In summary
The AF-S 105/1.4 is designed primarily for professional photographers, especially those specialising in portraiture, although it could also be used for street photography. Its wide maximum aperture enables it to be used in low light levels and use differential focusing techniques to isolate subjects from potentially distracting backgrounds.
On a Nikon FX camera, the 105mm focal length allows a good working distance for portrait photography, at the same time providing a flattering compression to subjects’ features. Lighter alternatives are available for users of DX cameras.
Nikon’s electromagnetic aperture control technology ensures consistent exposures, even during high speed continuous shooting, making this lens well suited to fashion photography.
This lens joins other Nikkor f/1.4 lenses in the Gold Ring Series, which include only premium primes with Nano Crystal Coat and pro-grade build quality.
If you need a fast Nikkor lens with a 105mm focal length and have a Nikon FX format camera to mount it on, the AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED is the cream of the crop.
Full review
Announced in July 2016, Nikon’s AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED claims to be ‘the world’s fastest 105mm lens’. It is designed primarily for Nikon’s FX (‘full frame’) DSLR cameras but also usable on the cropped sensor DX bodies, where it encompasses an angle of view similar to that of a 157.5mm lens on an FX body. With a focal length and nine-bladed iris diaphragm close to ideal for portraiture on the FX body, it comes with dust- and moisture-resistant sealing.
Nikon’s AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED lens, shown without end caps and lens hood. (Source: Nikon.)
The optical design of this lens features 14 elements in nine groups and includes three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lens elements and lens elements with Nano-Crystal coatings. Additional Fluorine coatings are used on the front and rear elements, so that smudges, dirt or moisture are easily removed. A nine-bladed iris diaphragm closes to create a circular aperture for pleasing out-of-focus areas.
Autofocusing is driven by a Silent Wave ultrasonic motor, which provides near-silent operation plus manual override at any time. There’s no aperture ring so apertures must be adjusted by setting the camera to the A mode and rotating the front control dial.
The lens is supplied with front and end caps plus a bayonet-mounted cylindrical hood and a soft carry case. We reviewed this lens on a Nikon D5 camera body.
Who’s it For?
The AF-S 105/1.4 is designed primarily for professional photographers, especially those specialising in portraiture, although it could also be used for street photography. Its wide maximum aperture enables it to be used in low light levels and use differential focusing techniques to isolate subjects from potentially distracting backgrounds.
On a Nikon FX camera, the 105mm focal length allows a good working distance for portrait photography, at the same time providing a flattering compression to subjects’ features. Lighter alternatives are available for users of DX cameras. Nikon’s electromagnetic aperture control technology ensures consistent exposures, even during high speed continuous shooting, making this lens well suited to fashion photography.
This lens joins other Nikkor f/1.4 lenses in the Gold Ring Series, which include only premium primes with Nano Crystal Coat and pro-grade build quality. The other lenses in the series are the AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G, AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G, AF-S Nikkor 58mm f/1.4G and the AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G.
Build and Ergonomics
Not to put too fine a point on it, this is a heavy lens with an all-up weight (including the lens hood) of roughly one kilogram. It’s also large, thanks to a very solid construction with a high percentage of metal, including a magnesium alloy outer lens tube. The lens is sealed and gasketed to resist dust and moisture.
A feature of this lens is its electronic diaphragm system, which provides more stable exposure control, particularly with fast continuous shooting rates. This mechanism works with cameras introduced since about 2007, which includes all FX cameras.
Focusing is totally internal and controlled by an ultrasonic Silent Wave Motor mechanism that operates quickly and almost silently. The length of the lens barrel remains constant at all times.
The focusing ring is approximately 35 mm wide and located just behind the bayonet mounting for the lens hood. Most of its surface is covered by a widely-ribbed grip band. This ring turns freely, changing the settings in the distance indicator window behind it, which also includes a depth of field scale. Soft stops are located at the one metre and infinity positions.
Around the lens barrel to the left of the distance indicator window is a M/A-M slider for switching between the auto and manual focusing modes. M/A indicates autofocusing with manual override, while M is for manual focusing.
The lens barrel steps inwards close to the camera body and links to the camera via a very solid metal mounting plate. The supplied lens hood is made from black plastic. Made in China, it is roughly 60 mm long and flares slightly outwards. The well-designed bayonet mount makes it easy to attach and detach.
Performance
Autofocusing was generally fast and accurate and, although the focusing ring didn’t provide a lot of tactile feedback, manual focusing was relatively easy. The electronic rangefinder in the camera could be set to confirm that the subject at the selected focus point was in focus.
Hunting did not occur during the course of our tests, even in quite low light levels. However, we experienced some difficulties with close-up focusing in these conditions, particularly at the widest aperture settings, where depth of field is very shallow. The focusing aids provided by mirrorless cameras would have been useful in such situations.
Our Imatest tests showed the lens to be a professional-quality performer. Centre-of-frame resolution met expectations for the camera’s sensor across most lens apertures, while edge-of-frame resolution wasn’t far behind and slightly exceeded expectations with several aperture settings.
We found the sample lens to be very sharp all the way from f/1.4 to f/8. The highest resolution was recorded at f/2.5. Resolution remained relatively high out to f/11 and the decline between f/11 and f/16 (the minimum aperture) was quite small, indicating diffraction is well controlled. The graph below shows the results of our tests.
All current Nikon DSLRs provide automatic correction for chromatic aberration in JPEG files, so we double-checked raw files when evaluating our Imatest measurements and found the results to be almost identical for both JPEGs and NEF.RAW images. To maintain consistency, we have shown the JPEGs in the Tests section below. Lateral chromatic aberration was negligible all focal length settings, as shown in the graph below. The red line separates negligible and low CA.
In-camera corrections are also available for vignetting and rectilinear distortions, with the defaults being on for vignetting and off for distortion. When the vignetting control was switched off, we found noticeable vignetting in both JPEGs and raw files. Switching it on removed all traces of corner darkening and the problem was easy to correct when converting raw files into editable formats.
With the auto distortion correction disabled, both JPEGs and raw files revealed very slight barrel distortion. This wouldn’t be an issue for most potential applications of this lens.
Flare was generally well-controlled and only an issue if the camera was pointed directly at a bright light source. The large lens hood provides good shading for the front element of the lens and makes it possible to take flare-free backlit shots with the sun just outside the edges of the frame.
When shooting low-contrast subjects, the nine-bladed iris diaphragm produced very smooth and creamy-looking bokeh at wide aperture settings. In subjects with moderate to high contrast, highlights in the backgrounds showed some outlining of highlights, which with contrasted with the otherwise soft background blurring. At f/1.4, the background softness and blurring emphasised the pin-sharpness of areas that were in-focus.
Conclusion
If you need a fast Nikkor lens with a 105mm focal length and have a Nikon FX format camera to mount it on, the AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED is the cream of the crop. Nikon has a couple of cheaper (but slower) alternatives for photographers who can’t afford the f/1.4 lens. The AF-S Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G lens can be had for around AU$1200 and includes 1:1 macro focus plus VR stabilisation. Alternatively, the AF Nikkor 105mm f/2D DC, which sells for around AU$1500, comes with Defocus-image Control. Sigma also produces a 105mm f/2.8 macro lens with optical stabilisation and a hypersonic AF drive, which is prices at less than ASU$1000.
We wouldn’t recommend buying this lens for DX format cameras, particularly the smaller consumer-level bodies. Even though Nikon doesn’t produce an equivalent lens for its DX cameras, you need a pretty beefy camera to support the almost one kilogram weight of the lens. There are plenty of smaller, lighter DX zooms that span the 157.5mm focal length and they will cost less and weigh less than the 105mm f/1.4 lens.
Nikon doesn’t release RRPs to journalists so we’ve had to survey the market to find an average price for this lens. The highest selling price we found was AU$3300 and the lowest AU$2950. Overseas re-sellers are offering it for around AU$2908 but when shipping and insurance are added, the total cost will be more than AU$3000 so it’s not really worth the hassle of shopping off-shore.
SPECS
Picture angle: 23 ° 10′ on FX cameras; 15 ° 20′ on DX format cameras
Minimum aperture: f/16
Lens construction: 14 elements in 9 groups (including 3 ED lens elements and lens elements with Nano-Crystal or fluorine coatings)
Lens mount: Nikon F (Type E AF-S lens with built-in CPU)
Diaphragm Blades: 9 (rounded aperture) with automatic electronic aperture control
Focus drive: Silent Wave Motor (ring-type ultrasonic)
Stabilisation: No
Minimum focus: 1.0 metres
Maximum magnification: Not specified
Filter size: 82 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 94.5 x 106 mm
Weight: 985 grams
Standard Accessories: LC-82 82 mm snap-on Front Lens Cap, LF-4 Rear Lens Cap, HB-79 Bayonet Hood, CL-1218 Lens Case
Distributor: Nikon Australia, 1300 366 499; www.nikon.com.au
TESTS
Based on JPEG files taken with the Nikon D5 camera.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at f/1.4.
Rectilinear distortion.
ISO 200, 1/200 second at f/7.1.
ISO 200, 1/3200 second at f/1.8.
ISO 200, 1/200 second at f/6.3.
ISO 200, 1/160 second at f/7.1.
ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/11.
ISO 200, 1/250 second at f/6.3.
ISO 100, 1/125 second at f/8.
ISO 200, 1/4000 second at f/2.
ISO 200, 1/320 second at f/9.
ISO 100, 1/200 second at f/10.
ISO 200, 1/250 second at f/11.
ISO 200, 1/6400 second at f/1.8.
ISO 400, 1/40 second at f/2.8.
ISO 800, 1/125 second at f/1.4.
ISO 400, 1/40 second at f/1.8.
Rating
RRP: n/a; Average selling price: AU$3100; US$2200
- Build: 9.2
- Handling: 8.8
- Image quality: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.7