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

Product Information

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.

The images are sharp at f/2. however there's veiling from spherical aberration which lowers contrast. This is greatly improved by f/2.8, and contrast is perfect at f/4 and smaller. 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. [-] Living up to its reputation and price tag, the Milvus delivers gorgeous image quality. Wide-open, it combines superb contrast and stellar sharpness across almost the entire frame. Autofocus is virtually silent. As with other ‘stepping motor’ systems, the focus ring is electronically coupled and, in this case, enables particularly precise manual control.I prefer the conventional straight-bladed diaphragms of older lenses that make much better sunstars than this new lens. This lens makes wimpy sunstars, if any at all. As is typical with older lens designs, falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is very pronounced at fast apertures. At f/1.4 the corners are over three stops darker than the image centre.

The 50mm f/1.4 is typical in having a beautifully engineered metal barrel and a full set of weather-seals. The optical design is based on Zeiss’s legendary Distagon principles. The long rotational travel of the focus ring helps focusing precision, and its super-smooth fluidity makes focusing a joy. To get the same angle-of-view of 70mm focal length you need to crop 1.4x into an image shot at 50mm. This would result in a reduction of resolution from e.g. 45MP to around 23MP or 24MP to 12MP if you use a Z5. Which might still be enough for the intended purpose. This 50mm f/1.8 G lens is super-duper sharp, but sadly has some visible barrel distortion on FX and 35mm. If this is important to you, use the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D.

OM System OM-5 Review

The Nikon AF-S 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens is the lightest 500mm full-frame telephoto prime lens; weighing just 1.46kg, it is lighter than most 150-600mm zoom lenses – light enough to shoot with handheld. The Vibration Reduction system gives 4-stops of stabilisation. Focus accuracy and repeatability is critical to consistently produce sharp shots. Repeatability (the accuracy of focus on the same subject after repeated focus-acquisition) of the Nikon Z 24-50mm f4-6.3 is very good (measured 99.4% in Reikan FoCal) with no outliers over a series of 40 shots. At 50mm focal length the lens focuses in around 0.3 sec from infinity to 0.58m (1:10 magnification), which is very fast and comparable to the Z 24-70mm f4 S.