Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

Nikon built this lens in 1995 because the F-mount autofocus system had a hole in it. The manual-focus 85mm f/1.4 Ai-S from 1981 was a portrait favorite, but the screwdriver AF bodies of the early nineties needed a fast short telephoto that could chase eyes down a wedding aisle. So Nikon redrew the optical formula, added an internal focusing group so the front element stops rotating and the lens stops growing, and bolted on the D chip that reports focus distance back to the meter for flash balance. For the F5 and F100 generation, this was the portrait lens to beat.

Wide open it delivers what a fast 85 is for. Eyelashes come up sharp against a background that dissolves into soft round disks, and the focus falloff is gradual rather than surgical. Earlier reviewers always grumbled about the longitudinal chromatic aberration. Shoot a backlit subject at f/1.4 and the out-of-focus highlights behind the eyes go faintly green, the ones in front faintly magenta. On color negative it mostly hides. On slide film it can announce itself. Stop down to f/2.8 and the CA cleans up while the rendering stays creamy, and by f/4 to f/5.6 the center is very sharp while the corners tighten up considerably.

The bokeh is the signature. Nikon used a nine-blade diaphragm that holds a near-circular opening as you stop down, so specular highlights stay round instead of turning into nuts and bolts. Skin tones land warm and the contrast is moderate rather than clinical, which is exactly what flatters faces. The rendering has character on purpose, and that softness in the out-of-focus areas is the whole reason photographers paid for it.

The honest weakness is the autofocus. This is a screwdriver lens, driven by a motor in the body through a mechanical shaft, and at f/1.4 with paper-thin depth of field it hunts in dim rooms and is never fast. The later 85mm f/1.4G with its silent wave motor fixed the speed, and newer designs like the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art resolve more wide open. People who shoot film bodies still reach for the D version anyway, because it autofocuses on an F100, F5, or F6, mounts and meters cleanly on a manual body like the FM3A, and the price stayed sane while the G climbed.

The 77mm filter thread is the practical detail to remember. It is the common Nikon pro size, so a polarizer or ND from your 24-70 drops straight on if you want to shoot wide open in bright sun. When you do, meter off the subject's face rather than trusting an averaged reading, because at f/1.4 the background is so blurred it skews the frame's overall brightness. Set the Zone Light Meter to place a Caucasian cheek around Zone VI and let the rest fall where it lands.