The Nikon Otus? — Nikkor 58mm f/1.4G

(news & commentary)

58mmf14.jpg

Along with the D5300, Nikon introduced the 58mm f/1.4G AF-S lens. Given the US$1700 price, one would have to expect this to be the best performing normal lens Nikon has produced, and something that should shine on the D800E, just like the recently announced Zeiss Otus 55mm. Plus, it has Nano coating ;~). 

A nice touch is that the focal length is just about right as a DX portrait lens (87mm equivalent). 50mm has always been a little short for DX portraits, and 85mm too long. Call 58mm the DX Goldilocks.

On the sad side: this certainly isn't the next focal length lens that anyone was waiting for from Nikon. I count 13 "normal" primes you can buy today for your Nikon FX body, and that doesn't count the bazillion legacy choices you could dip into. Seems like an awful lot of research and energy is going into producing all those normal lenses. You folks must be buying tons of them ;~). 




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