The Sports Photo Guy

I had the opportunity to put the new AF-S Nikkor 85/f1.8G through its paces yesterday in a very challenging environment: the dimly-lit venue for VMI’s first-ever NCAA water polo contest against the Tigers of SIU.  The old AF-Nikkor 85/f1.8D was a favorite lens of mine years ago; its Silent Wave replacement is superior in just about every respect.

85/1.8G - Nikon D3 - 1/640 @ f2.8, ISO 4500

(Note: all images have been cropped and toned/color corrected in PhotoShop but are 100% crops with no post-process sharpening applied.  This is intended to be a “first look” under real-world shooting conditions and not a laboratory test.  Click on any image for a full-size, cropped version – warning, these are multi-megabyte files saved at quality level 12.)

First, some mostly meaningless numbers by way of comparison:

The upshot: the new AF-S version is bigger and more complex, but actually a bit lighter than the older screw-mount version.  This is particularly impressive given that there are 50% more glass elements in the new version, not to mention the Silent Wave motor (feather light though that component may be).  The new 85/f1.8 focuses a bit closer, though by no means would this be considered a macro lens.  A new filter size of 67mm, once uncommon, is now shared by a number of other Nikkor lenses.  Perhaps the most significant change is the reduction of aperture blades from 9 to 7.  At first glance, this might appear to cause more irregular-looking bokeh, but this remains to be seen through further testing.  Also of note: not a single element of ED or aspherical glass in those 9 elements – somewhat surprising given the recent proliferation of ED glass in Nikon’s consumer-grade lenses.  This doesn’t seem to be a problem, as seen in the image below.

This lens is truly a marvel shot wide open.  In the frame above, we can see how wonderfully sharp and distortion free the lens can be; click on the image and zoom to 100% and try counting eyelashes.  (VMI’s Chelsea Nugent, #13, scored a game-high seven goals in the 22-6 victory for the Keydets, incidentally.)  Note also the near total lack of chromatic aberration - the blue/purple fringing for which the old 85/f1.8D was infamous when shot wide open.  And the bokeh?  Hard to get much smoother, although the background spectral highlights in the upper left corner do show an odd sort of football shape.

Autofocus is extremely fast and almost totally silent on the D3.  Vignetting appears modest, certainly in comparison to the tunnel vision of the 70-200/f2.8G VR.  Performance was also good on the D7000, although my use of the lens on that body was more limited.

I’m looking forward to an additional test on Saturday, as I subject the lens to the bright lights and high contrast of an NCAA Division basketball arena.  My initial reaction, however, is that this lens is most definitely a winner.

Buy the 85/f1.8G from site sponsor Adorama – $499:
Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF-S FX Nikkor Lens – U.S.A. Warranty