Zuiko 50 f/1.4 Vs AF Nikkor 50 f/1.4D

Loads of glass. How do they perform?

So what happens when you find yourself in a lock down with plenty of free time and zero photographic opportunities? Well, you find a project to keep you busy – at least I did. Having had a roll of Delta 400, the wrong developer to go with it (HC110) and two lenses, I thought I could compare one lens to the other.

The two lenses in question is the Olympus Zuiko 50 f/1.4 (sn# 400100 - i love this serial number) and an AF Nikkor 50 f/1.4 D (sn# 4581646). To minimize differences due to development, I only used one roll of Delta 400 that I swapped it a couple of times from one camera to the other. The two cameras used were the Olympus OM4 and the Nikon F4s. The rather unexciting set up was arranged in a room at home with the light coming from the right side of the picture. Both cameras were set on a tripod and used the self-timer with the mirror lock up to take each picture.

The setup

Here is what I did – I taped this newspaper on the wall and took a number of shots at f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8 and f/4. Pictures scanned on 4800dpi with a Canonscan 8600F scanner. Auto levels and sharpening applied during scanning. Then I took some pictures of my favourite models in order to compare the bokeh. Now, the Nikkor has a few advantages straight from the start: it is almost 15 years younger, CAD design, incorporating Nikon's latest (back then) multi-coating and is AF; meaning it does not depend on your eyesight to hit or miss focus. It has also a slighter bigger lens barrel diameter, giving a bit of a leeway to the designers to deal better with aberrations when used wide open. On the other hand, the Zuiko comes from the 70's, has a tiny spot of dead fungus in the centre of it and is single coated. On the positives, it has been serviced and collimated by Luton cameras a couple of years ago. So, let's see how do those advantages of the Nikkor translate in real life.

Centre Sharpness 

OK, so at f/1.4, the aberrations on the Zuiko are noticeable. Details are mushy and you cannot really read this guy's name in the picture. Hallation with the Nikkor is barely noticeable and the glow due to aberrations is minimal. The Nikkor seems also more contrasty (multi-coated).

At f/2.0 the Nikkor started improving and the Zuiko made a leap jump. The glow in the Zuiko image is gone, contrast has increased. You can read the guy's name and you are starting to see the smaller letters. The Nikkor seems to be ahead in terms of sharpness.

At f/2.8 the difference has become even smaller. Both lenses seem to be just as sharp and contrasty. No clear winner here although push come to shove, the Nikkor seems to be doing slightly better.

At f/4.0 the Nikkor might have a bit more contrast but this is open to interpretation. The lenses seem to be doing both very well.

Centre Sharpness (Click for bigger)

Corner Sharpness

Whilst the centre sharpness seem to be going head to head for the two lenses past f/2.8, the corners say a different story.

At f/1.4 the Zuiko seems to be significantly sharper (that's a surprise to me). Also the contrast is slightly better as the Nikkor suffers from a bad case of vignetting.

At f/2 both lenses improve with the Zuiko being ahead of the race. The Nikkor still suffers from vignetting and produces lower contrast.

At f/2.8 the Zuiko makes another leap jump – there is not vignetting and the contrast and sharpness has further increased. Nikkor is not there yet.

At f/4 the Zuiko performs flawlessly. The Nikkor has further improved but is not as sharp as the Zuiko. Unfortunately I did not shoot any pictures at f/5.6 as I expected that the two lenses will be performing the same by f/4.0.

Corner Sharpness (Click for bigger)

 

Vignetting

When used wide open, both lenses display significant vignetting. The Nikkor seems to be affected more by it as the Zuiko recovers completely by f/2.8. There are still traces of it in the case of the Nikkor even at f/2.8 but to what extend this will be noticeable in real life it is questionable.

Click for Bigger

 

Using the Zuiko f/1.4 and the AF Nikkor f/1.4

When you had enough with taking pictures of newspapers taped on the wall and you want to see how they perform in the wild, both lenses appear to be real joy to use. I have been a long term fun of the AF Nikkor 50 f/1.8 when it comes to sharpness and never thought I would upgrade to the f/1.4 version. This lens came up locally and it was a steal at the price of £80 including postage. In real life, the performance of the two AF Nikkors is so close that I doubt it will make you abandon one to get the other. Very similar story with the 50 Zuikos – both the f/1.8 and f/1.4 are fine shooters and I bet you will be happy with either of them. Unfortunately, I don't have a Zuiko 50 f/1.8 any more but I keep an eye open for it.

Wide open, the Zuiko has a characteristic low contrast signature with a slightly swirly bokeh. Highlights can look a bit harsh although I can't complain much about it. Here is a picture taken wide open with the Zuiko.

Olympus OM4 - Zuiko 50 f/1.4

The Nikkor has it's own charms. Swirly bokeh is much less noticable here (but still present) and the ease of use is another trick up your sleeve (just let AF do its job). Here's another picture taken with the Nikkor at f/1.4.

Nikon F4s - AF Nikkor f/1.4

Also, the light fall off on the Nikkor can be used to your advantage as it draws the attention to the subject in the centre of the picture. Also the out of focus highlights seem to me to be more appealing than the Zuiko.

Nikon F4s - AF Nikkor 50f/1.4 wide open

 

Both lenses are razor sharp past f/4.0

Olympus OM4 - Zuiko 50 f/1.4 at about f/8.0 (Click for Bigger)

Nikon F5 - AF Nikkor 50f/1.4 at about f/8.0 (Click for Bigger)

By the way, I used a good quality multi-coated ND filter (Hoya) with the Zuiko to take the following image wide open (too bright to set aperture at f/1.4) and see how it affected the image. It is not mis-focused, the detail on the sweater indicates accurate focusing. But the overall image quality is a mess. How bizarre ....

Used ND filter for it – blah!

  (Click for Bigger)

Conclusion

Feel free to draw any conclusion you like. It seems that out of all the extra advantages that the Nikkor has over the Zuiko, only the AF is the real McCoy here as it adds to it's usability. Optically both lenses are top notch and used for decades by professional photographers. Both lenses are build to extremely high standards with the Zuiko being full of glass and metal and the Nikkor being of very good quality thick plastic and loads of glass.

Both lenses are excellent.

Both are fantastic lenses – for me there is no real winner here. I am looking forward to shoot some more with them two and come back and update this post.