Review of the Nikon NIKKOR-S•C 1:1.4 f=5cm LTM/M39/L39 Lens (50mm f/1.4).
Overall Rating:
This lens is made in Japan. It has distance markers in feet and has an infrared focus index. It has depth of field and focus scales and it stops down to f/16 with a well-rounded diaphragm. This is a rangefinder lens with Leica thread-mount (LTM), a.k.a. M39 or L39, meaning it will not fully work on most Nikon DSLR cameras unless an adapter with optics is used to allow focus to infinity, but it fully works on Nikon Z cameras with an LTM/M39-mount/L39-mount to Z-mount lens adapter.
sidefrontLeica thread-mount, focused at infinity (∞)mounted to the Nikon Z7 II camera using a lens adapter
This lens is a Sonnar design which was a very common lens design in the 1950s. Unlike the later 50mm f/1.4 lenses for the Nikon F mount, this lens is NOT a retrofocus design. This lens was later replaced with the superior Gauss design which can be identified by the focal length being marked in millimeters instead of centimeters, plus it was not available in any Leica mount.
The focus collar feels fluid with just the right amount of resistance, like when it was new. The diaphragm of this sample is coated in oil and may become stiff when it dries out, but for now it is fully operational. Also, there is a very slight amount of haze, but it is not enough to affect the image. There are detents at each stop for the aperture. There is a detent at the one meter mark (between 3 and 3.5 feet). Even though the lens focuses down to 1.5 feet (0.46 meters), this detent lets the photographer know the rangefinder is no longer coupled at distances less than one meter. The build quality of this lens is simply outstanding.
brown egg on wood surface, focused to minimum of 1.5 feet (0.46 meters), f/11 (detail)
Very early rangefinder lenses were not coated at all, but this is a single-coated lens which means greater contrast and color saturation. It is not multicoated! The "C" was later dropped from the name of these lenses because all quality lenses of the 1950s had a single coating so there was no point in having this. The "C" in Nikon Nikkor SLR lenses denotes multicoating.
Contrast is poor at f/1.4 due to spherical aberration.
center at f/5.6corner at f/5.6center at f/8corner at f/8
Typical for Sonnar designs, the lens is sharp in the center and quite soft in the corners.
This lens was not tested for an infrared hotspot.
The bokeh is probably the most interesting part of this review. Because the diaphragm is very well rounded, specular highlights appear rounded. There are tons of LoCA. The bokeh at f/1.4 is quite scary. At f/2, the bokeh cleans up a lot, but it is at its best at f/2.8. See below.
bokeh at f/1.4bokeh at f/2bokeh at f/2.8bokeh at f/5.6
Distortion is well controlled for a lens design of this age.
Diffraction begins around f/11. This lens is sharpest stopped down to f/8.
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