13 Feb 2011

Who couldn't love the Nikon 50mm f1.8D "Nifty Fifty"?


For the price I don't think there is a lens to beat this one anywhere on the planet! (Canon's "nifty fifty" is a hair's breadth away from being it's equal with only it's plastic mount letting it down.)

Nikon D90, Nikon 50mm f1.8, natural light, f2.8, 1/320s.

9 comments:

  1. canon 50mm f1.2 L... it a verry good lens

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  2. Well yes costin, but it is also verry damn expensive!

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  3. ... good portrait. Very good. But don't be fooled here amigo... The Canon f1.2 is L glass, superb... over f/2. Yep

    Now, the Nikon f/1.8 does not have decent corners at f/2.8 and under, specially on film and on full-frame sensors. See proof on dpreview...:

    http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=30&fullscreen=true&av=3&fl=50&vis=VisualiserSharpnessMTF&stack=horizontal&&config=LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F2

    Is the Canon f/1.8 better? Certainly not... More than that, both Nikon and Canon f/1.4 do not have decent corners near full aperture. They're really bad for expensive lenses.

    About the Canon f/1.8, the mount feels cheap all right! But I'm still waiting for it to break, or get loose or whatever. So it's a cheap lens, cheap mount, cheap glass. And the glass is the important factor. Cheap both for Canon and Nikon...

    Well, now, am I starting a war of religion? It sounds like it... shame on me. Good audio equipment is way more important!. And THAT is a good ground for chicanery... I won't begin, promised.

    Where was I? Ah yes, the portrait. If I may, I have it right in my face while writing this: it is exceptional, and this is no idle praise, I wouldn't dare!

    This is fun... cheers!

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  4. On a small frame sensor camera the whole edge and corner problem magically goes away (read: "gets cropped out")and only the best remains. This makes the f1.8 lenses a total bargain on a D7000 or a 60D!

    I still contend that on a 8"x12" or even 10"x15" print most people would be totally unable to pick out identical shots from the Nikon f1.8 and the Nikon f1.4, (especially if the pic comes from a crop sensor) and how many people ever print their pics even that size? The only way to see the difference is by blowing these shots (from a full frame camera) up to 100% on a good computer screen and peeking in the corners. My photos are not intended for that purpose. They are mostly small on the internet and very infrequently large in print.

    The 1.4's and 1.2's are great glass but cost the same as a small car, I know because I just bought a small car! Same price! I know which lens I want, and I'd rather buy a nippy, fuel efficient, car with the change...

    ;-)

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  5. As to sound equipment I can really appreciate good electronics, because aside from shooting with a camera I am also a bit of a performer and the amp, mixer and speaker quality can make or break a performance without doubt!

    I am sometimes to be found in restaurants and pubs crooning a little Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis etc. Which goes to show that you don't have to be good looking to be able to sing...
    :-)

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  6. By Jove, I can't believe that! A man of parts... :-) Had I the money, I would hop down and see you! But THAT is expensive! Coming from Québec, the cost for two would mean a mortgage on the house and I would rather drop dead.

    I just finished repairing a pair of vintage B&W DM3000, one tweeter got blown two years ago and all hi tech audio shops told me that it was too old (B&W made them in 1983 and 1984 only), no way one could find parts...

    Hélène and I got serious about that 6 weeks ago, it took one (1) hour to find the TX26 tweeter, new in its box. Now I am on another plane, those enormous, almost perfect loudspeakers filling the place. Santa Pizza.

    Roger

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  7. ... about lenses and small-sized sensors, nobody talks too much about the loss of resolution of a given lens on a small sensor. Rarely you get the precision in pixels given theoretically by the smaller sensor. I knew that as a fact by the maths of the thing. But the best way to experiment that is through the numerous (now) lens tests offered by unequaled dpreview's interactive tool.

    Canon, Nikon, it's the same. you compare a given lens on two bodies, one of them a full-framed sensor. To illustrate what I mean, here is the permalink for the 50mm 1.4G on two bodies, side by side, the D300 and the D3X with a full-framed sensor:

    http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=53,52&fullscreen=true&av=6,6&fl=50,50&vis=VisualiserSharpnessMTF,VisualiserSharpnessMTF&stack=horizontal&&config=LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F2

    In that link, I already fixed the aperture at f/4 and f/8, near its best results. What you see is the real thing as tested with photographs by DPreview's specialists. Complete analysis is not simple, but any way you look at it, you get better results with a full-frame. I've tested this over and over, with tens and tens of lenses (almost all of them on the site in fact).

    The smaller sensor has a major advantage : distortion and vignetting. Burt this is corrected automatically by modern software like Camera RAW 6. Poof! Distortion, vignetting, barrelling and such, all gone.

    :-)

    Roger

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