New Nikkor Speed King making a D810 look wee.
Sorry the picture is slightly cut off, but it wouldn't quite fit*.
Now that's a handful of camera!
With Sony going "big" with its new FF lenses, Nikon is not backing down. We'll see your Dodge Ram 3500 and raise you a Ford F650!
The lens of course is the new Nikkor 105mm ƒ/1.4 that has just been announced.
The guy who sold me my house has his own bulldozer. Now that's macho. If you aren't willing to commit that far, this might be the next coolest thing.
Ansel Adams used to answer the question "what camera do you use?" by saying, "the biggest one I can carry!" If you're made of the same stern stuff, the new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 105mm ƒ/1.4E ED lens should rock your world. (I almost said "float your boat" but rock has more accurate connotations here than float. Okay, I kid. Ignore me.) It has a dazzling array of tech benefits: 14 elements in 9 groups, three extra low dispersion ED glass elements, Nikon's Nano coating, weather sealing, internal focusing, fluorine coating on the outer elements for smudge resistance, Nikon's SWM Silent Wave Motor, full-time manual focus override, and 9 rounded aperture blades. (It also has an electromagnetic aperture, so check compatibility on older cameras.)
And it takes 82mm filters (!), is 3.75 inches in diameter, and weighs 985g (35 oz.)(!!). It focuses to 1 meter.
The 105mm focal length used to be known as the shortest lens that you could use as a general-purpose short telephoto but with which you could also do full headshots (an 85mm or 90mm had a little too much distortion that close). Nikon, of course, is famous for its 105mm lenses, going way, way back to the four-element rangefinder lens of the 1950s. It's identified with them. In 1982 there came the previous speed king, the awesome and heavy Ai-S 105mm ƒ/1.8. I knew a guy who owned one once, but he said he never carried it because it was too heavy. (He had the 135mm ƒ/2 as well.) That 105mm ƒ/1.8 only weighed a measly 580 grams, though. Nikon's all-time champ was the legendary 105mm ƒ/2.5, which went through many updates. There were others. 105mm is a central focal length in the Nikon lineup, and for Nikon heritage. This new one is the fastest ever.
And remember, size and cost are the two biggest design constraints limiting the performance of lenses. Relax one or both, and you are likely to get better performance. That is, if very good isn't good enough.
And guys 'n' gals, this will most likely be a lens for those times when very good isn't good enough.
Mike
*I've used this joke before. Am I predictable, or what?
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Featured Comments from:
Hugh Crawford: "Big?
"You must be kidding. it's probably the smallest 105mm ƒ/1.4 lens you could make.
"Aperture is bit more than 75.7 mm and the filter ring is only 82mm. That leaves less than 2mm around the front of the front lens element, which doesn't seem like enough to prevent vignetting wide open on full frame. Those aperture blades need to go someplace when they are wide open, and there is some focusing mechanism and motor in there too.
"I'll bet this is not a telephoto design but is in fact a slightly retrofocus design or is maybe like those famous Kubrick/NASA high speed Zeiss lenses that were essentially a pretty fast medium telephoto with what we now call a speed booster/focal reducer in back of it. Maybe a 210mm ƒ/2 design with a .5 focal reducer added. In a perfect world with unicorns and free ice cream this would have twice the resolving power of the 200mm ƒ/2 which is pretty sharp to start with.
"But how'd they make it so darn small?"
Steve G: "Sigh. Yes, I remember the 105mm ƒ/2.5 'chrome front ring'. As I've said before, that was the lens that taught me that some lenses have something going for them that doesn't show up on the spec sheet. Steve (Currently in Kronberg, Germany, with the Zeiss 24–200mm-e on the Sony RX-10)."
Mani Sitaraman: "I'm a little puzzled when I try to figure out the point of these very wide-aperture portrait lenses, in this day and age. Surely,the availability of very high ISO settings in cameras these days means that the wide maximum aperture is not needed for available light situations? And an ƒ/1.4 is useful only if you wish to do portraits in which just one eye is in focus in three-quarter profile shots, or portraits in which just the plane of the face is in focus, but not the nose. Is there a real demand for lenses that will make such pictures possible? Aside from the fact that major lens makers make these lenses simply to assert that they can, is there any market for these lenses? I suppose a lens like this one does impress clients...."
Mike replies: Don't look at me, I'm an 85mm (and equivalent) kind of guy.
I'm telling myself I don't like this focal length much. It might work...
Posted by: Patrick Dodds | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 04:24 PM
Nikon continues launching bigger, more esoteric and more expensive gear. I'm not sure where that's heading to but it's surely targeted at a niche.
What the mob wants though is smaller and more affordable. "Size and cost are the two biggest design constraints limiting the performance of lenses". Size and cost also dictate comfort and accessibility. At this point, it should be possible to make high quality lenses of discrete size and reasonable price (see Fuji's success).
I'd rather see a more modest f/2 lens that performs perfectly wide open than this behemoth. Not buying this one.
Posted by: Matt | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 04:45 PM
Wow. That's the same weight as the Fuji 50-140mm ƒ/2.8.
Posted by: Kev Ford | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 04:59 PM
Well that gets a solid "wow." I really like primes and Nikon has been great at short teles. I think I may have 4 105's from the 2.5 Sonar-derived classic through an f:1.8 and the recent 105/2 DC (defocus control). Just can't beat 'em with a stick. Problem is, I may have left the purchase price for this one in my other pants - like the ones I was wearing when I was a rich playboy of the western world. Sigh . . . Maybe when I win the lottery I can get an 810 and this 105.
Posted by: Benjamin Marks | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 05:05 PM
Note that this doesn't have VR. After they added it to the 105mm Micro, and put it in the new 24-70 and 24-120. Somebody is not learning from the experiences of somebody else at Nikon!
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 05:10 PM
This new lens is a lot of glass, a lot of cash, and a lot of weight. No doubt it is a capable image maker but it is not for me.
Through the years I have amassed several generations of the Nikon 105mm lens and the one I reach for is the chrome barrel, non-AI, single coated ƒ/2.5 version. I just like the images it makes. I do have the Ai-S 105mm ƒ/1.8 but use it infrequently since it requires critical focusing when it is wide-open and you are out-of-focus if the subject moves an inch. I have an early AF version too, but it can't decide to focus on the nose, closest eye, or something else, again an exercise in frustration. By the way, that non-AI version cost me $60.
Posted by: Robert Hudyma | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 07:28 PM
The current powerball jackpot is $478 million...
Posted by: Jason | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 08:00 PM
Won't work on ANY film camera.
Posted by: LJ | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 11:12 PM
Boats don't ROCK, They only roll, pitch, and yaw.
There is no boat movement called rock.
Posted by: David Zivic | Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 11:28 PM
105/1.4 would make a great deal of sense of M4/3 (and you'd probably be able to carry it...); on FF it's a very large lens fitting into a very small niche indeed.
Posted by: Nigel | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 03:59 AM
I hope everyone will forgive my ignorance, but is there any other answer to the question "why build this lens" than "because we can"?
I'm struggling to imagine a picture that needs f1.4 at 105mm, and it was already expressed above that an f2 with decent performance wide open would potentially be preferable.
Posted by: Paul | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 04:20 AM
Ridiculous size of camera and lens without aperture settings, Unlike Ansel as a Pro I prefer small and affordable and for me that is an X Pro 2 with the 90 mm. and would guess the fuji would hold it's own for much less bucks.
Posted by: glenn brown | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 07:19 AM
Speed King? I didn't know you were a Deep Purple fan Mike, though I think that this Nikkor would be just the right lens for portraits on a Black Night... : ]
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 07:25 AM
The 105mm is a nice lens for portraiture. Some would prefer a 85mm, others a 135mm.
The Nikkor 105/2.5 was legendary, and it's fame occurred at a time when I was younger, and less afraid but at that time I lacked the money to acquire one.
Now that I can afford a Nikkor 105mm beast, would I buy it? No, because at some station in life people can move on. I moved on to a Leica M and then to a "do it all" Leica VLux-4. I carry this lightweight Leica all over the world. I use it so much that the front element is scratched. Good! Use it even more.
Posted by: Dan Khong | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 07:26 AM
You may be on the way to linking the largest group of people with the 105/f1.8 in the world... chalk up another one over here!
Posted by: Andy Sheppard | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 07:54 AM
I have a Canon 135 f/1.8 lens. It's tiny in comparison. It's the EF 85mm f/1.8 on an APS-C Canon body. I don't use it much but I don't mind carrying it around.
I also have a Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck but it carries me and my stuff around.
Posted by: Dogman | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 08:07 AM
Size, Cost and Performance...pick any two.
Posted by: Peter Gilbert | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 08:24 AM
I have the 105mm f2.5 AIS, f1.8 AIS, and f4 Micro-Nikkor. They have few weaknesses and are very worth keeping. Used to have the f2.5 Ai which I never got along with for some reason, and the 100mm f2.8 Series E which hit well above its price point.
Posted by: David L. | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 08:25 AM
I have the Sigma 85/1.4 with an APC sensor, which achieves similar ends at about 1/3 the price. It's beautiful for head+shoulder shots in the studio... but I've never managed to do anything useful with it at f/1.4. The DoF is just too thin. So pragmatically, I can obtain the same images with a 50-150 or 70-200/2.8.
I rather like looking at it, but if I was forced to pick a lens to get rid of, that would be the one.
Posted by: Graham Byrnes | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 08:45 AM
Don't rock the boat is a very common expression. Rock is a general term covering yaw, pitch, and yaw. No need to make up rules.
The Nikon lens looks good, but I am not really sure why they made it though: because they could? There seems to be a real "race to the top" going on where companies are trying to empty the pockets of people with plenty of disposable income (mainly young techie types is my guess). Who can blame them? Sony are doing the same thing, and Leica have been doing it for years (although more to older non-techie types).
Posted by: Chris | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 09:33 AM
I have the legendary Nippon Kogaku 105/2.5 in LTM (2) and F mount. I love it. I would love to add this 105/1.4 to my arsenal one day after I am done disposing my unused photo gears 🤔.
Posted by: Armand | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 10:19 AM
It used to be you bought an f/1.4 lens so you could get really nice pictures at f/2, the widest aperture being more a "class" designation than anything else. Have things changed?
I have the same question about sensors. What is the high-quality ISO limit these days, as opposed to the advertised upper limit?
Posted by: robert e | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 11:41 AM
Seems like a brethren of the new Sony GM 85 f1.4 lens for the Alpha 7 system. But 82mm filter thread??? Maybe the reason for that is to share the filter size with the recent 24-70 f2.8?
P.S. Why are the more recent versions of the f2.8 zooms from Canikon and Sony 82mm threads?
Posted by: Paulo Bizarro | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 11:42 AM
I liked the currently available 105mm f/2 DC, during a brief trial. Size and weight (640g) were fine. Not a lot of depth of field at f/2:
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2171032193592198489
Personally, for the type of stuff I'm shooting, the current f/2.8 macro lens would be better suited, especially as it's optically stabilised.
Posted by: Dave Stewart | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 12:14 PM
Why would you even need such as lens today when you can use Photoshop to simulate out of focus areas and use higher ISO's with slower lenses?
Posted by: Owen R Auer | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 12:20 PM
It kinda' reminds me of Detroit automaker in the 60s and 70s that continued to make monster cars like the Cadillac while the rest of the world moved to mid and small cars.
Nikon continues to make bodies and lenses for the FX line but fails to support DX. Yes, I know, the just released the D500 but what of lenses for the DX line? Not much at all and still only 3 primes for the DX bodies.
The zooms for DX aren't all that great either.
And what about the 3xxx, 5xxx, and the 7xxx bodies? Have they reached the end?
Posted by: John Krill | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 12:22 PM
I don't get it. Guess I'm with the crowd on that. I'm a fan of the Nikon 105 series -- I currently own two AI versions, macro and straight -- but I don't understand the 1.4 aperture.
The only thing I see here is "bragging rights" -- for Nikon and for the customers. Maybe Nikon feels Sony closing in and wants to get some buzz going. (FWIW I'll be selling my D800 as soon as I can afford an A7rII, but I'll be keeping the 105s. I already have adapters.)
Posted by: Gato | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 12:27 PM
The f/2.5...
The one lens more than any other that made me fall in love with photography back in the late 70s/early 80s. On an FM body that I still own...
It's ironic though that with age my favorite FLs started shrinking. First to 50, then 35, now 28, and I'm beginning to toy with 21...
Time to fish out the 90mm Elmarit for my M9, or even find some film to load that FM with 105 attached. Might make me feel like the past 30 years never happened?
Posted by: Giovanni Maggiora | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 01:14 PM
Good question about why f/1.4 and I imagine it's partly for NIKON engineers' bragging rights and partly because there's a base of users who need that much light gathering. Rock and theater photographers, shooters of indoor sports like wrasslin', volleyball, and b-ball, weddings, and of course portrait photographers whose clients want the ultra shallow look because it can make a very enchanting picture when done right.
Posted by: Richard | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 01:36 PM
While this lens certainly has more of everything, more speed, more size, more optical correction, more price than previous lenses, the classic medium telephotos have been languishing at Nikon. The current portrait lens in the lineup is the 105/2 DC, a solid 90's design with outdated auto focus. Apparently Nikon doesn't believe that the classic focal lengths of yesteryear are hot sellers anymore.
At the same time new lenses seems to strive for more contrast and higher MTF measurements. What if Nikon introduced classic designs such as the 105/2.5 in an AF version? The look was beautiful in the 70s and something a bit special might sell, especially since 5 element lenses shouldn't be hard to manufacture.
Posted by: Oskar Ojala | Friday, 29 July 2016 at 07:29 PM
I still use an inherited AIS 105/2.5 with adapter on a Canon 6D. It renders beautifully and is lightweight.
Posted by: NancyP | Saturday, 30 July 2016 at 08:27 PM
This lens is actually not that outrageous if compared with Zeiss 135mm f2 ZF.
Posted by: wchen | Sunday, 31 July 2016 at 02:01 AM
I love the shallow depth of field look, but I'm in the Canon camp, so I'm just waiting to snag a nice used 85mm f1.2. I do agree that at close distances f1.2-f1.4 is overkill, but when doing half to full body shots, the separation you get at those apertures is just perfect in my book!
Posted by: Ramón Acosta | Sunday, 31 July 2016 at 02:14 AM
Portrait, smortrait. Sure, it'll do just fine at that, but this here is a fantabulous reportage and basketball lens.
Posted by: Rob L. | Sunday, 31 July 2016 at 03:00 AM
If I got it, it would be one of the shortest lens I put on my D810. But no VR ...
Posted by: Dennis Ng | Tuesday, 02 August 2016 at 05:01 AM