Nikon NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.4 *DEMO*

I need a lens for low-light photography, and this 50mm f/1.4 lens works beautifully. It's sharp with a smooth transition from in-focus to out-of-focus areas. Nikon offers this 50mm f/1.4 lens at an affordable price.

Nikon’s Z 50mm f1.4 is an interesting addition to their f1.4 line of Z-mount prime lenses and shares many characteristics with the Z 35mm f1.4: It's affordable, light and relatively small, offers a 2/3 stop better light gathering power over the Z 50mm f1.8 S, and has a separate focus and control ring. And the Z 50mm f1.4 shows good to very good resolution once stopped down a bit. But wide open color aberrations and coma are not well controlled, close-up performance is weak, there's heavy vignetting, and the lens has a nervous Bokeh. But weighing these deficiencies against the benefits I can still recommend the Z 50mm f1.4 based on its good price-performance ratio.

Nikon has created an affordable portrait Z-mount lens for its mirrorless cameras such as the Nikon Z6 III, with permissible compromises to keep costs down, such as no official weather-sealing and decent rather than spectacular bokeh quality. It's in the same mold as the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 and should prove popular as Nikon's cheapest f/1.4 Z-mount lens. And while it doesn't live up to the performance of the f/1.2 pro lens, which is over 4x the cost, it is a decent option for enthusiast photographers desiring that fast f/1.4 aperture.