Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens Review

The Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor 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.

It is important to note that you will need camera with internal AF motor (D90, D300, D600, D700, D800, D7000, etc) for this AF lens autofocus to work properly. If your camera is D40/D60/D3000/D5000 series (no internal AF motor), you will need to get the AF-S type lens, otherwise if you get this AF lens, only the manual focus will be available to you.

And 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.

High-speed normal lens
Great for travel and for shooting full-length portraits in available light
Distortion-free images with superb resolution and color rendition
Provides high-contrast images even at maximum aperture
Format Compatibility: Nikon FX/35mm Film and Nikon DX

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

Pros:

Very fast (f/1.8)
Very sharp pictures (especially when stopped down to f/2.2, f/2.5 or more.)
Great for sport/action photography
Great for indoor and low light situation
Great for portrait
Bokeh is almost as good as many expensive Nikon tele-lens
Fast autofocus
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)
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.
Inexpensive

Cons:

Being prime lens, you need to move your feet a lot to adjust/compose
Autofocus issue on some situations (read detail above)
Plasticy build
Autofocus is not the most silent but very reasonable
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.
Autofocus does not work with D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D3200, D5000, D5100, D5200 etc (basicaly D40/D60/D3000/D5000 series. it's best to check if your camera body require AF-S lens). The newer 50mm f/1.8G AF-S, 50mm f/1.4G AF-S lens or 35mm f/1.8G AF-S lens will autofocus with those cameras.

Bottom line:

The Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF 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).

Thank to: Sidarta Tanu TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE

Compare to Similar Lenses

	This item: Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras	Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras	Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras	Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
Customer Rating
Price	$113.95	$216.95	$196.95	$333.00
Shipping	FREE Shipping	FREE Shipping	FREE Shipping	Free Shipping
Sold By	Amazon.com	Amazon.com	Amazon.com	Unique Photo, Inc.
Lens Type	Prime lens	Prime lens	Prime lens	Prime lens
Maximum Format Size	35mm FF	35mm FF	APS-C / DX	35mm FF
Maximum Aperture Range	F1.8	F1.8	F1.8	F1.4
Minimum Aperture	22	16	22	16
Photo Filter Thread Size	52 millimeters	58 millimeters	52 millimeters	52 millimeters
Minimum Operating Distance	0.45 meters	0.45 meters	0.3 meters	0.45 meters
Weight	0.3 pounds	0.4 pounds	0.4 pounds	0.5 pounds
Dimension	2.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches	5.0 x 5.0 x 4.0 inches	53.0 x 70.0 x 3.0 inches	43.0 x 65.0 x 2.5 inches
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