We don’t too much go in for the churnings of the rumor mill on SLRL, but there are certain things, from certain sources, and leaks of a particular kind that draw us like moths to a halogen lamp – like this one: Next month, Nikon is set to ship a brand new 105mm f/1.4, which would be the first non-macro/micro 105 in a while, and the world’s fastest 105mm.
The leak as reported from NikonRumors came from Digicame-Info and actually gives us some decent information about the lens, given that we’ve been provided a shot of the lens itself (purportedly). It’s an AF-S Nikkor 105mm 1:1.4E ED, and what we can derive from that aside from the glaringly obvious, is that it doesn’t have any vibration reduction, and that omission would suggest it would be reflected in the price, but given the suggestion it will cost $2,200 USD in Japan, not too much.
Of course, it’s easy to think that with such speed and a focus on ‘bokeh’ there are many who will immediately jump to be in line for one of these, but that may not actually be the case, especially if the price point is that high, and that’s simply because Nikon has a lot of ‘fast’ 105mm lenses that are still being sold today. There’s the:
Nikon AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
Nikon Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8
Each of these is offering some sort of benefit over the new 1.4. The 105mm 2.8 IF-ED has VR and costs $896; the Nikon Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8 non VR costs $799, and perhaps the strongest competitor is the Nikon AF DC-NIKKOR 105mm f/2D, which, while not as fast, has defocus control, and costs about $1,000 less than the 1.4 is set to, coming it at only $1,196. Keep in mind too, that besides being less expensive, Nikon’s two DC lenses, the 105 f/2 and the 135mm DC f/2 have been considered for a long time to be two of the utter best portrait lenses in existence.
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Shooting around the 100mm is one of the nicest spots to be in for many portrait and headshot shooters, and our own Julia Kuzmenko recently reviewed two of the Canon variants as the 100mm Macro is a lens she most frequently uses for studio portraits, but how many really tend to shoot that focal length at f/2 or wider? Is it great to have the flexibility? Sure, but how much is it worth to you?
What do you think? what would you rather have, the 1.4, of the 105 f/2 DC? I’d take the DC.
