This lens, introduced in 2002, is small, sharp and inexpensive. It makes an ideal addition to a kit zoom, especially for candid natural light photography because of it's quality, compactness, and light gathering abilities. The two pictures above are of my approximately two year old sample.
AF Nikkor 50mm F/1.8D
The "D" stands for distance information. These lenses relay subject to camera distance to the camera body, which makes possible 3d Matrix Metering and 3d Multi-Sensor Balanced Fill-Flash.
I've used my lens extensively over the last two years, and it's still in very good shape. There's no visible wear on the metal bayonet mount, and the black plastic covering only shows a few shiny marks.
The rubber knurling on both the aperture and focus rings is very comfortable to use. The aperture ring is a little on the narrow side, but it's perfectly usable. (On a film camera like the Nikon FM2n, you turn the aperture ring to set the f-stop.) On a digital Nikon, this is a complete non-issue, as the aperture ring is kept on f22. It's a good idea to lock this down by sliding the aperture lock so that the orange dots line up. Actual picture taking aperture is determined in this case by the setting on the camera.
To use manual focus, you have to flip a switch on the camera body. It would be nicer to be able to do this directly on the lens, but this isn't a big deal. Manual focusing is pretty good, I use it regularly this way in very low light, but it's not as smooth as on a Nikon manual focus lens.
To conclude, the lens is very well built, especially considering it's price! It feels and operates like a quality piece of hardware.
The performance is outstanding! It focuses very fast, and the view in the camera viewfinder is bright and contrasty. Passive autofocus systems, the kind found in most slr's, work best with lots of light. The f/stop sequence goes: f/1.0, f/1.4, f/2.0, f2.8, f/4, f/5.6.... Each f-stop allows 1/2 the amount of light that the one immediately on it's left does. Thus, an f/2.0 lens allows 8 times more light to reach the film or sensor at maximum aperture than does an f/5.6 lens. At f/1.8, the AF Nikkor f/1.8D helps the autofocus system work quickly and in lower light levels than many other lenses.
The wide aperture allows shots to be gotten in very low light. Here are some examples:
The picture above was taken with a D200 at EI 3200, F/1.8, 1/80th of a second. Here's another example:
This shot was taken with a D200 at EI 800, F/2, 1/60th of a second.
Most good candid photographs are taken with natural light, and some of the best are taken in very low light. If you like these kind of photos, get a fast lens, i.e. one with a large maximum aperture, and keep your camera with you as much as you can.
A number of great zoom lenses with image stabilization are now available, and this works very well in many cases. Nonetheless while image stabilization limits blur caused by camera shake, it does nothing to minimize blur from subject movement. Fast lenses, on the other hand, allow faster shutter speeds, which will minimize blur from camera shake and subject motion.
Large maximum apertures also minimize distracting backgrounds, as the larger the aperture the smaller the depth of field will be. Focus does need to be very precise.
There has been no noticeable color fringing in the 100s of photographs that I've taken with this lens, and it's very resistant to flare, even when shot directly into a light source.
It's sharpest between f/4 and f/8, although it does very well wide open, where there's a bit of light fall-off on the edges. On apertures smaller then f11, the images do become somewhat softer due to diffraction, which is normal. With scenes needing lot's of depth-of-field, it's often better to shoot a couple shots at an optimum aperture, one with the foreground perfectly sharp, and one with the background sharp, than to shoot at, say, f/22, which will lead to a less sharp image. Merge the twho shots in Photoshop, taking the sharp elements from each photo. Note, though, that changing focus changes the sizes of the picture elements a bit, and so a little bit of care is needed.
Bokeh, how the lens handles out-of-focus areas, is quite pleasing.
This picture was taken with a D200 at EI 100, f/3.2/ 1/160th of a second.
Finally, the lens retains excellent image quality close up.
As stated above, this lens excells at low light photography and candid portraiture. It also performs beautifully as a portrait lens for head-and-shoulders to full-length portraits.
Nikon D200 EI 400, f/5.6, 1/400th of a second. The portrait is not cropped.
Since it acts like a 75mm lens would on a 35mm film camera, tight head shots might have perspective issues. As you get closer to your subject than about 1 meter (or approximately 3 feet), object elements closer to the lens begin to look larger than more distant elements. For example, in a straight-on portrait, the subject's nose can look unflatteringly out of proportion if you get too close. These perspective issues can be ameliorated to some extent by having the subject turn their head a bit.
Nikon D200 EI 100, f/5.6, 1/60th of a second. (This photo had some of the left edge cropped off.)
Nonetheless, if you're going to shoot a lot of tight head shots, then you'd be better off with a longer focal length lens. Something in the 85mm to 135mm would be ideal.
The 50mm f/1.8 also works well as a general purpose lens, with close focusing abilites and great optical performance, although since it's a fixed focal length, it's not as versatile for image framing as a zoom lens.
Conclusion
This is an outstanding lens. Considering it's price, it's an incredible bargain. If you need a fast lens in this focal length, it's a great choice. Nikon does offer a much more expensive 50mm f/1.4 lens, but gain in light gathering from f/1.8 to f/1.4 isn't that much. As a first lens, you'd probably be better off with a zoom, perhaps a kit lens. The ones that come with the D40, for example, are amazingly high quality, and the multiple focal lengths make it more versatile. That said, the 50mm f/1.4D lens makes a great second lens, as it's light gathering ability enables you to get shots you couldn't get with the smaller maximum aperture zoom lens. Add the 50mm's compact size, portrait friendly focal length, outstanding image quality, and low price and you have a winner. Given it's very reasonable price, there's not much point in buying used. Get one and enjoy. The other manufactures make similar lenses for their systems. They should be comparable.
All content © 1990-2007 Peter De Smidt