Nikon AF-S 105mm f/1.4E ED review

Great for portraiture, the Nikon AF-S 105mm f/1.4E ED is all about beautiful bokeh

Nikon AF-S 105mm f/1.4E ED
(Image: © Nikon)

Digital Camera World Verdict

Shorter, slimmer and less than two-thirds the weight of the directly competing Sigma 105mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, the Nikon has an identical focal length and aperture rating. It’s more manageable for handheld shooting although the purchase price is more difficult to swallow. It’s a more high-tech affair than the Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.8G and Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G but the Sigma 105mm still has the edge for beautiful bokeh.

Pros

  • +

    Super-tight depth of field

  • +

    Lovely bokeh

  • +

    Excellent build quality

Cons

  • -

    Quite heavy at almost a kilo

  • -

    Expensive to buy

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The Nikon AF-S 105mm f/1.4E ED is designed and engineered with bokeh in mind. In the context of portraiture, you can have sharpness for a single eye and even the eyelashes will be blurred. You’re best off shooting with a tripod, for the sake of focusing accuracy, at which point the competing Sigma 105mm Art lens is better poised, as it comes complete with a tripod mounting collar which keeps everything nicely balanced in portrait-orientation shooting.

Specifications

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Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! 

His expertise with equipment doesn’t end there, though. He is also an encyclopedia  when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers and inks, and just about anything imaging-related. 

In an earlier life he was a broadcast engineer at the BBC, as well as a former editor of PC Guide.