Nikon's coma-corrected night lens — the manual-focus Ai Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2, aspherical element.
The Ai Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 is a specialised ultra-fast standard for the Nikon F system, introduced in 1977. The Noct name refers to night photography, and it used a hand-ground aspherical front element to control coma so that point light sources render as clean points at full aperture, a difficult correction for such a fast lens.
This is a manual-focus Nikon F lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.2 and a fixed 58mm focal length, carrying the Ai aperture-indexing coupling and a hand-figured aspherical element. It is a fast double-Gauss-derived design built for coma control at full aperture. Only verified figures are stated; further construction details are omitted to avoid error.
The defining trait is clean point-source rendering wide open, with coma suppressed so streetlights and stars stay compact rather than smearing into wings. Combined with the bright f/1.2 aperture and 58mm focal length, this makes it suited to night cityscapes, astro-adjacent work and low-light portraits with smooth backgrounds. It renders with high micro-contrast for its speed.
On the used market the Noct-Nikkor is among the most sought and expensive manual Nikkors, prized for its aspherical coma control and scarcity. Inspect the elements for haze, fungus and separation, confirm the aspherical front is unmarked, verify the Ai coupling, and test the aperture and focus. It adapts to mirrorless where its wide-open point rendering keeps it in demand.