Nikon 58mm F/1.4 Review - A Mysterious Lens 

Thank you for your detailed report and patronage. I'm Sato, who designed and developed this lens. After 30 years of research, I came up with the idea of ​​3DHifi. This lens is one of the results of that research. We appreciate your continued support and patronage.

This lens has made me keep my DSLRs ( DF and D4s ) It is my favorite lens. It seems to have a new life when using it on my mirrorless Nikon ZFs. It seems to focus more accurately than it did on my DSLRs. It's probably my favorite lens! So versatile and so much character.

A beautiful lens! I appreciate your clear, precise and slowly paced explanations. So many RU-vid presenters talk so fast that what they say turns into “word salad”. This is a great explanation of what this lens can do. Thanks for highlighting this lens!

First and foremost, I have to say, what an awesome review. Your delivery is so calm and easy to understand. Second. Love this lens, The colors are so warm and rich, 3rd. it's very nice to meet you. I'm Vahagn, Was a pleasure watching you explain this lens and show samples. Thank you , I just subscribed.

Thanks for the enjoyable review. I look forward to trying, possibly buying, this lens one day!

Great video sir! I got this lens as a used copy, and I enjoy it. I like the 58-60mm focal range. I use this lens for full body portraits. My favorite traits are its color, texture, and it's bokeh. Sharpness is not what this lens is made for and thankfully, it's not a major priority for me. On my Z6, I'm able to use IBIS and take some shots nearly wide open. This is also a strong b/w lens. Nikon did not do a great job of making the public aware of what this lens was designed for, and RU-vid reviewers gave it bad reviews because they didn't understand what they were reviewing. I like shooting this lens around F2.2 in natural light.

4 Months later I finally bought the 58mm f1.4G after watching this, It's my first day with the lens today, shot a whole bunch of images and I am in LOVE with what it does, I literally bought this lens because of your review.

I regularly interact with the man who designed this lens, Sato-sensei. It has a complex field curvature, which some describe as akin to a "sombrero." This gives it a quite unique rendering, there is nothing else quite like it.

Nice review thank you. You have definitely made me want this lens...

Thank you for your excellent review! Really love this lens.

I think this is the best video I've seen that really shows off the strengths of the 58mm F1.4 and how it differs to the 50mm F1.4. Yes we all know it isn't as sharp but the rendering is really fantastic. I'm not sure I could justify buying it at the moment but I would love to shoot film with it on my Nikon F100. I think the combination of the rendering with film grain would look lovely, especially on portraits.

Hello from the US and thank you for this review. I also feel this is a special lens. Currently I use it mostly on the D780 for portraits and street/urban where it excels. Previously I also used with the D810 and D850 mostly for portraits where it was also excellent. It is my favorite lens to use for night time street/urban photos. I also have 24 and 35mm 1.4G and 85 1/4D lenses. So far for me the only mirrorless kit that came close in image quality/rendering are Zeiss Batis lenses on Sony A73. Thank you Sato-san for all your good work. Cheers, Steven

Great review, on point. I shoot with the D850 and an extensive collection of fast Nikon lens, one of which is the 58 F1.4. Were I told I could keep but one it would probably be the 58, of course hoping that never happens, a photographer’s worse nightmare. The lens renders images that are just superlative, it’s actually very versatile, soft and dreamy wide open but tack sharp above 2.8. Many say it’s a soft lens but that has not been my experience if stopped down, CA is not well controlled wide open, and I’d hoped for a better close focusing distance, but those are my only complaints. Clients always love the photos taken with it, they don’t know why exactly but they know they do. Magic regardless of cost. That said thank you for the review and a fair evaluation, unfortunately the press gives little love to this amazing lens and it’s great to see one who truly knows how to best utilize its deep capabilities. Be well!!

I have used 35,58,85 1.4G and 70-200 2.8 FL and 58mm was most used and fav lens.

I used to own this lens and I loved it. I dont know what it did to pictures, but I liked every picture I took with that lens. It was not the bokeh, nor the sharpness. Sadly ot was not weathersealed which is something I need with my photography so I changed it to 35mm 1.4G lens, which is almost as good of a lens.

I bought this lens yesterday. I’m looking forward to arriving!

Nice introduction to the 58/1.4 Nikon Lense. I am still using my Leica -R Lenses from analog times and i can say. yes , this Lens has similary charakter . But I am missing one , but important capability of this Nikon Lense and that is its extraordinairy performance in low light and night light in a city . This Lense is designed for especialy not only one big light ,but for an environment at night were you have many different smaller lights, like street lights in a city or diffuse lights in a Bar room, for music events on stage with spot lights .....this is where the Nikon 58/1.4 realy shows what its been able to. A great professional Lens of highest Quality. Oh, I almost forgot to mention , : try this lens for Astrofotography...and you will be amased how clear and round the stars are.....

It's an art lens and it is magical. its addicting like you said and yes I too want to shoot everything with it. I do like it wide open the bokeh is really something else. I have the Voightlander 58mm F1.4 as well. I hardly ever use it anymore lol. The bokeh is not as smooth in medium to distant backgrounds as the nikon is..... its also GREAT stopped down....the micro contrast and the rendering is like nothing I've shot with. It really has become my favorite lens. The only down side I've found for myself is doing low light music events. It has an issue with extreme lighting causing highlights to blow out even when metering for the higlights i use different glass in those situations. No lens is perfect or the right tool for every situation but on the whole it is my favorite lens these days.

Great review, thank you. My experience and opinion is the same as yours. I bought it secondhand for 325euro because there was light crack somewhere on the plastic. I don't really see it. The glass itself is in mint condition. For this low price it really is great to experiment with this specialty lens.

You have shown the advantages of this Nikon 58 mm 1.4 very well. I've been looking for a good standard lens for my Nikon Z 7 for a long time. I'm also thinking about getting a used Zeiss Otus 55 mm, which has a medium format character. But the Nikon represents a real alternative. I like the depth in bokeh that the Nikon 58 mm 1.4 delivers!

For some reason I’m really wanting this lens for my F100. Given that it’s only “negative” is a lack of sharpness I think it would possibly be stellar on a 35mm film body.

It is a special lens, very sharp except at f/1.4, aperture where the lens show a "soft" image (compared to the other Nikon f/1.4 prime lenses). I use that lens almost always at f/1.4, to get that "creamy" looking effect, perfect for portraits and low light ambience pictures. Shooting that lens at f/1.4 is like taking pictures after drinking some champagne, making everything smooth... If you want ULTRA SHARP pictures you can use that lens from f/2 to f/11, or use your others Nikon prime lenses. ;o)

great review

I've already switched to the Z-series, but I will keep this lens with me forever. It's rendering of Bokeh and color is so special that I don't think the result is replicable by any other lens on the market.

Thinking of getting it

Very late to this party, but thanks for the review and providing your opinion and some examples. I don't own this lens, but I've heard of it, and I don't own a nifty-fifty yet. I saw one for sale today, and just thought I'd look at samples and reviews for some background. Would love to see some comparisons to the rare 58mm manual focus, but we know how hard that is to get a hold of. I have owned the 200mm f2 VR for just about a year now. Seems like many of the same things could be said. Color rendering, niche market, and can produce images with center sharpness, lovely smooth transitions of the out of focus zones, and the potential dimensionality you see- in short - images that breathe. I fell in love with this look fairly quickly after picking up the 200mm f2 - and so do the people I photograph. I do not own any of the Z mount lenses yet, but many of them look critically and clinically sharp, but lack a bit of character. Perhaps with some of the latest offerings, that is changing. Thanks for the review!

I'd like to add that this lens has some of that Zeiss pop. It does a great rendering people and/or objects that are not on the same focal plane.

I think this lens perfectly illustrates the paradigm of tradeoffs when it comes to lens design. The images coming out of this lens are gorgeous. I think a lot of the controversy surrounding it are a result of consumer backlash and them having to come to grips with the reality that magic lenses have magic price tags. Relative to Leica this is a bargain. If I would shoot Nikon I would buy this in a heartbeat.

I have this lens and love it so far. I also watched your video on the Voigtlander 58mm. I was surprised you don't make any comparisons... How would you compare them?

Thank you for your review. I own this lens and love the character that it produces. I use the lens on both film and digital. Question: how would you compare the Nikkor AF-S 58mm f/1.4g lens in quality and character to the Voigtländer NOKTON 58mm f/1.4 SL II S? I saw your review on that lens as well and it’s been one that has peaked my interest. I wasn’t sure if there was a business case to also get the Voigtländer NOKTON 58mm f/1.4 SL II S. Thanks!

How does this compare to the voigtlander 58mm?

Did you have any green fringing? I had one a few years ago and it had terrible green fringing

I own it and love it.

I enjoy your lens review. How does the AFS 58mm compared to the Voigtlander 58mm f1.4 Nokton ? In term of color rendering, bokeh, and subject separation ? Love to see a direct video comparison if possible.

58 mm 1.4g is best portrait lens I've ever had. It make magic bokeh and so beautyfull plastic picture.

question is how it fares against 50 mm 1.4G.

This is the greatest lens that Nikon has ever made, in my opinion. It’s magical.

我有50f1.4。当我的好朋友要借我58用时，我想它会比50f1.4好太多吗？不过它可真贵！我还有85f1.4。它的散景会比我的85好吗？不可能吧！所以没去试试，很遗憾。我现在用50f1.8s。真心的好。85f1.4g也是真心的好，据说要出85f1.2s了😊

a lens that requires patience to be understood. Now i love it

This lens is an atypical lens from Nikon. Nikon states that it is not made for sharpness, and its 'softness' seems to be what many have criticized it for and what has given it a bad rap. I have mixed feelings about this lens. It does have problems - it suffers from fairly significant chromatic aberration - especially wide open, so it is less controlled than more modern Nikkor lenses and also less sharp. But these weaknesses are also its strength. This lens produces images that have a dreamier rendition than most modern lenses (some call this character). It is true - the images have a more painterly quality than most modern images and for some types of environmental portraiture this gives an interesting effect that makes an image stand out from others. All in all, I like this lens and will keep it. I have had it a few years and shoot it from time to time on my Z6II via the FTZ adapter - like most modern F mount lenses it works better on the Z system than it did on DSLR - it now enjoys 3 axis image statbilization where before it had none and there are focusing points across the frame instead of clumped in the middle as they were on the D750 (and all DSLR's). Additionally, the lens focuses just as quickly and subject detection and eye detect AF all work well. Of all my F mount lenses, it is one of four (one of three Nikkor lenses) that I have not gotten rid of in favor of Z S line lenses (that in general are second to none). The three F mount Nikkor lenses that I have kept are this one, the 58mm 1.4 G, the 105mm 1.4 E and the 200 F2 VRI lens. The other that I have kept is the Tamron 35mm 1.4 (an outstanding lens) - I keep these because there are no Z mount lenses that serve to replace them at this time, and because these lenses all have a 'look' that cannot be replicated by other lenses. So, in this sense, I guess it is fair to say that I do really like the 58mm 1.4 G even though I only use it when I desire the 'special look' that it provides. I would suggest buying this lens used though. I bought mine refurbished from Nikon for $950 - a much better price than new at $1550. That said, mine copy was very soft - more than it usually is - and I sent it back to Nikon within the 90 day warranty period and they adjusted it. Although this was free, it was time consuming and annoying, but I still think the lens is a good deal at $950 and a little expensive at $1550 - mainly because I see it as a niche lens that shines in specific use cases but it is not an all arounder. Just my thoughts...

Great video as usual, but to my eyes the voigtlander 58mm f1.4 looks better. Colours are cleaner looking and more pop than this nikkor. It would be great if you can do a side by side comparison.

Leica Summilux 50/1.4 can produce gradient in the bokeh Nikon 58mmG can't Bokeh is like a printed curtain I had the nikon and sold it I keep the Leica