AF Nikkor 85mm f1.8 D lens review

The Nikkor 85mm 1.8 D was sold from 1994 to 2015, it autofocus and many people would not consider it vintage. Personally, I don’t care what you call it, so, let's take a closer look.

The lens is made of hard plastic with a metal mount, it weights around 370g, it is 59mm long and it has an external diameter of 71mm, with a 62mm front thread. It uses a rear focus system, so the front doesn’t extend when focusing. The autofocus is screw driven. The iris has 9 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f1.8 to f16 without half steps. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 90 degrees and minimum focusing distance is 85cm. The Nikon F mount has a flange distance of 46.5mm.

The plastic body doesn’t feel great, but it is well put together. The focusing ring is very light and narrow, a bit too much of both, but it is very precise. The aperture ring is even more narrow and it can be tricky to use. It is just a little bit front heavy, but it feels right at home both on Nikon dslrs and on smaller mirrorless bodies.

Sharpness wide open is good, but just on the verge of being soft, all over the frame. By f8 it gets very sharp. And here you can see how much it distorts. Chromatic aberration and blooming are present at wider apertures and can be very noticeable in high contrast areas. Colors, contrast and saturation are a bit muted. Specular highlights have hard edges but no artifacts, they don’t deform much and can get very big. Backgrounds can occasionally feel a bit busy, but most of the times can be rendered into a mush of colors. It doesn’t much focus breathing. Flares and ghosting are well controlled.

My experience with Nikkor lenses has been inconsistent, but this, well, I really like. I do have a bit of a soft spot for fast longer lenses, but this Nikkor really impressed me. Wide open it has CA, blooming, low contrast, it’s a bit soft and yet very consistent in the delivery. At 2.8 it gets much sharper, losing some CA while still separating beautifully the subject from the background. What impressed me the most is the focusing. Even with the short throw and wide open it is very clear and precise. So, again, I really like this lens, proving once more that plastic lenses from the 90s and 0s are actually good.



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