KenRockwell states about the AF Nikkor 28/1.4 D
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/2814af.htm, quote:
"
The Nikon 28mm f/1.4 is an absolutely extraordinary lens. It is as sharp at f/1.4 as it is at other apertures. This baby loves to be shot at f/1.4 without having to make any excuses for quality."
Further down he states:
"
Sharpness
The 28mm f/1.4 is sharp at every aperture, even at f/1.4 in the corners.
This is unique among Nikkor wide angle lenses. The aspheric element gives it freedom from the coma (lateral spherical aberration) that plagues all other Nikon wide and fast normal lenses. In other words, shot at f/1.4, points of light in the corners still stay as reasonably small points of light, not the big batwing blobs that one gets at full aperture with other wide and normal Nikkors. You can see how well controlled this if by looking at this worst case photo made at f/1.4, hand held at 1/8 of a second. Yes, you can see a little coma in the lower right, but it's far better than any other Nikkor at f/1.4.
The only lack of perfection in sharpness is that in the very far corners of film, only in the last two millimeters of the image, it is soft at most larger apertures. Thus the circle of good definition is 40mm and the circle of good illumination is at least 43mm. This is fine; you really have to go out of your way to find a subject that requires sharpness at f/1.4 in the last mm of the corner. The sharpness just inside this 40mm circle is very, very sharp even at f/1.4 which is better than any other lens I've used at the larger apertures.
On digital it's sharp all over."
It also has a Close Focus of 1.15' or 0.35m.
However, when using the TechArt Pro (TAP) adapter on an A7r2 one can get a lot closer.
So, I had a closer look at my copy of that lens to see whether it lives up to the lofty standard set by K.R.'s lens.
I displayed K.R.'s opening chapter on my 4K screen and took closeup shots.
Image quality seems best at f/1.4 and f/8. At f/16 all fine detail is smeared out, pretty much unusable IMHO.
I shot with A7r2 and the TAP adapter, using AF-C and AF-S with Flexible Spot: S, got similar results.
Shot at f/1.4 (Sorry for the Smudge on the Screen :banghead
Shot at f/8
Focus was at the a in apertures.
Considering the lens followed the Noct-Nikkor development some time ago
http://www.nikkor.com/story/0028/ we probably shouldn't be surprised by what we find.
• Both images appear to be sharp at the focus point.
• For f/1.4 there is considerable vignetting and loss of sharpness towards the corners,
• Even for f/8 there is still some loss of sharpness in the corners.
• There appears to be a bit of focus breathing when stopping down.
Full resolution images are here.
https://winklers.smugmug.com/KHW/Pics-by-Date/2016-09-11-A7r22814-D-AF/i-7w9cKzQ/O
https://winklers.smugmug.com/KHW/Pics-by-Date/2016-09-11-A7r22814-D-AF/i-Z88Pfrb/O
Following are images shot with the 28/1.4 lens.