Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor

Name: Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor
Brand: Nikon
Rating: 8.8 (96 reviews)

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Lens Review
Specifications
Description

50mm	$132 average price

Lab Test Results

Nikon D200
Nikon D3x

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

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Buy the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor

SLRgear Review
May 11, 2009
by Andrew Alexander

The ƒ/1.8 version of Nikon's 50mm has existed in three iterations since the mid-eighties, and several more in manual focus form since it was first produced in 1978.

The 50mm ƒ/1.8 AF-D was designed for film, making it compatible with both DX- and FX- format digital camera bodies. On an APS-C sized sensor body the lens provides an effective field of view of 75mm. The lens will not autofocus on Nikon camera bodies that do not have the mechanical autofocusing screw, such as the D40, D60 and D5000 models.

The lens takes 52mm filters, and is available new for around $120. We originally reviewed this lens as part of a comparison of six 50mm lenses, and you may wish to review "The Tanner Report" for further details.

Sharpness
The 50mm ƒ/1.8 AF-D provides sharp results when stopped down to ƒ/2.8 or smaller. When used wide open at ƒ/1.8 or ƒ/2, we did note some generalized softness.

On the sub-frame D200, the lens was fairly soft at ƒ/1.8 and ƒ/2, showing between 3 and 4 blur units across the frame. There is a very small area of sharpness in the center of the frame, at around 1.5 blur units. This central area of sharpness increases marginally at ƒ/2, but the real gains are made at ƒ/2.8, where there is a notable increase in sharpness across the frame. At ƒ/2.8 the center is quite sharp (~1.5 blur units) and corner softness has been dramatically reduced to under 3 blur units. Image sharpness improves at ƒ/4, and reaches its optimal performance at ƒ/5.6, where it's essentially tack-sharp across the frame. Diffraction limiting sets it at ƒ/11, but we still note exceptional performance; even at ƒ/16, we note just under 2 blur units across the frame. Fully stopped-down at ƒ/22, we note two blur units across the frame.

The performance layout with the lens matched to the full-frame D3x body is similar, but the larger sensor exposes the flaws of this lens. In particular, at ƒ/1.8 and ƒ/2, average performance is about 5 blur units. The corners go off the chart for softness - greater than 12 blur units - but the central region of sharpness is still there at around 1.5 blur units. It's worth checking out the sample photos to see just how this manifests in real life.

Again, stop the lens down to ƒ/2.8 and performance improves dramatically - it's like someone turned a switch that fixed the problems we noted at f/1.8. The area of central sharpness expands to fill most of the frame at around 1.5 blur units, and the corner softness doesn't exceed 3 blur units. At ƒ/4 the image is incredibly sharp - almost 1 blur unit - and by ƒ/8 it's as sharp as sharp gets. Diffraction limiting sets in at ƒ/11, and performance at smaller apertures is similar on the D3x as we noted on the D200, which is to say, quite good. At ƒ/22 image sharpness isn't quite as good on the D3x as on the D200, but still only barely exceeds 2 blur units.

In summary, you don't get much better value for money in terms of sharpness if you stop down to ƒ/8. Wide open sharpness isn't the best, but if you can keep it at ƒ/2.8 or smaller you're rewarded with very sharp images.

Chromatic Aberration
The 50mm ƒ/1.8 contends well with chromatic aberration. Unfortunately, where it does tend to produce CA is at the wider side of its aperture range, which is probably where this lens will be used the most. On the D3x, which features automatic chromatic aberration removal, the lens truly shines, showing almost no traces of chromatic aberration at all.

Shading (''Vignetting'')
Light falloff isn't much of a problem with the 50mm ƒ/1.8; when mounted on the sub-frame D200, corner shading was only evident when used at ƒ/1.8 or ƒ/2, where the corners were around a half-stop darker than the center. At other apertures, it's less than a quarter-stop.

Corner shading is a bit more prominent on the full-frame D3x, where we note that at ƒ/1.8 the corners are almost a full stop darker than the center. At ƒ/2 this reduces to 2/3EV, and by ƒ/2.8, corner shading is 1/4EV or less, or negligible.

Distortion
The 50mm ƒ/1.8 shows no distortion when mounted on the sub-frame D200. On the full-frame D3x, there is a negligible (+0.1%) amount of barrel distortion apparent in the corners.

Autofocus Operation
The 50mm ƒ/1.8 AF-D uses the body-mounted screw to drive autofocus, meaning it will not autofocus on screw-less Nikon bodies such as the D40, D60 and D5000. On other bodies it focuses very quickly, slewing through focus in less than a second. As focus is conducted mechanically there is a fair amount of noise during autofocus operations. As well, the focus ring will move during autofocus.

Macro
The lens is not rated for remarkable macro, with a magnification rating of just 0.15x. The minimum close-focusing distance is 46cm (18 inches).

Build Quality and Handling
The lens is built with dense plastic, making for a very small and light package (just 156g, or 5.5 ounces). At this size and weight there isn't much of an excuse not to drop the lens into a spare corner of the camera bag. The lens mount is metal and the filter threads are plastic.

Given the age of the design, it's not surprising to find an honest-to-goodness aperture ring, complete with a lock switch to keep it in its ƒ/22 position. A distance scale is present by the focus ring, marked in feet and meters. A depth-of-field scale is also present, showing markings for ƒ/11 and ƒ/22. An infrared index is also present.

The 1/2-inch wide focus ring is rubber, using a pattern of ribs running parallel to the lens body. There is a fair amount of travel in the focus ring, about 100 degrees from close to infinity focus. These points in the focus spectrum end in hard stops, and you shouldn't hold the focus ring while the camera autofocuses, as the ring will rotate and you don't want to work against the gearing. During autofocus there is significant (3/4'') extension of the lens.

The HR-2 lens hood, sold separately, is a bowl-shaped hood that screws onto the lens' filter threads and offers improved resistance to both specular and veiling flare.

Alternatives

Nikon 50mm ƒ/1.4G AF-S ~$440
Nikon's update to the 50mm ƒ/1.4 offers autofocusing capability to its consumer line of dSLR cameras. The 50mm ƒ/1.4G model offers superior sharpness at ƒ/2, though CA, light falloff and distortion are all slightly more pronounced.

Nikon 50mm ƒ/1.4D AF-D ~$340
The sharpest in Nikon's line of 50mm - at least on the D200, as we haven't yet tested this one on a full-frame body. CA and light falloff are similar to the ƒ/1.8, though there is slightly more distortion.

Sigma 50mm ƒ/1.4 EX DG HSM ~$500
The Sigma 50mm has its own eccentricities wide open, but at ƒ/2, it's still sharper than the Nikon ƒ/1.8. CA performance is better; light falloff and distortion are about the same. Of the lenses in this section, the Sigma is the most expensive. Uses the large 77mm filters.

Nikon 35mm ƒ/1.8G AF-S DX ~$200
I include this lens as an alternative for subframe Nikon camera users, as it provides a 50mm-like lens experience. The 35mm ƒ/1.8 is sharper than the 50mm ƒ/1.8, and shows about the same amount of light falloff; CA is slightly more pronounced, and barrel distortion is somewhat prominent. A possible downside is that the lens isn't 100% compatible with FX-sensor cameras, showing a slight amount of vignetting in certain scenarios.

Conclusion
While its wide-open performance leaves a bit to be desired, it's hard not to commend this lens for its performance based solely on its price point. Stop it down to ƒ/2.8 and it provides excellent results; by ƒ/8, it's one of the sharpest lenses we've tested.

Sample Photos

The VFA target should give you a good idea of sharpness in the center and corners, as well as some idea of the extent of barrel or pincushion distortion and chromatic aberration, while the Still Life subject may help in judging contrast and color. We shoot both images using the default JPEG settings and manual white balance of our test bodies, so the images should be quite consistent from lens to lens.

Still Life shot

VFA target

As appropriate, we shoot these with both full-frame and sub-frame bodies, at a range of focal lengths, and at both maximum aperture and ƒ/8. For the ''VFA'' target (the viewfinder accuracy target from Imaging Resource), we also provide sample crops from the center and upper-left corner of each shot, so you can quickly get a sense of relative sharpness, without having to download and inspect the full-res images. To avoid space limitations with the layout of our review pages, indexes to the test shots launch in separate windows.