Comments on: Next Lens After the Cheap Kit Lens

By: ChinaCoop PhotoBlog » Shoot Too Dark and Improve Image Quality

ChinaCoop PhotoBlog » Shoot Too Dark and Improve Image Quality — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:44:19 +0000

[...] I give the tip, here is a good starter: buy fast glass. If you are on a budget, there are budget prime lenses out there that have pretty open apertures and can gain you a few stops of light over the cheap [...]

By: Cooper Strange

Cooper Strange — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:01:03 +0000

I just realized this lens is not actually out on the shelves yet. I had not realized how important this lens really is going to be for D40/D40x/D60 users and how big of a hole it really does fill in the Nikon lens lineup. It will be on the shelves soon, though.

I have the 35mm f/2 D, though. I love it. I love the perspective. I wish it were brighter, but alas, we do what we can.

By: Cooper Strange

Cooper Strange — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:56:17 +0000

Oh, Kevin, you are right. I totally forgot. I got to thinking about the Canon lens on entry level Canon DSLRs, which is not a problem, and forgot the main reason Nikon made that new AF-S DX 35mm. It was specifically to solve this problem.

They also just released a AF-S 50mm, if somebody really wanted the 50mm length on their D40, D40x, or D60, but then you have officially left the budget lens class, because that is an f/1.4 and is fairly expensive, and really intended for a different crowd to solve different issues (fast focus, quiet focus, more light).

Basically, a lot of these lenses “work” on the D40 and D60, but they just do not autofocus. For that to happen, you have to have a lens with the focusing motor in the lens, which in my first comment, you can see is distinguished by the AF-S mark. The AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 D is not AF-S, but only AF.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:11:48 +0000

Never mind, I confused the 35mm and the 50mm.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:10:38 +0000

Why won’t it auto focus? From what I have been reading, it’s not even released yet.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:29:01 +0000

One other huge downside of the 50mm f/1.8 to remember — it won’t autofocus on your D40.

By: Cooper Strange

Cooper Strange — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:51:56 +0000

I forgot to specifically write out what all the techy gibberish meant in that lens name: AF-S – the focusing motor is in the lens, instead of in the body of the camera, and is much more quiet and fast. DX – this lens fits the small sized sensor cameras only. G – no aperture ring (like you would need on an old manual camera to change aperture).

At first the G seemed confusing because all AF-S lenses lack the aperture ring anyway. Then after some looking, I realized that some AF lenses (motor not in the lens) are G and some are D…for what it’s worth.