Digital Camera World - UK (2019-12)

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com DECEMBER 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^123

Nikkor

AF-S 85mm

f/1.8G

£429/$477

Good performance, sensible price

Nikkor

Z 85mm

f/1.8 S

£799/$797

Yet another fabulous Z lens

Digital Camera verdict Digital Camera verdict

4.0 Excellent 5.0 A best-in-class product

Features Build & Performance Value Features Performance Value

handling

Build &

handling

Like the competing
Canon, this light and
affordable Nikon lens
is an excellent choice
for portraiture with a
DSLR, although it loses
out to the Sigma for
image quality.

It might lack the snob

value of f/1.4 lenses,

but this Nikon delivers

astonishing sharpness,

with outstandingly

smooth and creamy

bokeh. It’s absolutely

stellar for portraiture.

4.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.5

Portrait lenses Group Test

ven Nikon’s upmarket
85mm f/1.4 lens is
reasonably compact, but
this f/1.8 is particularly
light for a full-frame compatible lens,
at just 305g. It’s also refreshingly
inexpensive for an own-brand Nikon.
There are no aspherical or ED
(Extra-low Dispersion) elements,
but build quality is good and the
construction features a rubber
weather-seal on the mounting plate.
The ring-type ultrasonic autofocus
system is fast, whisper-quiet and has
the usual facility of full-time manual
override. One minus point is that
there are only seven diaphragm
blades to control the aperture.

Performance
This lens beats the Tamron f/1.8 for
sharpness across most of the frame,
apart from in the extreme corners
at very wide apertures. Bokeh is
impressively smooth.

ast issue, the Nikon Z

35mm f/1.8 S missed out

on winning our group test

of street lenses by the

narrowest of margins. As with that lens

and the Z 50mm, an f/1.8 aperture

enables great quality with a reasonably

compact and light construction. In the

85mm sector, however, a slightly faster

aperture is often preferred, so this

Nikon Z lens has something to prove.

Quality optics include two ED

elements and Nano Crystal Coat.

There are no aspherical elements,

but this can be a bonus for bokeh.

Rapid autofocus is driven by a

virtually silent stepping motor.

Performance

Contrast and sharpness across the

entire frame are simply spectacular,

even wide-open. Despite ‘only’ being

an f/1.8 lens, bokeh is gorgeous and

noticeably smoother than from Nikon’s

pricier, top-flight f/1.4 F-mount lens.

EL

Sharpness

This little lens punches above

its weight for sharpness, even

at its widest aperture.

Sharpness

It’s unlikely you’ll need such

razor-sharpness across the

whole frame, but it’s available.

Fringing 0.99

Chromatic aberrations are

minimal; axial flaws are helped

by the modest aperture.

Fringing 0.35

There’s virtually no chromatic

aberration of any kind, right

across the whole frame.

Distortion 0.43

There’s a slight touch of

pincushion distortion, but it’s

hardly an issue in portraiture.

Distortion -0.1

As with some of the other

lenses on test, this Nikkor Z

is virtually distortion-free.

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

f/1.8 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16

Centre Middle

Edge

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

f/1.8 f/2 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16

Centre Middle

Edge

GOLD

AWARD