With the need of an AF 50mm, this is the lens I've been waiting for. Although it's not entirely fair to compare it to the Noct (different focal length, and the design), here's what I've found so far (on full frame camera). At very close range, the new 50 outperforms the Noct at the center below f2 but the corner to corner sharpness starting to lag behind as the lens stops down. Going beyond 1 or 2 meters, the Noct is the down right winner (if you can focus the Noct right. Only tested below F4). Color rendition of the new lens is much warmer than that of the Noct and resembles the beautiful color of recent new Nikon lenses. Bokeh-wise it's not as good as the Noct either, the edge of the high light out of focus area does not fade out as seen on the Noct. Compared my old 50/1.4 AI, it shows quite some improvement, especially the vignetting and sharpness at f1.4. With all that said, the new 50mm is definitely a keeper, you would not be worry about the sharpness in real world situation. Not being an IF lens, the new 50mm focuses somewhat slower than the old AF-D version (due to the SWM), but unless you always start far from your subject distance in low light, it¡¦s that serious. Build quality of this lens is similar to the 70-300VR- both has the rubber gasket at the lens mount, and it also comes with bayonet hood and lens pouch. For manual focus, it takes a little more than a half turn get from 45cm to infinity.