So my husband made a mistake and had bought me the wrong 50 mm lens for my camera. I figured this out way too late to return it. Apparently, the 50 mm lens appropriate for my camera (Nikon D 50x), is an AF-S. I don't know why it's different, but even though it's AF it doesn't auto focus on my camera. So I can only manually focus, which is proving very challenging to me (I don't have perfect vision even with corrective lenses, so that's part of the reason.)
I started thinking about selling it on ebay, but then I thought...you know, I really just need to upgrade my camera anyway. And I'm sure I can figure out what camera it is ideally suited for, but does anyone use this lens, and what camera do you use it on? Do you like it? What type of photography is a 50mm lens ideally suited for? (I ask this sort of b/c my photography professor was *really* down on a 50mm lens. He suggested and 85 mm for a fixed focal length lens and thought 50 mm makes faces look distorted. I didn't think so.? ) I need to make some choices.
I'll take a stab: I think that the lens in your hand requires a body with a built in focusing motor. The D50 probably doesn't have it, with means that the motor has to be into the lens itself, which I think the "S" stands for. If you stick with Nikon (disclaimer: I'm a Nikon guy) I think the minimum body is the D90, which is a wonderful camera. I am not sure about the newest ones, so you should check. As per the second question....on a traditional 35 mm camera, or a digital camera saying that it's "full frame" (FX in Nikon parlance) the 50 used to be called the "normal" lens, meaning that the distortion from it is minimal, and that there is magnification or wide angle on it. Lots of folks will say that it's kinda useless; I liked it because it forced you to learn how to compose and move your feet to find the right image, rather than zooming the lens all around. Plus, it's probably fairly fast, meaning the f stop is lower than 2.8. That's great for lower light photography.
I'm not too sure about the whole AF vs. AF-S ordeal, so I would go wit what @emsabh is saying. Sounds right to me!
On the D90 note- I would highly suggest upgrading to it.
I personally have mine, (for almost three years now) and I absolutely adore it! Going from the D50 to 90 shouldn't be that big of a difference since the 50 is more of a beginner camera and I think the d90 sticks with being easy to use and beginner, but at the same time upgrades and allows you to expand on that knowledge.
In terms of the 50mm vs. 85mm, my photog. teacher has explained this to me a couple of times.
With a shorter focusing distance, everything is blown out (like you can see the depth in things, I don't really know how to explain it) where as with a long fixed focus, everything becomes compressed.
How he explained it was that, with portraits, if you're using an 18mm lens and someone has a big nose (this is the example he gave me haha) then you'll be able to tell. With an 85 or even 105 everything is compressed and looks almost, smoother.
Nonetheless, the 85 is an AMAZING lens. I was a photography show sometime last month, tried it out on my D90. Literally took 3 pictures before deciding to purchase it. Unfortunately I don't carry around large sums of money in my pocket, so I had to rain check, but one day I hope to have it!
Oh and also (haha sorry if I'm writing too much) the 50 is ideally used for portrait shots, but I think it's pretty versatile.
For nature (like, backyard kind of nature, not national geographic nature) I think it works really well because of it's shallow DOF (assuming you have the 1.8 or 1.4) and bokeh.
I use the lens you got on both a D80 and D300 just fine (and of course film cameras it'll work on). I use mine a lot in low light situations since it's f/1.8. It also gives dreamy bokeh if you're into that sort of thing. I got it for like $75, and it was just about one of the best photographic purchases I've made in usability and value.
Off the top of my head, the Nikon bodies that require AFS lenses are D40/x, D50, D60, and I wanna say the D3000/3100. Might be some others. But it tends to be the lower level consumer bodies that do not support lenses without the AFS.
It will work fine on a D70, D80, D90, D7000, and above. All 3 digit bodies (D100, 200, 300, 700) and pro bodies obviously. Maybe the D5000, but don't quote me on that, haven't looked at the specifics of that body.
Nikon makes a series of camera bodies that do not include the auto-focusing mechanism in the body (therefore requiring you to use AF-S lenses, which have autofocus built into the lens itself and are more expensive). Here are the models that do NOT include AF (and which I advise against buying): D40, D60, D3000, D3100, D5000. Here are the models that DO include AF: D100, D50, D70, D80, D90, D7000 and any of the FX models.
Have fun looking for a new camera if you plan to upgrade!
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On the D90 note- I would highly suggest upgrading to it.
I personally have mine, (for almost three years now) and I absolutely adore it! Going from the D50 to 90 shouldn't be that big of a difference since the 50 is more of a beginner camera and I think the d90 sticks with being easy to use and beginner, but at the same time upgrades and allows you to expand on that knowledge.
In terms of the 50mm vs. 85mm, my photog. teacher has explained this to me a couple of times.
With a shorter focusing distance, everything is blown out (like you can see the depth in things, I don't really know how to explain it) where as with a long fixed focus, everything becomes compressed.
How he explained it was that, with portraits, if you're using an 18mm lens and someone has a big nose (this is the example he gave me haha) then you'll be able to tell. With an 85 or even 105 everything is compressed and looks almost, smoother.
Nonetheless, the 85 is an AMAZING lens. I was a photography show sometime last month, tried it out on my D90. Literally took 3 pictures before deciding to purchase it. Unfortunately I don't carry around large sums of money in my pocket, so I had to rain check, but one day I hope to have it!
For nature (like, backyard kind of nature, not national geographic nature) I think it works really well because of it's shallow DOF (assuming you have the 1.8 or 1.4) and bokeh.
Off the top of my head, the Nikon bodies that require AFS lenses are D40/x, D50, D60, and I wanna say the D3000/3100. Might be some others. But it tends to be the lower level consumer bodies that do not support lenses without the AFS.
It will work fine on a D70, D80, D90, D7000, and above. All 3 digit bodies (D100, 200, 300, 700) and pro bodies obviously. Maybe the D5000, but don't quote me on that, haven't looked at the specifics of that body.
Have fun looking for a new camera if you plan to upgrade!