Want to Buy Confused and WTB: Nikon AF 50/1.8 or 1.4 lens

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 3, 2015

Until a year or so ago when I grabbed an N80 in great shape for $15 from KEH I had not shot an AF SLR in quite sometime. I shoot mostly older Nikon (F2/F3/FE2) and Contax SLR bodies and really old medium format rigs (Rolleiflex, Hassy). I snagged the N80 mostly because it was too cheap to pass up (I used to have an F80s and liked it and figured what the heck) but also as something for my 12 yr old son and wife to use sometimes. I nailed down a nice 35-105 D AF lens to use with the N80 and that works fine but is slow and generally I dislike using zooms, even though It's very practical.

Now am thinking to get a straight 50mm AF lens as that's my favorite focal length and I want a brighter and faster lens for this camera.

So I went looking around and found, my god, so many different AF Nikon lenses in the 50mm length made over the years since AF came out. Straight AF, D lenses, mk1 lenses, G lenses, and different versions of each sometimes, etc. Some with the distance scale in little windows, some looking more like older Nikon lenses. So confused.

Frankly this is a whim. I want a straight AF 50 but want to get it cheap too, say $50-60 at most, or better even less.

Anyone here who has stayed on top of Nikon AF glass who can either directly suggest which budget AF 50 to get or who can briefly breakdown the different ones for me?

Anyone got one to sell? Thanks much.

gzhuang · Jan 3, 2015

Proud owner of the F80S here. Budget but excellent Dynamic AF with the classic 70-210 AF F4 with exposure data logged between the frames. Straight AF lenses for non-frequent flash users FTW.

Kirks518 · Jan 3, 2015

The 'G' and 'D' lenses are going to be more expensive, but you can pick up the 50mm 1.8 (AF) without the D/G for about what you're looking to pay.

Search on ebay for Nikon AF bodies, and you may find one with a 50mm cheap.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jan 3, 2015

Nikon's 50mm f1.8 and f1.4 autofocus lenses remained the same optically from the time they were introduced in the 1980s until they were replaced a couple years ago by the new versions that do not have aperture rings. The new ones have new optics.

The original ones had a narrow plastic focusing ring.

Then they replaced that with a slightly wider rubber focusing ring

Then the D versions came out. The D versions transmit the focused distance the the camera's onboard computer. Manual focus cameras and the earlier AF cameras (N2020, N4004, N5005, N8008, N8008s, N6006, F4) do not make use of this feature, so you can use the Non-D versions for them. The N90 introduced the D lenses, which supposedly improve metering accuracy with flash on the N90 and later Nikon AF film cameras. Non-D lenses work on these cameras, too, but without the claimed metering benefit of the D lens. Nikon's digital SLRs were also made to use D lenses, though they also work fine with Non-D.

The G series lenses are the current ones. No aperture ring, so they won't work on earlier Nikon film cameras. They work on digital cameras and on the later film bodies like the F5 and N80. Nikon reformulated the optics of the two 50mm lenses for the G versions, which are said to be considerably better than the old ones.

Alan Klein · Jan 3, 2015

F1.8 to f1.4 is one stop. F1.4 is a lot heavier? What are you going to be shooting? What type of film? Speed? Will you be carrying it around all day?

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 3, 2015

Weight not an issue at least how those two would be different. Shooting 100/400 sometimes 1600 speed B&W. Rarely for all day use.

Looks like non-D would be fine. Now it's just a matter of finding one of the older ones in good shape. I imagine some were less robustly made than others?

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 3, 2015

Thanks for all that detail!

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 3, 2015

chriscrawfordphoto said:
Nikon reformulated the optics of the two 50mm lenses for the G versions, which are said to be considerably better than the old ones.

Really? How much better can they be and in what way? Coatings? I mean 50's are no challenge to make and my old 50/2 and 50/1.4 Nikkors I use on my earlier F2, etc are awesome performers.

trythis · Jan 3, 2015

The 1.4 has a bit more distortion than the 1.8 and will cost more than a straight af (no D) 1.8.
Nikon made a later version of the non D AF that uses a switch to lock the aperture at 22. The early version has a push button rotary lock that holds the aperture at 22. I find the switch on the AFD or the later non D diversion easier than the push and rotate but if you dont plan to use it on manual focus cameras it wont be an issue.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jan 3, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
Really? How much better can they be and in what way? Coatings? I mean 50's are no challenge to make and my old 50/2 and 50/1.4 Nikkors I use on my earlier F2, etc are awesome performers.

The old AF-Nikkor f1.4 isn't terribly sharp wide open. My Olympus 50/1.4 was CONSIDERABLY sharper.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 3, 2015

chriscrawfordphoto said:
The old AF-Nikkor f1.4 isn't terribly sharp wide open. My Olympus 50/1.4 was CONSIDERABLY sharper.

Got it. Thanks.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 4, 2015

Quick bump. No one with a Nikon 50/1.8 AF they want to part with?

Richard S. (rich815) · Jan 4, 2015

I got one. Thanks all.

Nodda Duma · Jan 4, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
Really? How much better can they be and in what way? Coatings? I mean 50's are no challenge to make and my old 50/2 and 50/1.4 Nikkors I use on my earlier F2, etc are awesome performers.

Likely updated glass and better optimization to reduce distortion, improve sharpness, and reduce vignetting. That's what I'd go after in an updated design.

And at f/1.4, make no mistake that the design is inherently difficult to undertake without trading off some aspect you wish you didn't have to.

TheToadMen · Feb 21, 2015

You might consider a Sigma lens as well. They are great too.

Bert from Holland

Want to Buy Confused and WTB: Nikon AF 50/1.8 or 1.4 lens

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