Nikon NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED 105mm

The Nikon NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED is a premium portrait prime that delivers stunning sharpness and creamy bokeh even wide open at f/1.4. It's expensive, heavy, and lacks stabilization and weather sealing, but owners overwhelmingly love the image quality. If you need f/1.4 at 105mm on Nikon F-mount, this is the lens to get.

Optically, this lens is a stunner. The 14 elements in 9 groups include three extra-low dispersion elements, which do a great job of keeping chromatic aberration and color fringing under control. Nano Crystal Coating helps cut down on flare and ghosting when you're shooting into strong light. In practice, the sharpness wide open at f/1.4 is remarkable. Most fast primes soften up noticeably at their widest aperture, but this one holds detail impressively well. You're getting usable, beautiful images right from f/1.4, which is exactly what you're paying for.

The bokeh is the other star of the show. The 9-blade diaphragm produces smooth, creamy out-of-focus areas that make portraits pop. Background separation is excellent, and the transition from sharp to blurry feels natural rather than harsh. But there are some caveats. Autofocus performance lands at the 54th percentile, which is about average. Some owners report it can be slow in certain situations, and a few copies have front-focus issues. Also, softness at minimum focus distance wide open is a recurring complaint. The minimum focus distance is 1000mm, so you're not getting close-up shots with this lens anyway. And with a max magnification of 1:7.7, this is definitely not a macro lens, despite the 105mm designation.

Compared to the Nikon 85mm f/1.4, many owners say this 105mm is a significant upgrade. You get more compression, which is flattering for portraits, and the background separation feels even more dramatic. The 85mm is smaller and lighter, but the 105mm's focal length combined with f/1.4 creates a look that's hard to replicate. Against the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, the prime lens wins on sheer aperture advantage. You're getting two full stops more light, which means better low-light performance and shallower depth of field. But the zoom gives you flexibility, and it has VR, which this lens lacks.

If you're looking at other brands, the Tamron Di III VC 28-300mm f/4-7.1 and Sigma Contemporary 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN are completely different animals. Those are zooms with much smaller maximum apertures, aimed at different use cases. The Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit H-ES12035 and Sony E 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS are also zooms for different systems. None of them compete directly with what this Nikon lens does. The Viltrox AF 20mm F2.8 FE is a wide-angle prime, so again, not a direct comparison. The truth is, for Nikon F-mount shooters who want a 105mm f/1.4, there's really no direct competitor. This lens occupies a unique space.

At $1,897 to $2,073 USD, this lens is a serious investment. You can find it for around 1,760 to 1,899 EUR in Europe, or 2,620 to 2,699 CAD in Canada. For that money, you're getting exceptional optical performance, but you're also giving up some things you might expect at this price point. There's no image stabilization, no weather sealing, and the build quality ranking in our database is disappointing for a lens this expensive. If you're comparing against something like the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 macro, you'll save money and gain macro capability, but you'll lose that f/1.4 magic. The value proposition here is simple: if you need f/1.4 at 105mm, this is basically your only option on Nikon F-mount, and it delivers. If you don't need that specific combination, there are cheaper ways to get great portraits.

The Nikon NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED is a short telephoto prime for Nikon F-mount DSLRs, and it sits in that premium tier where you're paying for one thing above all else: image quality. At around $1,900 to $2,000 USD, this isn't a casual pickup. It's a specialist's lens, aimed squarely at portrait photographers and event shooters who want that dreamy, subject-isolated look with a 105mm focal length. The headline spec is the f/1.4 maximum aperture, which is genuinely rare at this focal length and lets in a ton of light.

People searching for this lens usually want to know if it's good for portraits. The short answer is yes, it's exceptional for that. The combination of 105mm and f/1.4 gives you flattering compression and the ability to melt backgrounds into creamy nothingness. It's also a full-frame FX format lens, so you get the full field of view on Nikon's higher-end bodies. But it's not a do-everything lens. There's no image stabilization, no weather sealing, and it weighs 985 grams, which you'll feel after a long shoot.

In our database, this lens ranks in the 94th percentile for social proof, which means owners absolutely love it. The optical performance sits at the 75th percentile, which is strong but not the absolute top of the charts. The build quality ranking is where things get interesting, landing at just the 18th percentile. That's a real weak spot for a lens this expensive, and we'll dig into why below.

This lens isn't for everyone. If you're a casual photographer or hobbyist who shoots a bit of everything, the 105mm f/1.4E ED is probably overkill. The lack of image stabilization makes it harder to use handheld in low light, and the 985g weight gets tiring. Travel photographers should definitely look elsewhere, since this lens ranks in the 28.8 percentile for travel in our database. It's big, heavy, and not weather sealed. If you need macro capability, this isn't your lens either. And if you're on a budget, the price tag alone is a dealbreaker. For most people, a Nikon 85mm f/1.8 or even the 105mm f/2.8 macro will deliver great portraits at a fraction of the cost. This lens is for serious portrait and event shooters who know exactly why they need f/1.4 at 105mm.

Should you buy the Nikon NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED? If you're a portrait photographer or event shooter on Nikon F-mount and you want the absolute best subject isolation and low-light performance at this focal length, then yes, this lens is worth every penny. The image quality is genuinely magical, and owners rave about it for good reason. The sharpness wide open, the creamy bokeh, the color rendition, it all adds up to a lens that produces images you just can't get from anything else in the Nikon lineup.

But if you're a casual shooter, or you need something more versatile, or you're bothered by the lack of weather sealing and stabilization at this price, you should think carefully. This is a specialist's tool. It's heavy, it's expensive, and it does one thing extremely well. If that one thing is exactly what you need, you won't regret it. If you need a general-purpose lens, look elsewhere.