50mm 1.8 nikkor

[dooda]

Just had a little play with my new 50mm 1.8. Wow, I'm so impressed and excited about the extra manipulation of depth of field! So fun, these are pics that I just couldn't grab with the kit lens. Tons of fun. Does a closeup filter work well on this lens? Would it work better on the kit or a telephoto?

Well worth the money in my opinion and I haven't even really played with it yet! So very cool. I look forward to getting some good indoor christmas shots etc with it, as well as night time walking around with friends/family shots.

[Raydar]

Yeah mate the close up’s work well.
I’ve done a few & all turned out A1

Cheers
Ray

[birddog114]

dooda,
The 50/1.8 is a bargain glass which you have, you can have lot of fun with it in portrait and some other uses.
You've made the right decision.

[dooda]

Birdie,

What does a good close up filter cost for this 50mm? Do you have any?

[birddog114]

Birdie,

What does a good close up filter cost for this 50mm? Do you have any?

dooda,
look into some nikon or canon filters, but don't waste your hard earned cash on them, perhaps it won't do justice on the 50mm range.
Save up your bucks for proper macro lens.

[MattC]

I came across a thread on dpreview a while back that detailed a comparison with pics at a range of aperatures for the 18-70, 50/1.4 and 50/1.8 lenses. The results of the comparison were interesting in that the 50/1.4 does not really outperform the 50/1.8 in sharpness. Both lenses do not really start to deliver sharp images until f4. The only area where the 50/1.4 seems to outperform the 50/1.8 is in the area of bokeh. That is not to say that the 50/1.8 is bad in this area, just that the 50/1.4 is better.

This comparison makes me feel quite okay about my decision to buy the 50/1.8 although I would have preferred the metal body of the 50/1.4.

The other interesting thing is that the kit lens performs very well in this company, albeit at smaller aperatures. It produces sharp images from about f8 upwards.

I could not find the thread, so here is a link to the gallery containing the images.

http://www.pbase.com/miljenko/ccrm_bokeh_tests

Cheers

Matt

Edit: I changed the url to something a little more useful.

[ast]

talking about 50mm. do you guys know the sweet spot of our 50mm's? which opening will give us the best result?

[Joe]

Generally, lenses are sharpest about 2-3 stops down from wide open, if clinical sharpness is what you're looking for. But nobody looks at emotional work in terms of lines per millimeter, and strong photography is often strongly emotional.

Real world impressions of sharpness often increase as you stop the lens down, however. I shot a bunch of images at f/16-22 yesterday, knowing that although they wouldn't resolve the absolute detail I'd get at f/5.6-f/8, the impression of sharpness would be greater because I was shooting three dimensional subjects. If the near and far edge of a rock are both sharp, it feels sharper than if only one side is sharp, even if the sharp side is 100 lines/mm. It worked most excellently, largely because I was using the same tripod I use for my 8"x10" camera. These D70s are very capable machines when we do our part.

The world is like that.

My 50 f/1.8 works very well with the Nikon "plus" lenses which screw into the filter threads. I have carried these "plus" lenses in a 6" stack of screwed-together filters since the '70s, for "macro" work, among other things. It sure beats carrying around another (expensive, heavy-after-12-hours) lens, although my old Micro Nikkors were among my all-time favorites. If I had a Micro Nikkor D series lens, I'd carry it, but if you do your job, nobody will care what lens you used, and only perception-deficients will ask.

On a D70, the 50mm's function like 75mm's on 35mm film cameras, nice for moderate portraits, and very fast. That means that you must be VERY careful where you put the precise focusing plane, and I don't find autofocus to be anywhere near precise enough. You want focus on the prominent eyeball, not the bridge of the subject's nose. And a D70 requires extraordinary care to place the focus where you want it.

Shoot sharp, y'all,
Joe

[Greg B]

I am greatly enjoying your posts Joe, where are you from?

Edit - question answered, thanks Joe.

[atencati]

Joe. Thanks, I have been grappling with the 2d vs 3d focus planes a lot lately. I have been on a fatstest aperture kick lately and my pics have been suffering a bit. Now that we are making a west coast run (3 of us I know of for sure) we can have an official MEET!!! just like our southern counterparts! Woohoooo! Anyways, great posts, very insightful.

Sometimes it's hard to remember objects are #d through the viewfinder

Andy

[dooda]

Yes yes, onward west coast d70 users! We are indeed growing. Portland is right in the middle of all of us. Just a quick 6 hour drive...

[birddog114]

Joe,
What part of Portland, OR you are?
I used to work as part time check-out clerk at John O Cornos supermarket 25 years ago and lived in Gresham, after moved to Beaverton near to Beaverton Toyota.
Good to see a guy from "City of Roses".

[Neeper]

I just bought this lens on Saturday. So far so good. I think the pictures are nice and sharp. Great in low light, what difference compared to my kit lens. Definitely worth it.

[Raydar]

I put this in another thread but I thought it mite be good to put it here as well!!


One thing I have found on my 1.8 50mm is there’s two small indents on the aperture ring one underf8 & the other under f4, weather this is Nikons half assed attempt to show you were the sweet spot is I don’t know?????


Cheers
Ray

[digitor]

Check the other thread

Cheers

[lukeo]

I want one of these lens' in my kit.

A must have.

thank you for the feedback most useful.

[birddog114]

I want one of these lens' in my kit.

A must have.

thank you for the feedback most useful.

It's a nice lens with the size of money!

[MHD]

At the price it is more like a "why not have!"

[ru32day]

The Canberra War Memorial has a gallery with the G for George bomber. They re-enact a night run, so there is very little ambient light except for the movie screens behind the plane and searchlights etc.

Here are two images shot with the 50mm 1.8 during the show, which demonstrate the 50mm 1.8's ability to capture an image in these very difficult conditions.

http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php?pos=-922 (442kb)

http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php?pos=-921 (486 kb)

[christiand]

What ISO setting did the D70 have ?

Cheers
CD

[ru32day]

What ISO setting did the D70 have ?

ISO 200 - Amazing, isn't it.

[nito]

Well here goes my first post. I must say this is an excellent forum full of useful information.

I picked up a 50 mm F1.8 today. Couldnt justify the purchase of the F1.4 model at almost double the price. Had some time to play around with the lens! Before this lens, I was a zoom/telephoto kinda guy and feared primes because I thought I'll loose the freedom to get up close and personal with subjects.

Now this is my first prime lens, and I can say I like! Prime lens have awesome aperture control features which adds a much more to taking pictures besides zooooming. F is for fun indeed!

I find you get excellent sharp images at apertures greater than F4.

[MHD]

Welcome Nito!

Indeed... nothing like a "foot zoom"

[mudder]

G'day Nito, welcome to the forum

The 50F1.8 is such a bargain ain't it? Great value for money...

[christiand]

Hello Nito and wellcome.

Let your profile include where you are from.

Cheers
CD

[nito]

Thanks for the warm welcome. Definately a bargain the 50 mm. Cures my nikon aquisition syndrome for a while

[Greg B]

Experience tells us that it won't cure it for long Nito

Welcome to the forum.

[MHD]

Yeah about as long as it takes to get to the next minimeet

[Andyt]

Hi! All,

I have one of these lenses, thanks to a certain "Birdy" , like you all I am
very pleased with its low light performance, sharpness and control of DOF.

My question is: Has anyone noticed a difference in results with and without a lense hood attached?. Also, the addition of a clear UVO filter?.

As one is not supplied with the lense I ask before ordering the geniune article.

My only complaint is the supply of the "Mickey Mouse" end cap.

Regards, Andyt

[MATT]

Andyt, I agree with the end cap thing..

I also found that with a uv filter it mmade the lense softer. It may have been the qualty od th efilter but now I just leave it off.


MATT

[Andyt]

Matt,

Thanks for that, I suspected that could be the case.

I think I will just settle for a hood, as I think the combo of SB800+50mm 1.8 would very hard to be beat. (especially in RAW).

Because of the relativley "shortness" of lense length suspect some head positions on the SB800 could allow stray light in, where a hood would assist in stopping that happening.

Andyt

[nito]

Hi all, for everyone who is interested in this lens, I will post some images testing its sharpness at various aperatures under flash. These shots were taken with the 50 mm, SB600 +0.7 bounced vertically, EV +0.3. Focus was on the center flower. Basically, its very sharp at 5.0 and above. Not really usable with bounce flash after F7.1

I am a scientist, but never applied it to photography.
I hope it is to you liking and helps in your selection.
Please excuse my brother's gf, walking in the background.


F1.8


F2.5


F3.5


F5.6


F9.0

EDITED: Removed some images

[dooda]

Really good test and a great subject for a test. I'm impressed with the increase in sharpness from 1.8 to 2.0.

It would be fun to see the 1.4 in this test as well.

[Aussie Dave]

Hi Nito,
thanks for posting. I am looking at purchasing the 1.8D sometime soon and this is very useful information.

It would also be interesting to see 100% crops of these...

[nito]

Hi Nito,
thanks for posting. I am looking at purchasing the 1.8D sometime soon and this is very useful information.

It would also be interesting to see 100% crops of these...

Hi Dave, just tell me which ones you want the 100% crops and from where. I'll do it after work.

[nito]

F1.8


F2.5


F3.5

F5.6


F9.0

[BBJ]

Thanks nito, i have just orded 1 of these to add to my bag so will have a play with it but mainly for inside pics.
Thanks

[nito]

Glad to help

[keno]

Just picked up one of these lenses and must say it has exceeded my expectations. This would have to be the best bang for buck Nikon lens and should be part of everyones kit.

I take most of my pics indoor where the light can be variable at best. The speed makes things so much easier and the pictures are pretty decent. I couldn't justify paying more than double for the 1.4 so don't know what I'm missing but overall very happy with the quality of the 1.8

I did some test shots last night from f1.8 - f22 stepping 1/3 of a stop and found the sharpest shots around f5.6 though anything around 4 is really good.

[Neeper]

I use this lens way more often than my 85mm 1.8