Sharpness at 50mm

Our sharpness tests are carried out by photographing a real-world subject rather than a test chart. The Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2 S was attached to a Nikon Z7 II camera, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. Self-timer mode was activated to steady the camera completely. Any slight tonal changes you may see across the crops are a result of slight changes in natural light during the shooting session.

The full frame at 50mm

At the centre of the image, sharpness is very good at the maximum aperture of f/1.2, before rising to excellent at f/1.4. It gets sharper again at f/2.8, and maintains that level of sharpness until f/8, where it remains excellent but is ever-so-slightly softer. It gets softer again at f/11, with the softest results seen at f/16 - the narrowest aperture.

At the edges of the image, the sharpest results can be seen between f/11 and f/16, but the overall impression of sharpness when viewing images at normal sizes is very good throughout the aperture range.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/1.2
f/1.4
f/1.8
f/2
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16