What's so special about NIKKOR 50mm f/1.2?

[mpfstuff]

I recently found out that manual focus Nikon 50mm f/1.2 lenses are really expensive - even used. What is so special about this lens??? I mean it's a prime with manual focus...

~novice photographer~

 

[qleak]

I recently found out that manual focus Nikon 50mm f/1.2 lenses are really expensive - even used. What is so special about this lens??? I mean it's a prime with manual focus...

~novice photographer~

The maximum aperture of f/1.2 is as fast as nikon makes them for the f-mount.

I'm not sure about the nikon 1 mount, f/1.2 is a bit more common there.

 

[qleak]

You may also find this useful

Lens speed - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[480sparky]

It's the f/1.2 that makes it very 'fast' in terms of 'lens speed'. No, not MPH or KPH. The ability to collect light.

 

[Derrel]

I recently found out that manual focus Nikon 50mm f/1.2 lenses are really expensive - even used. What is so special about this lens??? I mean it's a prime with manual focus...

~novice photographer~

There's a certain segment of people that are drawn to things that are at the "extremes" in all fields of endeavor...the highest mountain peaks, the toughest river rapids, the most-remote hiking destinations, the fastest cars and motorcycles, the most-expensive wines, the most-exclusive restaurants, the computers with the highest specifications...there are people who find themselves willing to open their wallets in order to have access to the "extremes" in many,many fields. The f/1.2 lenses are such instruments...they sell, to a certain crowd of people.

 

[fjrabon]

it's also important to remember that f/1.2 to f/1.4 is a bigger difference than you'd think. It's roughly the same as the difference as f/11 to f/14.

There's also the collecting factor. Some people buy the f/1.2 just for the sake of saying they have it.

Some people claim that the 50mm f/1.2 has a "look you just can't get from any other lens."

Also, if you're shooting at f/1.2 you probably want to manual focus and use a tripod anyway, since even the tiniest movement at f/1.2 will put you out of focus. Most people who would buy this lens don't actually mind it being manual focus only.

 

[Solarflare]

Unfortunately f/1.2 seems to be the limit for the Nikon F mount.

The more extreme your aperture, the smaller can be your depth of field.

Specifically 50mm f/1 and even more extreme can sink almost everything in your photo except the subject into a sea of blurr, resulting in quite dreamlike photographs.

 

[KmH]

As maximum lens aperture increases (faster) more of the outer lens element edges are used and correcting optical aberrations gets harder.
Using higher quality glass and figuring the shape and surface of each lens element to a higher accuracy takes more manufacturing time and more money for materials.
Making 'fast' lenses costly.

 

[table1349]

I recently found out that manual focus Nikon 50mm f/1.2 lenses are really expensive - even used. What is so special about this lens??? I mean it's a prime with manual focus...

~novice photographer~

If you have to ask put it down slowly and walk away........................

 

[pashabelman]

Everything you need to know about this lens.
Nikon 50mm f 1.2

 

[qleak]

Unfortunately f/1.2 seems to be the limit for the Nikon F mount.

The more extreme your aperture, the smaller can be your depth of field.

Specifically 50mm f/1 and even more extreme can sink almost everything in your photo except the subject into a sea of blurr, resulting in quite dreamlike photographs.

Who cares? You can get a 10mm DOF with a 50mm f/1.2 on full frame focusing at .5m. Too shallow for almost every purpose. But you can get the same DOF with an 85mm f/1.8 focused at .8m.

A Flexible Depth of Field Calculator

Moving the subject closer or amping up the focal length is a cheaper and more effective method to get shallower DOF.

From what I hear the bokeh is not so great on the super-fast lenses (at least the f/1.2 is not looked at that well). If you happen to be comparing to $10,000 Leica lenses, that's not a fair comparison.

Alternatively, you can reduce DOF by stitching images together too

Photo Stitching Digital Panoramas

 

[Derrel]

ONE area where ultra-fast lenses are gaining a reasonable degree of popularity is among those who are using m4/3 format cameras...which due to smaller-sized sensors, have more depth of field per equivalent picture angle of view AND which also give a 2x FOV multiplier factor, which makes for some very exotic lenses, like say, a 100mm f/1.2 equivalent, with depth of field that is more or less, equivalent to gaining two stops' worth of depth of field.

Cosina is exploiting this niche by introducing VERY fast prime lenses, like their 17.5mm f/0.95 lens for example, which on m4/3 gives the equivalent angle of view of a 35mm lens on full-frame digital. Voigtlander M43 17mm f 0.95

It might be pointed out that the kind of people who are interested in these uber-fast prime lenses consider this type of gear very "fun" stuff. As I said earlier, there **is** a certain type of customer that is drawn to this type of exotic or uncommon lens; Cosina has begun making these ultra-fast lenses in series, catering to this crowd. I'm not trying to be snide or to put these people down, just talking about a part of the photo culture that like to push the boundaries, and who have a taste for the stuff that is not plain old vanilla.

 

[qleak]

ONE area where ultra-fast lenses are gaining a reasonable degree of popularity is among those who are using m4/3 format cameras...which due to smaller-sized sensors, have more depth of field per equivalent picture angle of view AND which also give a 2x FOV multiplier factor, which makes for some very exotic lenses, like say, a 100mm f/1.2 equivalent, with depth of field that is more or less, equivalent to gaining two stops' worth of depth of field.

Cosina is exploiting this niche by introducing VERY fast prime lenses, like their 17.5mm f/0.95 lens for example, which on m4/3 gives the equivalent angle of view of a 35mm lens on full-frame digital. Voigtlander M43 17mm f 0.95

It might be pointed out that the kind of people who are interested in these uber-fast prime lenses consider this type of gear very "fun" stuff. As I said earlier, there **is** a certain type of customer that is drawn to this type of exotic or uncommon lens; Cosina has begun making these ultra-fast lenses in series, catering to this crowd. I'm not trying to be snide or to put these people down, just talking about a part of the photo culture that like to push the boundaries, and who have a taste for the stuff that is not plain old vanilla.

A smaller image circle helps a bit with the cost and heft for smaller formats