Budget 50mm FF AF-F-mount lens with great bokeh?

[G*]

Hi!

I am looking for a budget Nikon-mount AF lens (full frame).

A little more specific: Intended use is shooting people, mostly children, at about 0.5–3 meters distance, with apertures around f/2.2–2.8 (which I assume gives a good balance between sharpness/aberrations and shallow depth of focus).

I like buttery MF-/LF-like bokeh, and I don’t care about great sharpness an the edges of the frame. My personal positive point of reference in terms of bokeh is shooting a Mamiya RZ67 Pro with normal lenses almost wide open. My personal negative point of reference in terms of abberations and sharpness is the old AF-Nikkor 50mm 1.8 (not D). That lens looked unusable to me when shot more open than f/3.2–f/2.8.

My candidates are:
• AF-Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 D
• AF-Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 D
• AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 G
• AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 G (SE)
• AF-S Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 G ED
• Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
• Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Makro

The new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art is still a little too expensive, and from what I’ve seen so far, the bokeh of this lens is pretty harsh. Its depth of field somehow seemed much "wider" than other lenses – i.e. the out of focus areas where much less blurred than what I would expect from a certain f-stop.
The 70mm Sigma Makro is probably a little too long.

I’m open to suggestions and I’m especially interested in your experience with these lenses’ bokeh and issues like CA.

Thanks in advance!

[adrian tyler]

good question, such a fundemental focal length, although you know it's a subjective issue!
good luck with your hunt! i was on the lookout for a nice out of focus rendering 50mm for a long time, the best i found was the hasselblad 50mm distagon fle (for the v system) a nightmate to use on nikons because of having to focus then stop down, but beautiful results.
i may get struck down for this but ken rockwell had/has an article about this precise issue, with a large lineup & samples. none seem to fit the bill from what i can remember.
the nikon 50mm 1.4 g is not nice in my opinion. i think you may have to look at a ziess/contax manual focus options. sorry it's not what you are asking for but i'm using the sony (zeiss) 55mm sonnar at the moment on an a7 and it's as good as i have found, better in the bokeh dept. than the leica asph's and the pre-asph summicron IMO.
be intersting to hear what forum members think...
i have heard good things about the nikon 60 makro you mention, also the older nikkor manul focus f1.12 seems to have a cult following but i have no personal experience, that may be worth trying...
OR go for one of the 85mm f2 of i you can manage the f1.4 is highly regarded for it's smooth bokeh so they would fit your criteria better? the 50mm option is a minefield, with different f stops yelding nicer or uglier results...

[kers]

i have the sigma art and like the sharpness as well as the bokeh...
I had before a Zeiss 1.4 ZF , and the nikkors 1.4G and 1.8G... The sigma is sharp and clear in the cetre @ 1.4 and has a nice bokeh. Not harsh i find.
The better bokeh comes with the 1.4 G 58mm nikkor. it is less sharp wide open, but its colours are very clear and bright. very good coatings.
It seems to have less depth of field than you would expect. but not so budget.
I know the older sigma 50mm DG is also much used and maybe better in terms of bokeh.

[Telecaster]

50mm lenses aren't generally known for their smooth OOF rendering. The nicest such lens in F mount I've owned & used is the Voigtländer 58/1.4. Close enough.    No longer made (I think) so you'd have to track down a used one. No AF either. The Pentax A series 50/1.2 at f/1.7 has quite nice bokeh…no F mount, though.

-Dave-

[eronald]

The lens you want on Nikon is the 50mm Zeiss Planar, but it is MF. The old 50/1.8 AF Nikon is decent; I did a comparison with every other 50 I could find and could not justify getting anything better.  

You might do better with Sony, they now have a bunch of Zeiss glass for their new FF cameras.

I have found using a cheap old crop-sensor Canon camera with a 50 prime as a portrait lens works well. Probably a Rebel and a used 50 will cost you $300, and I expect Nikon has those as well.  

Edmund

[G*]

Thanks!

I had a Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 once, I guess it was Ai-S. It was fun (though I didn’t like its color rendering very much) – as long as my kid slept all day and didn’t move. Today it has to be an AF lens …

The Sony alpha7II/RII system is tempting – but is the AF ready for fast moving children? – and should I switch from my D800e to a camera with a compressed Raw file? Questions … only more questions …

The old 50mm Sigma 1.4mm was highly regarded, though "pricey" for a 50mm – until the Art lens came … and the Otus … and the 58mm Nikkor. Now it’s considered dirt cheap. But has its image quality lost its charm?

[MarkL]

AF at those apertures for moving subjects in the 0.5–3 meter range is going to be quite a challenge and I'd be more concerned about this than tiny variations in out of focus rendering. I'm not sure what some see as harsh about the sigma art 50mm, I think perhaps because it retains contrast at wider apertures (easily changed in post). It certainly is a brilliant lens in how clear and aberration free it is and a huge step up from the 1.8G I had before.

Here is a 50mm bokeh comparison you may find helpful: http://nikonrumors.com/2011/11/03/seven-50mm-prime-lenses-for-nikon-f-mount-compared-by-cary-jordan.aspx/ The differences in rendering really are quite small.