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An amazing portrait lens for FX (full-frame) with lovely depth of field control and bokeh. This would also work nicely on DX (crop sensor) cameras, though you need room to fit your subject in the frame (effective focal length of 158mm). I compared this directly to the more-expensive Nikkor 105 f2 DC and found the image quality slightly superior to that lens. I was fortunate to find one of these in fantastic condition and, like most AI and AI-s Nikkors, it simply oozes quality. It's a solid chunk of precision metal and glass, which does make it bulky and rather heavy. It balances well on my D700 body but it may be too much bulk/weight for mirrorless or lightweight bodies, depending on your preferences.
I bought this lens for its one stop increase in speed over my 105mm F/2.5 lens. Images at 1.8 have a little glow in the highlights, but at 2.8 this lens is sharper than my 105mm 2.5 or 105mm 2.8 micro. At f/5.6 and smaller I do not see any image quality difference between these three lenses. A good 1.8 lens can be purchased for about 1/3 the price of a new AF 105mm F/2 DC, but twice as much as a good used 2.5. This lens uses 62mm filters vs the 52mm filter sizes of the 2.5 and 2.8 micro. If the price, filter size and slightly higher weight is not an issue, I would definitely recommend the 1.8 over the 2.5, for the brighter image and shallower depth of field availability of the 1.8. If I am traveling very light, I would probably be taking one of my zoom lenses that covers this focal length, instead of trying to save weight by carrying slower fixed focal length lenses. In comparison to the other fast fixed lenses a person might be considering, the 105mm f/1.8 is quite a bit lighter than the 85mm f/1.4 and 135mm f/2.0 lenses. Both of these lenses use 72mm filters, which may be a consideration. I am very glad that I bought this lens, but if I only had the money to own one of the fast lenses in the 50-180 range (50mm 1.2, 85mm 1.4, 105mm 1.8, 135mm 2.0, 180mm 2.8), it would be the 85mm 1.4.Read full review
Awesome lens! Sharp and totally awesome. Great alternative for the 105 1.4 for those that have a little extra time to focus when taking portraits. Shooting it on a Sony body worked great and looking forward to using it on my Nikon F3.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The Nikkor 105mm f/1.8 AIS manual focus lens is a fantastic, specific purpose lens. The lens seems optimized to shoot at wider apertures and produces beautiful out-of-focus bokeh (circles of confusion if you prefer the old-school terminology). I shoot this on a Nikon D700 and the wide minimum aperture makes manual focus natural because of the bright image it produces in the viewfinder. In terms of contrast, this lens is definitely less contrasty than many of the more modern Nikkors, but this works very nicely for portraits. If your purpose is primarily to shoot portraits, you want a fast lens with smooth, creamy bokeh, this is a great buy. As a side note, I'm not the steadiest at hand holding so I finally broke down and purchased a decent monopod for use with this lens. I'm thrilled with the resulting images, and so are my clients.Read full review
Beautiful lens, full stop. Yes, wide open it shows its weakness, not super sharp on the edges, a drop in contrast, but go to a 2/2.8 split and the thing really starts to look impressive. It is a really nice compliment to the 85mm f1.4 and the 135mm f2. It color matches nicely in the family and has lovely bokeh.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
