The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED ($2,199.95) is an incredible lens. Its short telephoto design and maximum f/1.4 aperture are a pairing that's currently unmatched. The focal length is traditionally a favorite of portrait photographers, and when shooting at f/1.4 you can capture just a small sliver of focus, blurring the background behind your subject with ease. It's one of the sharpest lenses we've tested, and an easy pick for Editors' Choice for Nikon system owners.

Design

Nobody else makes a 105mm f/1.4 ($1,896.95 at Amazon) lens. Canon comes closest, with its shorter EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM ($1,999.00 at Amazon) capturing a similarly shallow depth of field when shooting portraits at its maximum aperture. But since the Nikon system doesn't support f/1.2 autofocus lenses (due to the size of the mount and the electronic contacts required for AF), ultra-fast f/1.2 glass is limited to manual focus only.

You have to be careful and deliberate when shooting with this lens. It's not like a 50mm f/1.4, where the ideal balance of focus and defocus is often achieved by shooting wide open or at f/2. Portrait photographers will need to take care that a subject is in crisp focus from the tip of the nose to the center of the eye, and you'll find that stopping down is an absolute requirement when working at the 105mm focal length. Even when out shooting close-up photos of the last vestiges of fall foliage, I found myself shooting at f/4 to get all of a particular leaf in crisp focus. But even at f/4, you get a very shallow backdrop.

The 105mm is the perfect example of a big hunk of glass. It's barrel is short and stout (4.1 by 3.7 inches, HD), but it weighs 2.2 pounds and supports big 82mm front filters. Like most modern Nikkor lenses, the barrel is a tough polycarbonate material, finished in matte black.

Focus is toggled between M/A (autofocus with manual override) and M settings via a switch. There's a manual focus ring at the front, covered in textured rubber. It's a mechanical manual focus design, which is much more pleasant than the electronic focus system Canon uses with its 85mm f/1.2L, as the mechanical system provides real tactile feedback when focusing manually.

There's no image stabilization. That's not a big deal when shooting portraits, either with sufficient natural light or with studio strobes, but if you're trying to capture a shot at magic hour, stopped down a bit for depth of field, you may find yourself pushing the ISO further than you would with a stabilized lens. Likewise, video from a tripod is not a problem, and the lens should provide ample creative capabilities for cinematographers, but handheld footage is going to look jittery when using a Nikon SLR. I had the opportunity to use the lens on a mirrorless camera with in-body stabilization, the Sony Alpha 7R II ($1,798.00 at Amazon) with the Fotodiox Fusion Smart AF Adapter , and was happy to see that stabilization did smooth handheld video, though it doesn't eliminate movement entirely.

The 105mm focuses on subjects as close as 3.3 feet (1 meter) from the image sensor. It's a fine working distance for portraits, but definitely not a macro. At its best, the 105mm captures objects at 1:7.7 life-size. Nikon makes an excellent 1:1 macro, the AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED ($649.00 at Amazon) , which is a better choice if you don't need the f/1.4 maximum aperture and prefer to capture very small details.

Image Quality

The 105mm f/1.4 captures images with incredible sharpness. I tested it with the 36MP Nikon D810 ($1,996.95 at Amazon) and was astounded to see just how sharp it is, even at f/1.4. Imatest scores images on a center-weighted test, but the image quality is even from edge to edge, a rare feat. At f/1.4 the lens resolves 3,502 lines per picture height, much better than the 2,200 lines we like to see at a minimum from a lens paired with a high-resolution camera like the D810.

Resolution improves steadily as you stop down; 3,616 lines (f/2), 3,700 lines (f/2.8), 3,769 lines (f/4), 3,909 (f/5.6), 4,020 lines (f/11), and 4,045 lines (f/11). Diffraction isn't an issue until f/16 (3,686 lines), and even then the image quality is excellent. At its sharpest, the 105mm f/1.4 nets about as much detail as is possible from the D810's sensor.

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It's not absolutely perfect, as corners are dimmer than the center. At f/1.4 they lag behind by 3.2 stops (-3.2EV), drawing images with a noticeable vignette. The deficit is cut to -2.3EV at f/2, and a more reasonable -1.4EV at f/2.8. At f/4 (-1.1EV) and f/5.6 (-0.8EV) the vignette is less of a concern. Some portrait photographers will appreciate the effect, which can further isolate the subject from the background, but not everyone. If you shoot JPGs you can enable Peripheral Illumination Correction in your SLR to ameliorate it. Raw photographers can remove it with a single click in Lightroom ($9.99/Month at Adobe) —just apply the built-in profile for this lens. Pincushion distortion, another potential issue, isn't worth talking about here; the 105mm shows a negligible 0.6 percent.

Conclusions

The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED is a fantastic performer from a purely optical standpoint. And that's an even more outstanding feat when you consider how difficult it is to design and manufacture a lens of this focal length and aperture. Nikon has managed to do so, and keep image quality strong from edge to edge at every f-stop. It's not perfect—there's no image stabilization and corners lag behind the center in brightness at wide apertures—but it's still a superb lens that's worthy of being named our Editors' Choice.

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