Nikon 24mm f/1.4 vs 85mm f/1.4?

I'm trying to decide what new lens to buy. I particularly prefer a smaller focal length, but I was just wondering how they both are in comparison.

They are so different, I'm sure you have not looked through either one and know the differences, but are asking about them based upon the f/1.4 aperture.

http://imaging.nikon.com/...simulator/

Spend some tine on this link to see which you need.

NOTE: Unless you have a full frame dSLR, the 24 mm lens is NOT going to be a very wide angle lens

Take the money you would spend on either one and instead take a photography course. This is seriously good advice!

To be specific answer here is… Less the focal length 24mm is good for wide angle coverage. And more over F-stop is 1.4.so more light will be allowed to sensor and you have very good picture and sharper one in this. You will get very good depth of field in this when you focus to 24mm and rest of the background will be nicely blur. That gives more impresssive in your photography

when you talk about 85 mm is comes under zoomed area in the wide angle picture. I mean to say you won't get sorrounding the details what you look in 24mm image. So decide which oyu want.

i prefer 24mm f1.4 would be the best

You should know this before you can make a decision.

http://keerok-photography.blogspot.com/2011/05/lenses-so-many-of-them-there-is-no-best.html

Different uses

The 24mm is allot wider then the 85mm. The 85mm makes a lovely lens for portraits and of course also can be used for allot of different types of photography.
The 24mm is wider and depending on the model [full frame versus crop frame] it either is a lovely lens for landscapes and a nice wide view or it is around 42mm effective and closer to a "normal" view.

On a crop sensor body you need to think about getting an 12mm orso to get really that width. Samyang sells a nice 14mm lens that makes crop sensor bodies able to get some real width.

Anyhow depending on if your body is crop or full frame the lenses will "act" different. They still have the same viewpoint but because a crop sensor only takes out a crop this changes the effective viewpoint. That is why kitlenses on crop bodies are 18-55mm

So a 85mm on a crop sensor body would be like an 135mm that is a very thigh portrait
A 24mm on a crop sensor body would be like an 36mm wider as a "normal" view but not by allot.

I'm sure both offer great image quality but you need to buy the lens fitting your usages. Buying the 24mm would be kinda stupid if you are going to shoot portraits. It is possible… But it certainly is out of the usual.

Equally the 85mm is lovely if you have use for such a lens.landscapes with a 85m? Seriously?

Point is that only YOU know what you shoot and hence only YOU know what you really need.
It is possible to use a lens in ways it isn't really optimized for. You can use a 24mm to shoot portraits for instance. Its possible. But not optimal.