A lens such as the Nikon 50mm 1.4 is usually measured on two aspects – the build quality and the optical quality. This article shall cover the optical performance of this lens and give you an overview of how it fares in various aspects. The lens has really good sharpness at the centre. Border sharpness is also great at f/2 and beyond for all apertures. However, if you want to use the lens at f/1.4 then the borders become quite soft. This is not a major problem though, as the lens is really good in all the other aspects of optical performance. This is not a zoom lens, so you will not find any of the usual problems that you associate with a zoom lens such as distortion and vignetting in this lens. There is no CA as well in this lens and overall it gives you good value for money, despite being priced quite on the high side.