Nikon 58mm f/1.4G AF-S NIKKOR Lens

2021-06-12T10:28:32

The 58mm 1.4 AF-S has become one of the first lenses that I reach for when taking pictures of people. After digital took over I spent some years trying to replace the portrait & full length body shot functionality of the film era Nikon 60mm / 55mm macro lenses. Nikon?s much newer 60mm AF-S micro is more a true macro lens and does not cut my particular mustard for portraits. Nikon?s lenses over the last 20 years in the 50mm category have been less than stellar for my kind of use. Some people like to shoot the 58mm wide open or nearly wide open for the so called Bokeh. That?s not why I value the lens. I like to use it between f/4 and f/8 as a portrait and body length lens - both in studio with flash and occasionally outside with natural light or a little fill. Focal length is the key attribute for me. I find the 58mm perspective ideal for a certain kind of image. It gets very sharp and its notable field curvature appears to flatten at the smaller stops - or at least yield to greater depth of field. The lens maintains most of its characteristics like terrific color rendition, excellent skin tones and smooth transition between adjacent tones ( both in color and B&W ) at the smaller openings. Even though it is a 4-5 year old design it mates well to recent high res sensors like the D850 and Z7.

MARK G.

2020-12-05T15:53:19

This is my favorite f mount lens, maybe tied to the 105. But I love the 58 because it’s the closest to what your eyes actually see. I was hoping nikon would bring it to the z mount but with the 50 f/1.2 I’m guessing they won’t, or not for a while at least. Looks like I’ll keep rocking the 1.8 primes for Z, since I rarely shoot wide open, with exception to the aforementioned on f mount.

VINH H.

2020-10-21T21:34:38

I just finished my fourth 3-hour portrait photoshoot using my D850 with this 58mm, 1.4 lens - Love It!! Perfect Bokeh, Sharpness/Clarity, Weight, Size, and Feel in your hands. I still like and use my 50mm, 1.4 but it doesn't come close in comparison to the 58mm. Buy It!! :)

Paul G.

Originally posted at

2018-09-03T08:14:41

Exactly what I was looking for on a Dx body. Beautiful bokeh. Required a small amount of AF fine tune, but focus is spot on now.

Nathan P.

2018-08-28T16:15:30

As a wedding photographer my client's are pixel peepers. In the center this lens is tack sharp at 1.4. It softens towards the edges but that's what makes the swirly bokeh/character so irreplaceable. I wouldn't recommend it for studio, but if you shoot people outdoors this piece of glass is going to give you some incredible images that are so distinct you won't want to take it off your camera.

TOMMY S.

2018-05-22T10:24:41

Best bokeh ever!

Robert D.

2018-05-07T14:03:04

Awesome lens!! One of the best lenses in my bag!!

Jerremy B.

2018-01-10T16:00:15

I bought this lens to take astrophographs. I had it's predecessor. It took excellent pictures of the Milkyway.

Daniel N.

2017-08-29T21:01:40

With beautiful bokeh at wide apertures, this lens renders faces with smooth tones and a soft glow, making it an ideal portrait lens.

Evan S.

2017-04-05T20:00:00

I photograph many masterpieces inside museums around the world. The focal length, aperture, and optics of this lens are ideal for what I do. Many museums have extremely low light, but this lens, coupled with the latest light sensitive Nikon DSLR full frame camera bodies, make reproduction quite effortless.

Scripps23

Originally posted at

2016-11-19T19:00:00

I was super skeptical about this lens. I owned the 50 f/1.8 for a few hundred bucks, why pay $1,300 more for 8mm more and 1/3 stop more light? It took 6-months to pull the trigger but the people who said there's just something about this lens beyond those two points (which weren't convincing), were right. I felt sick when I bought it and questioned the purchase until the first time I shot with it. Now, I have no doubt I made the right choice. This lens is unreal. It just has something about it. One of those lenses that has a personality and is truly something special. I can't explain it but you'll know the second you shoot with it. The photos below are not the first I've shot with it but some of the ones I love the most.

PXLSonline

Originally posted at

2015-05-03T21:00:00

Surprised how bad this is in comparison with my 85mm f/1.4G Nikon lens. I highly recommend saving your money and getting the 50mm 1.4G. Also surprised at the build quality. Feels hollow. I was hoping this would be a replacement for the 58mm f/1.2 or was half way decent compared to the Canon 50mm or 85mm both f/1.2. Disappointed.

prime

2015-02-03T19:00:00

A truly amazing lens, sharper than expected at 1.4, beautiful out-of-focus rendition, colours and reasonably fast and accurate autofocus. Not cheap but still a good value considering the unique quality of pictures that it produces. This is the artist of the family of Nikon lenses.

JackieD

Originally posted at

2014-09-18T21:00:00

Sharpness is only average for an f/1.4 lens, but this lens is about so much more than sharpness. Bokeh is to die for, and even more importantly this lens just makes people glow in decent lighting that would still look flat on lesser lenses. or portraits you just can't do any better. I use this lens on a Nikon Df, which matches well. Most of the complaints about sharpness I've seen come from D800/810 users pixel-peeping at 100% on their 36 megapixel files. This is NOT a pixel-peep lens, and if its spec-chart bragging rights you are after then you will be better served with the Zeiss Otus or the new Sigma Art. If, however, you want everyone and everything you point your camera at to be rendered well on a print of file (viewed as an image, not at single-pixel level) then this is as good as it gets on the Nikon system.

Andrew F.

2013-11-25T19:00:00

I've been using it on my D800 for about 2 weeks, 500+ photos. The reason I chose it was that I shot 85%+ of the photos in this focal range in the past two years. The 50mm/1.4g just doesn't have the perfect bokeh. The low light photos from the 58mm are noticeably clearer than those from the 50mm; the bokeh is noticeably smoother than the 50mm. The color-rendering is much better. It handles portraitures a bit more conveniently than the 50mm. As long as the photos are precisely focused, they are just stunning. In general, I am very satisfied with it. Actually I wanted to give it 4.5 stars. The reason - I have to put in a +12 AF fine tune on the camera. The value for my 50/1.4g is only +2. If your copy is not tack-sharp, try the AF fine tune on the camera first. If your camera body can't do AF fine tune, you better figure out how to fine-tune the lens before making the purchase.

DonaldZ

Originally posted at

2013-11-18T19:00:00

If there is such a thing as an "environmental portraitist," I am he. Through my photography, I try to show people in their environment being comfortable in their "own skin." I own the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G, which is also a great lens with beautiful bokeh, but the angle of view is too narrow to show the environment surrounding the subject. However, the 58mm lens's angle of view is wide enough to show the environment that surrounds the subject. The last thing I am going to say about the Nikkor 58mm f/1.4G lens is "Wow."

WILLIAM Z.

2013-11-18T19:00:00

..don't expect sharpness wide open unless you plan very carefully. Beautiful transition from focused area outward- this lens' specialty. A lot of chromatic aberration remains @ f/ 1.4 in high contrast areas, necessitating correction in post if you suffer from pixel-peeperism. Stopping down to f/2- makes creating a point of acceptable sharpness easier, but you lose a bit of creamy bokeh. I wouldn't recommend this lens for somebody looking for a "Nifty Fifty" or "walk around" lens. It's a lens where you plan your shots, looking for opportunities to accentuate its ability to render points of out of focus lights beautifully and produce dreamy transition from focus to out of focus area. It's ability to turn a background into a dreamy blur-scape sets it apart from the 50 1.4 G, D in my opinion.

James A.

2013-11-02T20:00:00

Even though I'm writing this review having received my new 58mm 1.4G less than 48 hours ago, I did have the opportunity to shoot with it already for a couple of hours yesterday using both my D4 and D800E bodies. During this relatively brief period, I've already sensed that this is a special lens. The magic comes in the beautiful out-of-focus rendering (bokeh), and I suspect this feature will become the hallmark of this lens. I own several other high end Nikkor lenses, to include new models and older classics, and thus far I feel that this new 58mm will rank with the best of them. In addition to very pleasant bokeh characteristics, the overall image quality provided by this lens is first rate as well. It is sharp (even wide open), displays very pleasing colors, great contrast, and very good micro-contrast. I would have provided more image samples, but at the time of this review the upload utility on the site was 'finicky' and I had to make several attempts to just get the one image loaded. I think this this new 58mm lens will be spending a great deal of time attached to my D4!

NikonNVa

Originally posted at

2013-11-02T20:00:00

Just received mine, took some 200 shots, compared to my beloved Noct Nikkor 58mm 1.2, and can tell you the new lens over delivers on my D800E across the board. Better focus, better micro contrast, OOF is as good as it gets, and autofocus is a plus on a camera that is not as well fitted as the D700 for manual focus. Am loving mine, and think was great decision making on the Nikon people to launch this one !

Fruchstuck

Originally posted at

2013-11-01T20:00:00

I am in the process of replacing my 100% use of the "dream team" (2.8) zoom lenses with prime lenses and when I saw that Nikon was coming out with a 58MM, I wanted to get one. That said, I was kind of nervous spending that kind of money on a lens that was not reviewed heavily by my photo idols. In any case, I just took delivery of my 58MM f/1.4G lens so I had to take it out for a quick spin on my D800E. I am extremely pleased with the performance. The Bokeh is like butter. The lens is truly sharp from edge to edge. The focus is fast, like lightening fast. This lens manufactures light. I know it is a lot of money to spend and there are other great lenses out there from Nikon, but so far, this appears to be one worth spending the money on.

Martini

Originally posted at