Lens comparison

puukkoman

puukkoman

Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
6,997
I know there are a lot of camera buffs here...
My wife uses a Nikon D40, and I'd like to get her a new lens as a present.
She's already got a 55 - 200, and the regular 18 - 55 that came with the body.
I'm looking at these two:
AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G
and
AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
Now, I'm not the biggest camera nerd, so I'm having a little trouble with the specific differences between these two, and why one is so much more pricey than the other.
Basically, I'm looking for a lens that'll allow her to take nicer portrait-type photos, and some closer-distance stuff, and be good in low light (hence the huge lens diameter). Is the main difference between these two just the manual/AF option?
Thanks,
Alex
 
Dont forget the crop factor, get the 35mm F1.8 AF-S it ends up about 50mm where as the 50mm becomes a 75mm, I love my little 35mm AF-S F1.8
 
I don't know if Nikon makes an AF-S version but my 50,, f1.8 is AF, no S. For the price difference I went with the 1.8 instead of the 1.4 and am not really sure if the price difference is justified by any image quality difference as I haven't really compared the two.
 
The AF 50mm 1.8 is a great lens, it wont autofocus on a D40, For the Money the 35mm F1.8 AFS lens is awesome
 
I also recommend getting the 35mm. The 50mm is a short telephoto with the crop factor. The 35mm is pretty cheap, geared toward DX size sensors and gets good reviews.

Chad
 
ChadHahn said:
I also recommend getting the 35mm. The 50mm is a short telephoto with the crop factor. The 35mm is pretty cheap, geared toward DX size sensors and gets good reviews.
Click to expand...

After applying the 1.5x crop factor
the 50mm becomes a 75mm equiv
and the 35mm becomes 52.5mm equiv.

A 75mm is closer to a portrait lens (which the OP asked for),
than 52.5mm which is closer to a "normal" lens....

Although the 35mm f/1.8 AF-S is a very good suggestion -
it is probably more generally versatile -
just not as good as a portrait lens.

--
Vincent

http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
 
very true, they also make a 100mm or 105mm f2.8 af that is awesome that you can pick up cheap preowned I just cant recall the exact name
 
rrg991981 said:
very true, they also make a 100mm or 105mm f2.8 af that is awesome that you can pick up cheap preowned I just cant recall the exact name
Click to expand...

100 and 105mm are great for full-frame withOUT crop factor for portraits -

But they become 150 or 157.5mm equiv. on an APS-C/DX camera like the Nikon D40 and those focal lengths are a bit too long for portraiture -

The usual focal lengths for portraits are about 80-120mm full-frame -
so to get these pre-crop factor one should be looking at lenses between 53.3 - 80mm.

Like I said 50mm is much closer to a portrait lens for the D40 -
than a 35mm or 100mm.

--
Vincent

http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top