I’ve been shooting a bit on the Nikon 50mm f1.4 lately and trying to figure out where this lens fits in my kit, and I have finally formulated my opinions on it.
At first, I wasn’t in love with it like I was with the Nikon 35mm f1.4, which immediately felt so classic compared to the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S lens. I love the 35mm f1.4.
The problem I initially had with the Z 50mm f1.4 is how it’s so close to the price of the technically much better Nikon Z 50mm f1.8 S lens; it does not have that much more light-gathering capability (that I’m noticing), less contrast, less clarity, less sharpness, and inferior optics.
In casual shooting situations, you won’t really even see a huge difference in bokeh with the faster f1.4 aperture.
The trick to this 50mm f1.4 is to really lean into its strengths. Shoot with a wild, busy, long background and let the f1.4 aperture do its thing. Approach this lens as a bokeh madness dream machine and even throw on a crazy mist filter, and then it’s a ton of fun.
Here are a few samples with the Nikon 50mm f1.4 without a diffusion filter. They still feel classic, but because the bokeh is pretty chattery, it also does actually have a much different focus falloff, it’s just harder to tell.
While the 50mm f1.4 still has a slightly more old-school DSLR style classic rendering, it’s not as obvious on the longer focal length with a similar number of elements as the 50mm f1.8, compared to what we saw with the 35mm f1.4. But it still reminds me of our 50mm DSLR lenses circa 2008, and I’ve kind of missed that look.
Also, since the 50mm f1.4 is optically inferior to the 50mm f1.8, it becomes a great candidate to pair with a diffusion filter where most of those 50mm f1.8 advantages would be reduced.
I’ll link you to the Pro-Mist filter since it’s almost impossible to search for. Only Black Pro-Mist options come up.
Nikon Z 50mm f1.4 – Amazon / B&H
Tiffen Pro-Mist 1/4 62mm – Amazon / B&H
Tiffen Pro-Mist 1/8 62mm – Amazon / B&H
Nikon Z 50mm f1.4 + Tiffen Pro-Mist 1/4 Diffusion Filter
I’ve been having fun shooting this lens at night with the Tiffen Pro-Mist 1/4 filter. Not the Black Pro-Mist, not the Glimmer Glass, the good old-fashioned Pro Mist 1/4 that never gets much love.
Here is what this magnificent combo looks like.
As mentioned, without a crazy dynamically lit background, The Nikon Z 50mm f1.4 is a little more difficult to tell the difference between the Nikon 50mm f1.8 and the 50mm f1.4, unlike the Nikon 35mm f1.8 compared to the 35mm f1.4, where it’s a different feel in every situation.
However, when introducing the busy background and crazy lighting, you can start to see the difference. And there’s a pretty big difference in this environment, especially with a diffusion filter.
The Tiffen Pro-Mist Filter
Even at this stronger power of 1/4, the Tiffen Pro-Mist filter is absolutely amazing. It allows for a little more spread compared to the Black Pro-Mist, and there is almost this ‘bite’ to the way it diffuses, which I really like. This might actually be my favorite diffusion filter right now.
Here is a shot at f5.6 to really show what the Pro-Mist filter does in the absence of the crazy bokeh.
Bottom Line
This is not a full review of the 50mm f1.4 lens or the Tiffen Pro-Mist filter; that’s coming later. But I’ve been shooting with this combo lately, and it’s been working well for me. I still like the 50mm f1.8 more than this lens as an ‘everyday do-it-all’ type of lens, but this 50mm f1.4 does still have some magic you can squeeze out of it, and this look with the samples I’ve posted here has a quality that I really like.
Again, the 50mm f1.4 has this kind of old-school DSLR look to it that’s pretty cool. I’m glad I got it.
A lot has changed on the back end of this website so I can get back to posting regular content again. I was low on server space for a while, which has the same effect of running out of space on your phone. I had to go through and constantly try to clean up old junk.
Presets are below, as well as more samples.
