50mm 1.8 variations

[Nikonfreak]

Wow Cyclo... Jeez, talk about taking you back through time! And you got me. I forgot the "D" meaning. Dangit...thought I got 'em all...

Oh yes, "G" lenses - simply put, they have no aperature ring and cannot be used with certain older Nikon bodies.



Lots of film bodies in there that I'd just about forgotten that they ever existed! LOL Some really good Nikon bodies in there that take me back to the old high school yearbook days of shooting black and white! Hold on for nostalgia effects! LOL

Good stuff and lots of good info.

I didn't realize you were looking at an older one. Get a new lens. The lens is so inexpensive that it doesn't make sense to mess with used ones. The latest and greatest will be current and function well with all the latest Nikon bodies.

Julio

[cyclohexane]

What's kind of funny is that we have a 50mm f/1.8 Series E, 50mm f/1.4 AIS, 50mm f/1.8D AF, and a Leitz M 50mm f/2 Summicron in the house right now. I mean, how many 50mm lenses do we really need? I guess that's what happens with photo families: floating collections of gear! LOL

Speaking of old film bodies and high school yearbooks, we actually found an old black Nikon FE in the Journalism room the other day. It's covered in dust, but there's only a bit of brassing on one of the corners; other than that there's almost no wear whatsoever. The Journalism teacher has no idea where the camera came from or whose it is, seeing as the J-Room is equipped with a bunch of the original Digital Rebel (with a collection of Canon and Sigma lenses). If it's still there in June, a friend and I were jokiing that we'd "acquire" it and take it with us as we graduate.

[cameraguy21773]

Some say the 1.8D is sharper than the 1.4D, even wide open. I could not confirm that in my informal tests with a friend's 1.4 but I did (do) think it has better contrast.

[Nikonfreak]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

What's kind of funny is that we have a 50mm f/1.8 Series E, 50mm f/1.4 AIS, 50mm f/1.8D AF, and a Leitz M 50mm f/2 Summicron in the house right now. I mean, how many 50mm lenses do we really need? I guess that's what happens with photo families: floating collections of gear! LOL

Speaking of old film bodies and high school yearbooks, we actually found an old black Nikon FE in the Journalism room the other day. It's covered in dust, but there's only a bit of brassing on one of the corners; other than that there's almost no wear whatsoever. The Journalism teacher has no idea where the camera came from or whose it is, seeing as the J-Room is equipped with a bunch of the original Digital Rebel (with a collection of Canon and Sigma lenses). If it's still there in June, a friend and I were jokiing that we'd "acquire" it and take it with us as we graduate.

OMG... NOW THAT'S a blast from the past ... a Nikon FE in Black!

YOu know, it was extra to get it in black! I forget how much more it was but it was a status symbol to have it in black. LOL

I'm feelin' old !~ (37 in a couple of months)

Julio

[MeleKalikimaka]

wow thats getting on, wanna thrown me a few lens when you croak? shouldn't be too far off eh

[cyclohexane]

I mentioned the Nikon FE on my blog, as it used to get a good deal of traffic, but no one's claimed the camera yet. I'm almost hoping no one steps up... LOL

Speaking of black cameras, what's funny is that the art/photo instructor at my high school- who was a working pro at one point- prefers silver cameras. He shoots Canon, and really wants a 30D, but is being held back by the fact that it's not available in silver (and that he really doesn't need to be spending the money). I haven't suggested that he paint a 30D silver because his compulsive buying habits don't need any help... =)

[Nikonfreak]

LOL.

Don't bet on it.

Julio

[cyclohexane]

Yeah, I know... you don't leave things like that lying around. Hopefully the owner will realize he/she's out a sweet piece of hardware by Friday.

But it's been three days, the camera's still there, and given the way the camera looked, covered in dust and all, whoever was using it really doesn't appreciate it. It had a crummy 42-86mm zoom or something- y'know, that really bad one that was somehow really popular despite the fact that there were better zooms available. Hell, even a 50mm, the subject of the the thread, would give you better image quality. It just needs to last another seven weeks there... LOL

[Nikonfreak]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

Yeah, I know... you don't leave things like that lying around. Hopefully the owner will realize he/she's out a sweet piece of hardware by Friday.

But it's been three days, the camera's still there, and given the way the camera looked, covered in dust and all, whoever was using it really doesn't appreciate it. It had a crummy 42-86mm zoom or something- y'know, that really bad one that was somehow really popular despite the fact that there were better zooms available. Hell, even a 50mm, the subject of the the thread, would give you better image quality. It just needs to last another seven weeks there... LOL

Truth is, that chances are that whomever left it, seeing the standards of today's cameras and digital, figures that the camera is pretty much out of date and obsolete.

What did we do before Autofocus? The split screen focus system of those cameras were spectacular and I'd love to see that incorporated into today's autofocus models for manual focusing of macro lenses. Wouldn't that be sweet? Ooh, user changeable screens..

A 50mm was the staple lens. I remember the 35-70 range started becoming popular, but sometimes school budgets only allowed for the crappy lenses so sometimes we used our own gear. I remember getting my Olympus OM 10.... my first 35mm SLR with a 50mm lens.

Julio

[cyclohexane]

You can get third-party split-screens for most Nikon DSLRs; I think Katz Eye or something similar makes a split screen for the D200, D70, etc.* My D2H has user-changeable screens, but the camera wasn't exactly affordable when it first came out. I'm thinking of getting a split screen for it when it comes back from service, if I can find one that fits; however, I'm not sure how much manual-focusing I'd be doing with the D2H that isn't at infinity. The money'd probably be better saved to spend elsewhere- i.e. a good tripod.

The line-up we have in our Journalism room consists of six digital Rebels (Or is it four? There's always a couple personal cameras floating around) with several Tamron 70-300 lenses, a Tamron 28-200, some kit lenses: 18-55 EF-S and 28-90 EF, a 50mm f/1.8 EF, a 28-135 IS, and some Sigma lenses. There used to be a Nikon Coolpix, among a few other odd-and-end cameras donated by parents two years ago when some kids stole the old equipment. Most of the more serious shooters have their own gear, and for those of us who aren't actually enrolled in Journalism, we have to use our own equipment. Now if only we could get more parents to spare a couple of bucks between property taxes and augmenting their massive collections of photo equipment that comes out occasionally when they actually attend their children's sports games...