Like most other Nikkor AF lenses, the 50mm f/1.8G features a switch on its side to change between two focus modes: M/A and M. However, it’s impeccably built, with comprehensive weather-seals, a physical aperture ring for refined Aperture Priority and Manual mode shooting, and a high-grade optical path that includes an aspherical ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element. The nine-blade diaphragm is well-rounded. With the sun in the frame, we see various multi-colored flare patterns, which vary with aperture, becoming more intrusive and destructive on stopping down. Move the sun slightly out of the frame and the picture becomes washed-out by swathes of veiling flare. Overall the moral of the story is to avoid shooting towards the sun. Having done almost 500 shots with the new lens I have a pretty good feeling for the overall performance of the new lens. So here’s my summary.

Focus: Focus speed is a bit more variable with this lens than I was used to. When used in Full range on more distant subjects, focus was often fast and unnoticeable, though I detected a few times (on the Zfc) where there was a clear hesitation in focusing, typically when the Auto-area AF was moving between human and non-human subjects. For generalized work, I'd put the lens in the category of moderately fast for focus speed. But it's not a speed demon, by any measurement.

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It’s worth noting that, due to its 3.5kg weight, you might not want to carry it around for too long. A monopod can help out here, as we discovered when we took it for a review at a bird-in-flight workshop. As we concluded at the end of our day’s shooting, ‘Nikon has created an absolutely sensational lens; it’s just a shame that its high price will have the final say over the number of photographers who get to use it.’ The autofocus system is fast and consistently accurate, even for extreme close-ups, where focus accuracy is critical due to the typically tiny depth of field. Centre-sharpness is outstanding even wide-open at f/2.8 and gets even better in the range from f/4 to f/8. Compared with the Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, however, levels of sharpness drop off a little more towards the extreme edges and corners of the frame. Coma ( saggital coma flare) often causes weird smeared blobs to appear around bright points of light in the corners of fast or wide lenses at large apertures. In lenses that have it, coma goes away as stopped down.

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. Sharpness : While others are shouting the praises of this lens optically, I’m going to temper that some. Lens-shade included and revertible for transport, same as on the 50/1.4G. In addition to that the front lens element is quite deeply recessed in the barrel which adds an extra protection against light-sources outside the image circle. [+]As for the focus ring, it is conveniently located on the front of the barrel, making it easy to manually focus with a thumb and index fingers while shooting images or video. The lens comes with the same “HB-47” lens hood as on the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G (both 50mm f/1.4D and 50mm f/1.8D are not shipped with lens hoods). The hood snaps on the front of the lens and sits tight without wobbling like some other Nikon lens hoods. The M/A and M switch on the side of the lens allows autofocus with manual focus override and full manual focus operation. The latest Nikon DSLRs like Nikon D5100 immediately recognize the focus position and provide notifications on the information (“I” button) screen. NIKON D3S + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm, ISO 400, 1/80, f/5.6 In practice this is an oversimplification; our tests measure system MTF rather than purely lens MTF, and at higher frequencies the camera's anti-aliasing filter will have a significant effect in attenuating the measured MTF50. In addition, our testing procedure involves shooting a chart of fixed size, which therefore requires a closer shooting distance on full frame, and this will also have some influence on the MTF50 data. Macro Focus If I was working in nasty, dirty areas, I'd forget the cap, and use an uncoated 58mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting. With its rounded 7-bladed diaphragm, the 50/1.8 G tends to make soft, subtle 14-pointed sunstars on bright points of light, if any at all. The main reason for the Art lens’s weight gain is that it has a much more complex and sophisticated optical path than its predecessor, based on 13 rather than eight elements. These include one complex aspherical element and three SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements.

Micro Four Thirds lenses only need to produce a relatively small image circle, and this Panasonic is typically compact and very light at only 130g - a fraction of the weight of some premium prices for DSLR cameras. Printed full-image at this size, these would be about 42 x 28" (105 x 70cm) prints, at least as seen on most 100 DPI computer monitors. After testing multiple samples of the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and f/1.8 lenses, we've found the f/1.8’s autofocus system to be much more accurate and reliable than its older sibling. Sharpness is also better than from Canon’s 50mm f/1.4 lens, from the centre to the edges. Optics: The lens has a very simple optical design with only 6 elements in 4 groups including two aspherical elements. The Z 50mm f1.8 S has 12 elements in 9 groups with two special dispersion and two aspherical elements, the Z 35mm f1.8 S is of similar complexity. Both S lenses have Nikon’s Nano-Coating to reduce flare, glare and ghosting. [+] When switched to M/A, the lens will focus automatically and then, with the shutter button still half-depressed, you can adjust the focus manually. When switched to M, AF is disabled completely and the lens becomes fully manual focus. Again, this feature was not present on the previous incarnations of this lens.

Nikon F-mount lenses: FAQs

All of the resolution chart images were taken on a 24.5-million-pixel Nikon D3X. Whilst the lenses can resolve an almost identical resolution at their optimum aperture, the latest G series lens is slightly sharper when fully open, and shows less chromatic aberrations and coma. However, the other lenses all stop down to f/22, compared just f/16 on the new G series lens Our verdict Not for: Rich people who just don't feel right unless they pay a lot of money for something, or people who need no distortion, for whom the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D has less distortion for half the price. Otherwise, everyone needs some sort of 50mm f/1.8 and not much more. Everything works perfectly on every digital Nikon, both FX and DX, and even on Nikon's cheapest digitals like the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D5000 and D5100. Before using the 50mm lenses, I performed AF accuracy tests using the LensAlign lens calibration tool. None of the 50mm lenses from Nikon, including the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G required any adjustments and the AF accuracy was dead on.

Lens profile: All Z-Nikkors come with a lens profile which can be controlled from the camera. Vignette control offers the usual options of High, Normal, Low and Off. Diffraction compensation and Auto distortion control can be activated or deactivated. [+] Nikon’s AF-S 50mm f/1.8G is a classic example of the type, and will also work on full-frame cameras. In our review of this lens, we found it performed well across the board. ‘ Improving on a classic design is often a difficult task, but it is one in which Nikon has succeeded,’ was our verdict. One major advantage of the new lens comes via the introduction of an internal AF motor. The two previous AF versions of the 50mm f/1.8 optic rely on a motor in the camera to drive an AF screw in the lens. Detailed specifications for the lens, along with MTF charts and other useful data can be found in our lens database. NIKON D700 + 50mm f/1.4 @ 50mm, ISO 200, 1/1600, f/2.8 Lens Handling and Build

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The effect is so strong that images taken with the lens stopped down may need exposure compensation as the camera will believe the scene is darker than it actually is when metering wide open. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the aperture stopped down to f/4 or beyond. With macro distances, even with the limiter turned on, the focus was more slide-to-focus than snap-to-focus. I again wouldn't call it fast or slow, just a noticeable slide.