Photography – Nikon NIKKOR-S.C Auto 50mm f1.4

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I shot this in my garden. I pulled the Danbo out of retirement for a bit of foreground interest but what I was really trying to do was create some round, soap bubble, bokeh balls. That worked well with the sun creating nice bokeh ball highlights off the leaves on a bush in the background.

I bought, yet another, vintage lens from Ebay last week. I’d read a favourable review of the Nikon NIKKOR-S.C Auto 50mm f1.4, a 1970’s classic and decided I’d like one. It’s still widely available and I bought a copy, in mint condition, for £100. I’ve never owned, or used, a Nikon lens before but I’m suitably impressed. The build quality is superb and it’s a dream to use.

Several things had drawn me to the lens but mostly I wanted the distinctive bubbly bokeh and dreamy look it can give you at f1.4. The lens arrived four days ago and since then I’ve been busy using it. The light outside has been pretty meh as we’ve had dull overcast skies here in the UK. Yesterday was a bit brighter though so I took it with me for a walk around a neighbouring town.

A statue we passed on our walk. The lens was nice and sharp at f5.6
Again nice and sharp at f5.6 and colours are rendered well in that nice vintage way.
Nice colours and good detail at f8
There’s nice separation at f1.4 but it is quite soft. It sharpens up quickly from f2.8 onwards. I’ve used Topaz to sharpen the book in post processing. I treat my vintage lenses the same as my modern fuji lenses in post processing. They have to be sharp if I want to sell them as stock. They have to earn their keep.
A studio image of our Chilli Con Carne dinner earlier this week. The lens is nice and sharp at f8.

First impressions are really good. I’ve a funny feeling this is going to be a favourite lens. It’s up against some stiff competition in my Auto Takumar 50mm f1.4 and Canon FD 55mm f1.2 but it holds it’s own against those lenses, with the bonus of that bubbly bokeh.

This is everything I’m enjoying with these vintage lenses. They’re just a joy to use. I like slowing down, working manually and there’s a look that my modern lenses don’t achieve. Here’s a link to the original review I watched in relation to this lens on Simon Utaks excellent YouTube Channel – Five Vintage Lenses

All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.

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