Nikkor 50 mm AF-D F/1.8 review

29 05 2009

In this review I will take a look at my first lens I got (apart from the kitlens, Nikkor 18-55 F/3.5-5.6 VR). The lens is the Nikkor 50 mm AF-D F/1.8. As I have no other similar lenses to compare it with, I point you to other online resources who go in depth regarding quality etc:

I will focus on how this lens has worked for me.
To start off my body is the Nikon D60 which does not have an autofocus motor build in. This means that in order for autofocus to work the lens needs to have it. In this case the lens doesn’t so I don’t have autofocus. I knew this in advance but decided to took to risk. (It saved about €200). I found that after some practice working without autofocus is certainly possible. It takes some practice but it works fine. Important to note is that the body helps you in focusing. In the viewfinder the indicator which normally shows if the image is over or under exposed now shows weather you are in focus or not. If there are green bars left of the 0 point the focus is too close and if there are green bars on the right the focus is behind the metering point.

Thanks to the large maximum aperture (low F-number) you can easily play with shallow depth of field. (What is depth of field?) As an example at F/1.8 a subject 1.5 meters away has only 6 cm is in focus. At F/5.6 this is 20 cm. Another advantage of the large aperture is the ability to take well exposes pictures in low light conditions. I’ve used the lens to take family pictures inside without using a flash. Not using the build on flash results in better pictures in my opinions since they retain the natural light and no flash reflations etc.

Because it is a prime lens (a fixed focal length) the lens is very compact. The focal length of 50 mm is maybe not the ideal focal length. A wider focal length might be more useful for general photography, but the 50mm is very well suited for making portraits.
Dog portrait
F/1.8, iso 200, 1/200s

Recommendation:
I love having a fast prime lens. This lens is also very affordable. If you have more money to spend and have a D40 or D60 (without build in focus motor) you might want to take a look at the recently announced Nikkor AF-S 35mm F/1.8 or Sigma 30mm F/1.4.

Pros
* large maximum aperture
* compact
* inexpensive

Cons
* No autofocus on Nikon D40/D60


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Nikon D60 review

17 05 2009

In this post I review the Nikon D60 DSLR. I do this with the question in mind how does it work for me as a photographer who is just starting as a serious amateur.
Before I start the review I will mention the why. Why did I buy a DSLR?
Why DSLR?
Before the Nikon D60 I had the Sony cybershot DSC-P93. A nice little point and shoot camera. Quality was ok, colours could be better but by and large ok. I was able to take good pictures with it so why buy a much less portable dSLR? The main reason for changing to an SLR for me was the increase in control over the picture. The Sony had a manual mode but it was crap to operate and very limited.

Nikon D60
To start off I want to point your to other reviews. I only have one DSLR and never had any other so I can’t compare it to other bodies. Here are two links of in depth reviews of the D60.

Secondly I should mention that I bought the kit meaning the body (camera) and the lens (Nikkor 18-55 VR) as a package. It is very convenient when you start out to buy the bundle, but important to keep in mind is that the lens has a much bigger impact on your photo’s than your body.. So if you have the choice between a cheap body and a better lens versus a cheap lens and better body, go for the better lens.
Related to this if you buy your first SLR it is important to consider the brand. The reason why this is important is that, if you want to increase your range as a photographer, you will need more lenses. And it is important to know that not all lenses fit on all camera’s! The safest brands are Nikon and Canon they have been around and have a large set of lenses and plenty of third party manufactures make lenses for Nikon or Canon bodies (Sigma, Tamron etc). Pick either brand and you’re fine.

My experiences with the camera are good. As an entry level camera is is nicely compact. The amount of control I gained by getting this camera compared to my previous one is enormous. It doesn’t fit into my pocket but it enables me to make better photo’s. Besides control over settings like aperture and shutter speed, the colour response in much better than from my point and shoot. Colours are more saturated and more detail in preserved. All in all I am very satisfied.

One thing to note is that this camera does not have an autofocus motor build in the body. This means that the lens has to have one in order for auto focus to work. Many lenses do (for Nikon lenses look for AF-S) but not all. I have one such lens Nikkor AF-D 50 mm F/1.8 which means I have to manually focus it. This is by no means impossibe and the camera does have a focusmeter build in to help you, however it requires some practice and is hard to do with moving objects.

One other huge improvement over my point and shoot is the ability to take pictures in darker surroundings without the use of flash. The camera can go up to ISO value Hi (1600) but significant noise is already present at ISO 800.

Conclusion
The Nikon D60 is working out very well for me. It is a great entry level camera very well suited to explore serious photography. I have hardly ever felt that the camera was limiting me in the pictures I wanted to make.

    pros

  • affordable
  • compact and light weight
    cons

  • Although it performs reasonably well in low light situations, it is not top of the class
  • requires lenses to have AF motor limiting the lenses you can use.

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