Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

One of the best lens for portrait and low light photography.

I don't even know where to start. This lens produces sharp pictures and great color and contrast. And for its price (which seems to climb recently) it is worth more than 5 stars rating. I initially get this lens for low light action and sport photography (as this lens is famous for being one of the fastest lens together with its brother 50mm f/1.4) but I also found out that this lens is also perfect for portrait and other general purposes (macro etc). This is definitely a very versatile lens.



As much as I want to encourage everyone to buy this lens right away let me mention some of the limitation that you would see (which I think will be helpful to go over before deciding to buy this lens):



First being a prime lens you will need to move your feet a lot to compose your picture. If you are used to zoom lens don't underestimate this limitation. It takes me a while to get used to it and sometime I still find people looking at me wondering why I am moving forward and backwards. the good news is that most of the time they don't think I'm weird but they are actually wondering if I'm a professional photographer.



Secondly the focal range of 50mm which is considered the normal lens and great for portrait lens. but on many DSLRs which is not full frame (unless you have a full frame Nikon DSLR like the D700 or D3 then 50mm is 50mm) this lens become a 75mm equivalent which is in the border of a short tele lens. I actually like the 75mm equivalent though I often have to move backwards when taking picture of a group of people.



Third in some situation the autofocus might not able to focus (which is common for many other lens too). It is hard for the autofocus to lock when aiming at a wall that is one color (usually black or white) or on a clear sky (day or night). This kind of makes sense to me actually. IN these situations the AF assist light doesn't help either so you can opt for manual focus or set the focus to infinity when you can't find focus lock on scenic/landscape or sky photography. So far I don't have many problems with the autofocus.



Sharpness increases as you stop down to f/2.2 or f/2.5. I actually use f/1.8 most of the time and the results are still nice. Personally I'd rather use f/1.8 aperture settings than stopped down (e.g to f/2.8) and compensate with higher ISO setting which often gives me grainy picture. But if your object is not moving (static) then it is better to stop down to f/2.8 or more.



If you are wondering whether you should get a fast lens or a lens with VR (Vibration Reduction) here's my take: In overall VR does help a lot (as it will reduce camera shake) and will produce better/sharper picture than equivalent lens without VR (especially if the object is static). If the object is moving (sports/action) then VR feature alone might not help (depending on how fast the object is moving and how much light is available) and a fast lens often end up being a far better solution even without VR feature as it will allow much faster shutter speed to freeze motion. Using tripod (and a remote) will substitute for the need of VR feature. In general I would recommend getting a fast lens with VR feature (and usually it is expensive) such as the 70-200 f/2.8 VR but if one can only get for one or the other then find out what do you want to use the lens for and then use the guideline mentioned here.



If you are wondering whether you will get the benefit of buying f/1.4 lens over a f/1.8 lens just remember that the f/1.4 lens is about 60% faster than f/1.8 at its widest aperture setting. With this information you can decide if the additional speed will justify the additional cost. The bokeh is nicer as well in f/1.4 lens but I think speed is usually the main factor in deciding whether to get the more expensive f/1.4 lens.



Here are the summary of pros and cons for this Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF lens:



Pros:

1. Very fast (f/1.8)

2. Very sharp pictures (especially when stopped down to f/2.2 f/2.5 or more.)

3. Great for sport/action photography

4. Great for indoor and low light situation

5. Great for portrait

6. Bokeh is almost as good as many expensive Nikon tele-lens

7. Fast autofocus

8. Good for wedding photography (or no-flash event). However if this is your main objective then you might want to get the 50mm f/1.4 version or 28-70mm f/2.8 lens)

9. 75mm equivalent which can be considered a short tele lens (I actually like the fact that it's 75mm equivalent vs 50mm in DSLR. if you need more zoom you can get the Nikon 85mm f/1.8 or the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR). If you have full frame DSLR(like the D3 or D700) then this #9 pros is not applicable.

10. Inexpensive



Cons:

1. Being prime lens you need to move your feet a lot to adjust/compose

2. Autofocus issue on some situations (read detail above)

3. Plasticy build

4. Autofocus is not the most silent but very reasonable

5. 75mm equivalent with 1.5x multiplier on non full frame DSLR (many people find this is an odd range for normal lens. I actually like it). If you have full frame DSLR(like the D3 or D700) then this #5 cons is not applicable.

6. Autofocus does not work with D40 D40x D60 and D5000. The newer 50mm f/1.4G AF-S lens or 35mm f/1.8G AF-S lens will autofocus with those cameras.



Bottom line: This lens is so versatile (and inexpensive) that I think everyone should own in addition to all the lenses that they already have. Being a very fast lens it enables me to take pictures in low light (sport/action photography) that I otherwise wouldn't be able to do.

After knowing its limitation I would predict that 99% of you that decides to buy this lens will find this lens very useful. And if you decide that you don't like it (which I think not more than 1%) I'm sure there will be a lot of people who wouldn't mind buying it from you (with some discount of course).



Again I would recommend everyone to get this lens. In some ways I can say that this lens makes me a better photographer.



Happy Photographing!



Sidarta TanuMore detail ...

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

I Love It For IS and Zoom Range at this Price Not Pure Performance

I was determined to love this lens based on the specs and price point alone. Canon really needed to come out with this lens at this price because Nikon offers a very decent Vibration Reduction lens at roughly the same range for the same price leaving me to make apologies for Canon and their neglect to all my Nikon friends.



The IS can be switched off to save battery life but I haven't noticed a difference in battery performance with it. The IS is only activiated when you press the shutter halfway for auto focus. Although it FEELS like there is a small lag for the IS to start I don't think I've had any photos messed up because of it.



You can HEAR the IS. A little bizarre after using point and shoots that have IS that is silent but it doesn't seem to affect performance



Pro: Great price for an image stabilized zoom lens. I paid 299 and am very pleased even though Amazon is selling it for 280 a week later. ALso arrive 2 months sooner than Amazon initially promised. This lens has NEVER been 400 dollars. Its MSRP from Canon prior to release was 299.00. Shame Amazon!



Pro: Images are very sharp.



Pro: Image stabilization does a VERY nice job. Four stops as advertised by Canon? I'm not so sure. GREATLY enhancing the composition experience at 250mm? Absolutely.



Pro: Much smaller and lighter than the 70-300 of any manufacturer and much sharper than my Sigma 70-300.



Con: Cheapish feel. But just use it quit feeling it already. Plastic mount. But if you NEED a metal mount may I suggest you are being a little rough with your camera. *UPDATE* The plastic flanges on back were able to hold the camera securely to the lens but NOT hold the rear cap securely to the lens. I've tried many different rear lens caps that fit snugly on other lenses. So I think this is beyond cheap feel and has to be called CHEAP BUILD.



Con: This lens is a little (ok maybe not so little) slow to focus in dim light sometimes it misses altogether when I think other lenses of mine would have had no difficulty.



Con: I never gave Inner Focusing much thought on my other lenses until I used this. The front of this lens rotates AND moves in and out a LOT while focusing so much so that you MAY even want to recompose your shot. The length of this lens changes almost an inch across the focus range. I just checked my Sigma 70-300 and found that it does also but I've never seen it make as much difference in the viewfinder as I have with this Canon. Your perception may vary.



This lens and the soon to be arriving 18-55 IS as the XSi kit lens will allow me to carry one less lens to achieve an 18-250 IS range. For a little more money than the cost of both lenses you can get the Tamrom 18-250 but not have Image Stabilization. And now Sigma has an 18-200 WITH Optical Stablization for about what these 2 lenses cost retail but in testing the 2 Canons produced better images.



Conclusion: A great EF-S lens for Canon users. (even if Nikon had to force Canon to make it for us.)More detail ...