Welcome back vintage camera lovers to another serving of gear nostalgia and today I’m trying out one of camera review sites my most desired lenses as a teenager, that today is a perfect introduction for anyone to vintage optics.
It’s the Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AI-s, an almost ubiquitous standard lens for Nikon’s upmarket 35mm film SLRs in the 80s, and one that not only subsequently worked on Nikon DSLRs, but which can be adapted to almost any mirrorless camera from any brand.
Mount it on a modern camera and you’ll enjoy all manner of focusing assistance, video and stabilisation we could only dream of 40 years ago. In my video below, I’ll show you what it can do and why it’s still desirable over four decades after it first came out. If you prefer to read the written highlights, keep scrolling! I’ll also include various photos I took with the vintage lens adapted on a considerably newer Lumix S5 II body!
The 50 1.4 AI-s was introduced in 1981 and it was around that time I fell in love with it – and if I’m honest, the entire Nikkor lens catalogue. I loved the signature look and feel of these early to mid-80’s lenses, compact and superbly built, but sadly way out of reach for this teen of the time.
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As I graduated from 110 cameras to my Dad’s Practica MTL3 with its meagre 50 2.8 lens, I could only look in envy at the Nikon F3 on shop shelves, always sporting a faster 50, and while the more common 1.8 was still brighter than mine, it was the higher-end 1.4 I truly aspired to. In the words of Wayne Campbell, it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.
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Well dear viewer, let me tell you dreams can come true, although this one took four decades to realise. To be honest, I wasn’t actively chasing this particular lens, but it was always in the back of my mind, and during a recent trip to Tokyo, I was reminded of its allure. I was showing fellow YouTuber Richard Wong and film-maker Piotr Kwasnik around a wonderful used camera store in Akihabara called 2nd Base when a row of vintage Nikkor lenses called out to me.
I was actually looking for a pancake alternative to the recently launched Lumix 26mm f8 and was initially drawn to the Nikkor 45mm f2.8, but then I noticed a 50 1.4 at a bargain Y18,700, which at 2024 exchange rates worked out about $120 or £90. I bought both lenses, as well as an F to L-mount adapter for less than $275 or £215 in total, and if you’d like to see more of our evening browsing the used – and new – camera stores of Akihabara, check out Richard’s Tokyo camera shopping video on his channel.
I bagged a bargain in Japan, but this lens can generally be found for 100 to 200 dollars or pounds on the used market depending on condition, so let’s see what makes it special.
First things first: the Nikkor 50 1.4 AI-s may have been introduced in 1981, but its popularity saw it in production until 2005, an impressive 24 years, during which around three quarters of a million units were made. As such, there’s a lot of them out there, so you shouldn’t have any difficulty tracking one down. But how vintage will it actually be?
According to Roland Vink’s hugely comprehensive and invaluable Photosynthesis website, this lens started production with serial number 510-0001 in 1981, and ended at around 585-8632 in 2005. A subsequent smaller run started in 2006 with serial number 600-0001, producing around 25000 more lenses until this model was officially discontinued in 2020.
Given mine has a serial number of 584-4848, it was made towards the end of its first production life in the early 2000’s, but all share the same optical and mechanical design intro’d in the early 80s, itself actually based on a pre-AI version dating from 1976. So while my own lens is closer to 20 rather than 40 to 50 years old, it’s still a vintage classic.
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