Akira]

Isn't it wonderful that some cameras still come with a DOF preview button?

Personally I thought that the DOF preview button on F3 and later Nikon bodies made no sense, because their finder screens has been designed for the brightness and not for the accurate DOF.

[David H. Hartman]

I owned a 50/1.4 Ai and a 50/1.8  Ai at the same time. I was not satisfied with the 50/1.4 at f/1.4 and found the 50/1.8 sharper at f/2.0 than the 50/1.4. If the lens will not be used at f/1.4 frequently I would get the 50/1.8 Ai instead. If a short throw is desired then the 50/1.8 Ais (early) might be the right choice. Most will prefer the long throw for a dSLR myself included. The AF 50/1.8 is a possibility. The current AF-S 50/1.8G is another.

I satisfied with the general rendition of my 50/1.8 Ai and 50/1.2 Ais. These are among my sharpest lenses. Sharpness isn't everything and all of the 50mm Nikkors from the 50/1.4 Nikkor-S.C and foreword should please all but the most dedicated sharpness freak at f/2.8-5.6. I'd choose based on various rendition attributes.

I wish I had time to run off my various 50mm lenses which include: 50/1.4 Nikkor-S (Ai), 50/1.8 Ai, 50/1.2 Ais (SIC) and AF-S 50/1.8G. It's difficult to focus manually with my D800 the AF-S 50/1.8G gets the most use.

I'm posting on a phone so I hope there aren't too many typos and such. I don't have Internet at home anymore and most of the advice above is more useful than mine. My final advice is buy as many 50mm lenses from every era and select your lens by the whim of the moment.

Dave Hartman

[Airy]

For some reason, Mr. Rorslett did not review the 50/1.4 AI(S) in his legacy site : http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html.
However he reviewed the 50/1.4 SC.
I have seen some reviews stating that the 50/1.4 was sharper than the 50/1.8 at f/2.0, i.e. coming to opposite conclusions. However, from experience, it is darn difficult to come to any conclusion when comparing decent lenses. The slightest misfocus, or uncorrected focus shift, will lead to different stories.

It is striking to see how strong opinions (starting with my own) may be, where careful tests will rather raise doubts.

Ultimately, I can only support your last piece of advice (own several and choose by the whim of the moment).

[David H. Hartman]

The first Nikon F3 came with a DP-2 prism and non-Red Dot focus screens. The DP-2 offers me the best viewfinder experience of any Nikon from the Nikon F to Nikon D800 and I wear and shoot through glasses. The DP-2 has higher finder magnification than the DP-3 (HP) and the non-Red Dot screen optics are identical to the F/F2 screen opics so I recomend DP-2 and non-Red Dot screens for fast lenses. If the eye point isn't high enough for one who wears glasses then I'll recommend the DP-3 prism.

[Roland Vink]

I have seen some reviews stating that the 50/1.4 was sharper than the 50/1.8 at f/2.0 [...]

It might depend on which 50/1.8 is being compared. The "long nose" 50/1.8 AI and AIS is different optically from the "pancake" series-E/AIS versions.

[Airy]

could be that, or (for instance) the distance. The Noct for instance is not impressive at close range...

[pluton]

Personally I thought that the DOF preview button on F3 and later Nikon bodies made no sense, because their finder screens has been designed for the brightness and not for the accurate DOF.

While it is possible that the DOF preview experience of the F3 and later cameras declined in comparison to the earlier cameras, all of them, from the F forwards, were extremely dark and grainy when trying to see at f/11 or f/16, which made the DOF preview, in effect, a novelty feature.  The best one could do was to look through the dark, hotspotted graininess and make an educated guess about what would be in acceptable focus.
Digital fixed that, mainly due to the rear viewing screen and the ability to zoom in during playback

[Erik Lund]

could be that, or (for instance) the distance. The Noct for instance is not impressive at close range...

That does not correlate with my findings, It does however have strong field curvature up close, so a little tricky,,,