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

Product Information

Lateral CA is extremely low, with almost no visible fringing. As on DX, the measured CA in the centre of the frame at F1.4 reveals a degree of color-specific spherical aberration, but rather lower than the old 'D' lens

The Nikon 50mm f/1.4G replaces the older Nikon 50mm f/1.4D model (introduced in 1986). Compared to the AF-D version that has 7 optical elements in 6 groups, the new 50mm f/1.4G has a completely different optical design with 8 optical elements in 7 groups. Thanks to this new optical design, the front element of the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G does not extend or rotate, making it easy to use circular filters. The lens autofocus motor has also been replaced with a Silent Wave Motor (SWM / AF-S), making it possible to use the lens on entry-level Nikon DSLRs like Nikon D3100, in addition to being able to manually override focus at any time. 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. Here is how the lens compares against the older Nikon 50mm f/1.8D (Left: Nikon 50mm f/1.8D, Right: Nikon 50mm f/1.8G): As for the focus ring, it is conveniently located on the front of the barrel, making it easy to manually focus with a thumb and index fingers while shooting images or video. The lens comes with the same “HB-47” lens hood as on the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G (both 50mm f/1.4D and 50mm f/1.8D are not shipped with lens hoods). The hood snaps on the front of the lens and sits tight without wobbling like some other Nikon lens hoods. The M/A and M switch on the side of the lens allows autofocus with manual focus override and full manual focus operation. The latest Nikon DSLRs like Nikon D5100 immediately recognize the focus position and provide notifications on the information (“I” button) screen. NIKON D3S + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm, ISO 400, 1/80, f/5.6Like most other Nikkor AF lenses, the 50mm f/1.8G features a switch on its side to change between two focus modes: M/A and M. The Nikkor AF-S 50/1.4G. The higher prices gets you another 2/3 of a stop and AF-S. See my review here. 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 IS: No = a pity! The Nikon 16-35/4.0 zoom has VRII, so why not a 50mm prime? You can only hope that with a 2.3 stops larger aperture you could crank up the shutter speed to where shake is less likely. But what if you need to stop down to get enough dof? On a 16MP DX-body like the D5100 or D7000 it is recommended to shoot at least 1/125 sec freehand if you want to avoid blur. [-]

The improved multi-coating of the 50mm f/1.8G has also boosted performance, adding a good level of contrast compared to past lenses. This has helped to increase image definition, again, particularly when one is shooting at f/1.8. The focus ring is 16mm wide. Its surface is kind of rubberized and it moves super smooth. AF-operation of the lens in photo-mode can be heard from the outside and if you record video with the built-in microphone there is some low buzzing noise.

Focusing

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. If it bothers you, it cleans right up from film scans or FX digital with a value of +1.4 in PhotoShop CS2's Lens Distortion Correction Filter. 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. If you have any questions or comments regarding the review head over here. A selection of my shots with this lens can be found there. It's also perfect on decent or recent AF film cameras like the F6, F100, F5, N80 and N75. I tried it on my Nikon F4, and it works great, although there's no way to set a manual aperture as explained below.

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.This Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G is Nikon's latest iteration of their classic 50mm f/1.8 lens, first introduced in 1978. This new version adds the first new optics since 1978, and updates the traditional screw-focus system of 2002's Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D with a modern AF-S system. Therefore, this new lens allows instant manual-focus override simply by grabbing the focus ring at any time. 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. There's beautiful bokeh, and the lens maintains a lovely smoothness in defocused areas when stopping down a little. Colour fringing is almost a complete non-issue with this lens, even in the corners.