NIKON AF-S Nikkor 50mm f / 1.8G Lens

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Corner performance for full frame, however, is just barely into good wide open, and it doesn’t really improve much until f/5.6; I'd put it right on the good/very good boundary until f/5.6. At f/8 it’s clearly very good, but on high pixel density cameras diffraction begins to antialias edges beyond that. Before using the 50mm lenses, I performed AF accuracy tests using the LensAlign lens calibration tool. None of the 50mm lenses from Nikon, including the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G required any adjustments and the AF accuracy was dead on. Externally, the Z 50mm is noticeably bigger and heavier than a good old F-mount Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8G, but compared with some F-mount 50mm alternatives from Sigma and Tokina, it’s pleasingly portable.

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. I have received several inquiries from our readers about weather sealing on Nikon 35mm and 50mm lenses. The short answer is “No”, these lenses are not weather sealed. While I have been using my Nikon 50mm f/1.4G lens in hot/cold/dry/wet weather conditions and never had any issues, Nikon lenses without gold rings are not designed to withstand tough weather as professional lenses. That’s why Nikon does not specifically mention weather sealing in their marketing materials on these lenses. If you take a good care of the lens and use a protective filter in front of the lens, you should have no problems with using it in various weather conditions. Just remember to take extra precaution when changing the lens in very dusty/windy conditions. Since the rear lens element moves in and out during focusing, get used to rotating the focus ring to the infinity mark before mounting or dismounting the lens. NIKON D700 + 50mm f/1.4 @ 50mm, ISO 200, 1/100, f/5.6 Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. The previous 50mm f/1.8 lenses have always been stellar optical performers, as is this new lens. This new 50mm lens is among Nikon's sharpest, but so are most 50mm lenses from every maker. This is a tough lens, and all one needs to do to focus manually is grab the ring. With a filter on the front, it's reasonably well sealed against physical damage and dust, unlike zooms or the 50mm f/1.8 AF-D.Large aperture lenses are for isolating your subject and for shooting under low light conditions. So for a street-shooter / reporter and for capturing nature such a lens is very practical. Alternatives The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The lenses on this list aren’t just for DSLRs, however. The best Nikon mirrorless cameras in the Z system have taken centre-stage in recent years, but thanks to Nikon’s FTZ mount adapters, Nikon F lenses can be used on these cameras, too. In most cases, they’ll work with full functionality of autofocus and stabilisation, so owners of mirrorless cameras will also find opportunities for a bargain from our list. It includes a mix of lenses available new, and some that will need to be bought second-hand – a chance to make greater savings. These lenses also run the gamut in terms of price – it's possible to spend a four-figure sum on some of the best 50mm lenses out there, but there are also some ultra-budget optics at there that offer surprisingly good quality for a minimal outlay. Of course, spending more will mean you get better features – a wider maximum aperture up to f/1.4, or even f/1.2, for instance. Cheap lenses tend to top out at f/1.8, which is still pretty useful in low light, and they have their own advantages too, as their simpler optical builds make them lighter and more portable. The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G is typical of Nikon's current amateur lenses: metal mount, glass glass, and plastic everything else.

As usual with full macro lenses, the widest available arrow shrinks at very short focus distance, in this case to f/5.6 at full 1.0x magnification. Similarly, the narrowest available aperture shrinks from f/22 to f/32. The only difference between this and the 50mm f/1.4 D and 50mm f/1.2 AI-s is that the faster lenses become sharper at f/2, but all are the same by f/4. The faster lenses also cost two to four times as much and have more distortion.See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S, AF-I" and "G" columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" ( gelding) is a deliberate handicap which removes features. Note: Unlike AI lenses, the aperture rings of these pre-AI lenses extend a bit past the mounting flange. I made a differential measurement from the flange mounting surface, not the overhanging aperture ring. Nikon's first SLR lens was the original NIKKOR-S 5cm f/2 sold from June 1959 through 1963. It had seven elements and was a double-Gauss design modified with an extra front element to make it a slight retrofocus design to clear the rear flipping mirror. I'm not reviewing that lens here. On many fast primes you can observe contrast becoming lower when closing the aperture, although that should minimize stray-light in the lens. But unfortunately the reflections from the aperture itself cause some veiling glare.