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Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF

Firky

Firky

The first of the gang
Banned
Going to get myself one of these babies, don't tend to shoot more than 50mm. Like I said to herbsy, I prefer to shoot as real word as possible and this lens looks f'ing stunning. Does anyone have one?

http://nikond70s.dpnotes.com/nikkor-50mm-f18-d-af-lens/

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/nikon/50_18_afd

Sharp as feck :cool:

45642775.DSC_0854.copy.jpg


31704474.DSC_4727.jpg
 
Every Nikonian seems to rave about this lens - nice and cheap but damn good bang for your buck.

The consensus tends to be go for the f/1.4 if you can afford to because of the extra low light ability, but I'm sure I saw some test somewhere that showed bokeh getting more blotchy with the 1.4 than the 1.8 - could have been the other way aroound though.

Either way, the 1.8 is apparently teh :cool:
 
The 1.4 is an extra £80, my budget is about £200. Out of that £200 I want a new lens, 52mm polarising filter (a good one, willing to spend about £25) a bag and perhaps some Ilford 120 film for my Rolleiflex :cool:

Cheapest I found for the 1.4 is £160 (most expensive was nearly £400):

http://www.onestop-digital.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=41

Looking at the 1.4 now and I can't see the boky being blotchy, perhaps I need to see a 100% crop?!

Anyway, I gotta go and kiss girls and get drunk.

Tara!!!
 
Alef. If you don't mind manual focussing (which I think you said when you were talking about the D40), then you might want to look at the older 50's see e.g. http://www.apertureuk.com/used-NMF-L.htm (I played with some of their 55 micros and 50 AI/S lenses on a D2X not so long ago and they were very nice)

You'd get better build quality, and as good (some say better) optical quality.
 
Good link, might go there in person once I actually have a Nikon. As an amateur not obsessed with sharpness (never print beyond A4) it's hard for me to part with more than £100 for a lens. Second hand manual focus is almost certainly the right route for me.
 
I got a very nicely priced used AF-N 180/2.8 there and it's an absolute gem. See e.g. this slightly peculiar picture of the scummy Mersey and Rock Ferry Oil terminal.

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=187325

I very nearly also bought one of the 55 micros they had, it was quite outrageously sharp (at least at close range), but what I needed was something longer for taking pictures of e.g. oil jettys and the wife had agreed to let me buy the 180, but not additional toys.

ETA if you're interested in good value MF Nikkors, you might find this link useful too: Great Values in Used (MF) Nikkors
 
Bernie Gunther said:
Alef. If you don't mind manual focussing (which I think you said when you were talking about the D40), then you might want to look at the older 50's see e.g. http://www.apertureuk.com/used-NMF-L.htm (I played with some of their 55 micros and 50 AI/S lenses on a D2X not so long ago and they were very nice)

You'd get better build quality, and as good (some say better) optical quality.
Click to expand...

See I'd love to save a bit of cash and get a manucal lens but my nose is so big I can't tell if I have focussed properly, so I often leave it in the hands of AF :o
 
I struggle with MF as well, due to poor eyesight in my case. I'm finding though with the sort of quasi-macro stuff I do with flowers, that I've no real choice about using MF at least some of the time, because AF just isn't really reliable at those kinds of ranges and tends to lock onto the wrong thing a lot.
 
Cheers, firk! Sir Editor is offering me a deal on the lens along with the D70. This is a wonderful xmas gift :D

I feel very rusty on this whole SLR malarkey, and I'm a total noob to using a DSLR. My sense is that I'm happy with manual focusing since that's the only type of focusing I ever did with film SLRs. However my main SLR, an Olympus OM20, has a wonderfully clear focusing system. Don't know the jargon -- it has an inner circle with a split that you line up to focus and an outer circle with a textured pattern that exaggerates the (lack of) focus.

With a D70 using manual lenses will I have anything more than my eye and the distance markings on the lens? From my brief days as a focus puller (on zero budget films!) I got a fair sense of judging distance and focusing without looking through the camera. Think I'll be fine as I rarely do any action photography, and with digital you can immediately check the results and zoom right in to check sharpness.
 
Presume the best way to shop second hand lenses is heading into central London and inspecting the lenses in various shops? I'd be nervous buying without seeing in case the back element has been "cleaned" or otherwise there's any kind of damage.
 
My Nikon FM2n and Pentax K-1000 both have the circle-matching method of focusing. The D70 won't have that - it's all in the eye I'm afraid. It isn't really any more difficult to be honest but it might take you a bit of time to get used to. I like having the circle thingy to help, but find I can still get sharp results with MF on my D50 without it. You can judge fairly easily.
 
The D50 and D70 have a circle icon in the viewfinder strip, left of the focus area display. Even when you're manually focusing, this will appear/disappear to tell you if the shot's in focus. It's something useful that's easily overlooked.

I guess this has some lens prerequisites to work, and I don't know what they are - but the camera's always thinking about focus, even in manual.
 
alef said:
Presume the best way to shop second hand lenses is heading into central London and inspecting the lenses in various shops? I'd be nervous buying without seeing in case the back element has been "cleaned" or otherwise there's any kind of damage.
Click to expand...
That's what I've been doing.

I asked around on some of the Nikon forums for reliable (in terms of accurate grading and standing by their guarantees) shops in London and the two names that keep coming up are Aperture and Grays.
 
Vintage Paw said:
Pfffft - I didn't even know that existed :rolleyes: I'm obviously making things harder for myself then!!
Click to expand...

I got very pissed off with my D70 before I worked that out... The viewfinder adjustment (the little thing that compensates for eyesight) can slip and anyway focussing with only your own judgement can be a bit hairy if you want to be able to take shots quickly.
 
Happy as Larry

I'm *really* pleased with my new camera and lens!

Big thanks to editor for selling me my first DSLR :D
Big thanks to firky for kindly letting me get this lovely prime :D
Big thanks to Bernie for recommending Aperature :D

I owe you each a pint or two!

Was hoping to take some pictures outdoors today but as it was pissing down instead just went to Aperature on Museum Street to buy a general purpose 35-70mm lens -- what a wonderful little shop. Extremely friendly and laid back staff, also serves good coffee. Afterwards suddenly had the idea to go to the British Museum, and then took this set (no sunlight or flash involved, except the baby portrait from this morning):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_alef_/tags/nikond70/
 
Very nice. Did you get the 35-70? I always thought that looked like a very good value-for-money option used, if you didn't care much about wide-angle for general purpose photography, but wanted something going from normal (50 equiv) to short tele (105 equiv) range.
 
alef said:
I'm *really* pleased with my new camera and lens!

Big thanks to editor for selling me my first DSLR :D
Big thanks to firky for kindly letting me get this lovely prime :D
Big thanks to Bernie for recommending Aperature :D

I owe you each a pint or two!
Click to expand...

Excellent camera the D70, and nice lens to boot! You'll be able to print off the Xan shots you take from now on :)

Was hoping to take some pictures outdoors today but as it was pissing down instead just went to Aperature on Museum Street to buy a general purpose 35-70mm lens -- what a wonderful little shop. Extremely friendly and laid back staff, also serves good coffee. Afterwards suddenly had the idea to go to the British Museum, and then took this set (no sunlight or flash involved, except the baby portrait from this morning):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_alef_/tags/nikond70/
Click to expand...


(There's a good fish and chip shop around there - it is all trendy (as you'd expect), but it does do good fish and chips. Rock, Sole & Place I think it is called - hand cut chips in peanut oil!)
 
I Got my paws on this last week, along with a hoya circular polarising filter (that was a third as much as the lens!!) and it probably has to be the best lens I have ever used. Fixed focus means I can operate the camera with one hand and the sharpness of the images is outstanding.

Here is a quick snap I took, I haven't had the time to go out and play with it properly but I will as soon as the weather and light improves.

annie060207smallnw0.jpg
 
Firklings - how do you find the crop issue? I wanted a real-life honest to goodness 50mm but would need something like a 35mm to get it on the D50. I have a 60mm and find it limiting sometimes - how have you found the 50mm so far?
 
I love it, it took some time to get used to it as it seems to have a far tighter area of focus than the 28mm I had been using. I haven't taken it out for a good field trial yet, had too much on lately so I haven't found any issues that I may or may not have. I really can't fault it so far and it is built sooo nicely. It just glides onto the body with a solid clunk click and feels 'good'.

For £70 I can't complain :)
 
Nice dog piccy firky :)

Vintage Paw. I've found the 35/2 is very good and they're fairly cheap used but in good nick. I particularly like the way it focusses close, allowing for about 1:3 quasi-macro shots, useful for flower stuff. The Sigma 30/1.4 also looks very nice, but I've no experience with it.
 
Look, I am supposed to be saving my pennies to go to Oxford and then to go and see tribal_princess. This is not going to happen if you keep talking about glass porn :mad:



*but I do have £50 off warehouse express*
 
Heh. Sorry. I'd advise saving your pennies :)

Anyhow, I don't know about you but I find it takes ages to get the hang of a new lens. What I tend to do is just leave it on the camera almost exclusively for a couple of months and try to use it for everything that I possibly can.
 
That is exactly what I am doing and I have put my old lens away in a box, wrapped up in acid free tissue paper to keep it in good nick. That way I'll be less tempted to put it on. Besides I intend to only shoot at 50mm in available light from now on and with Vintage Paw's help I have set myself up a photography blog - to force myself out to take a photo good enough to put online several times a week. I am also trying to keep the Photoshoppery to a minium, slight adjustments and converted to black and white is about as far as I am going to go.

<spam>
www.photopixel.co.uk/plog
</spam>

There's only two images at the moment, (although I may upload more later) both taken the other day with the new lens.
 
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