New lens?

[rtbaum]

I have a gap in coverage between 28mm and 70mm. I have been thinking about a lens in the 50mm range. I began comparing Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G.....nice inexpensive lenses both. I got distracted by the Nikon 58mm f/1.4....and I said, "Oooh.....Aahhh", that is a nice, pretty lens...and very costly!!! Now it has become more complex as I have been reviewing the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art...still not cheap, but very sharp with excellent reviews. This will be my version of a walk around lens for an upcoming cruise and likely more astrophotogrphy. Any suggestions, insights, slaps to the side of the head would be appreciated.

[Brev00]

What body are you using? Tamron's new 45 1.8 might suit you well. It is just about to be released. Dustin Abbott has a very positive review on YouTube.

[NorthernFocus]

There are those of the opinion that the newer Nikon bodies "out-resolve" the 50mm 1.8 lenses. I have the Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art and it is an excellent lens. Sigma is making great strides and worth a look.

[rtbaum]

What body are you using? Tamron's new 45 1.8 might suit you well. It is just about to be released. Dustin Abbott has a very positive review on YouTube.

I have been using the D750 of late, will check out the Tamron.

[rtbaum]

There are those of the opinion that the newer Nikon bodies "out-resolve" the 50mm 1.8 lenses. I have the Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art and it is an excellent lens. Sigma is making great strides and worth a look.

I must say the Sigma 50mm 1.4 is an attractive option. As I say, I really could use a normal lens and I feel that details do count. The Nikon 58 mm is capable of stunning shots of certain type, but I am beginning to feel it may be a one trick pony. The Sigma is more my style.

[Stagecoach]

Randy,

Have you considered filling the entire range if it's going to be a walk around lens?

I have a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8, use it with both D300/800 and am very impressed with it. So many options

[IzzieK]

Well...whatever you end up with, congratulations! I like the Sigma line of lenses and I thought the last one I bought was a Tamron but when I got it, it was a Sigma and couldn't be happier.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Randy,

For the use you say, I'd suggest a wider angle of view than 50mm (even on FF body) is wiser - perhaps Dan's suggested focal length (35mm).

It will give you the ability to get a bit more in, and/or crop a little in PP to improve composition of any slightly 'off ideal aim' captures.

I assume you do have a 28mm for when you know you need wider though.

Cheers, Dave

[Manfred M]

Randy - the lens I find I use for most of my photography is the 24-70mm lens. Definitely not inexpensive, but reasonably fast and I just love the range. The 50mm is probably the lens I use least and I bought it for the same reason that you are looking at but things just did not work out that way in practice.

A word of caution on the (zoom) Sigmas - the zoom ring rotates in the opposite direction of your Nikons. Not a "fatal" flaw, but a bit of a pain.

[Shadowman]

Randy,

Have you tried zone focusing or interested in the technique? If so you'll want a lens with a DOF scale.

http://www.markushartel.com/blog/lea.../zone-focusing

[DanK]

It all depends on what you shoot, but I wouldn't want to be confined to only a prime in that range. I use other focal lengths in that range all the time. I shoot Canon, so I can't comment on Nikon lenses. For several years, I had the Tamron 28-75 that Grahame mentions. It's optically very good and a great bargain if you don't mind the old-fashioned AF--not terribly fast, and no full-time manual focusing. Currently I use a Canon 24-105 rather than any of the optically better 24-70s because I like the extra range. If you don't care about the extra range, Tamron makes a newer alternative to the 28-75, the 24-70 f/2.8, which gets rave reviews. I believe Sigma also has a new offering in that range.

[IzzieK]

Thanks for this link, John... very helpful as usual...

Randy,

Have you tried zone focusing or interested in the technique? If so you'll want a lens with a DOF scale.

http://www.markushartel.com/blog/lea.../zone-focusing

[Polar01]

Randy I am going the other way, most are a new lens what about an old lens, I have a Nikkor AF 28-70 f/3.5-4.5 D, it is a great lens, small and compact, it's on my D600 most of the time as my walk around lens. You can purchase it used for around $100.00 US or less.
adding link to some info about the lens.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/287035af.htm
Some may not like his views, however he does give good lens reviews.

Cheers: Allan

[Shadowman]

Thanks for this link, John... very helpful as usual...

Izzie,

You are most welcome, I've tried the technique a few times and it helps capture shots if your camera focuses slowly or you want to capture the image with stealth.

[rtbaum]

I went with the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art.
First shot out of the box


iso 100, f/1.4, 1/25 sec

It is a chunky little fella


iso 100, f/3.2, 1/2500 sec ( not used to having to close aperture down cuz it is too bright )

100% crop

[rpcrowe]

Have you done any sharpening on these images. They don't look very sharp on my monitor. I copied one and did some sharpening and it came out quite a bit sharper. If you applied some RAW pre-sharpening to your RAW image and finally a bit of output sharpening, I suspect that you might be a lot happier with your imagery.

However, if you are shooting JPEG, the JPEG has already applied sharpening...

[rtbaum]

Have you done any sharpening on these images. They don't look very sharp on my monitor. I copied one and did some sharpening and it came out quite a bit sharper. If you applied some RAW pre-sharpening to your RAW image and finally a bit of output sharpening, I suspect that you might be a lot happier with your imagery.

However, if you are shooting JPEG, the JPEG has already applied sharpening...

You are correct, the only processing was 2/3 stop increase in exposure in LR. I just wanted to post Sooc just this once. I compared with Nikon 50mm f/1.4, this is a very sharp lens. This might be fun lens to play with at night time, Clear skies, temps still tolerable, hmmmm'

[rtbaum]

Sharpened



100% crop, sorta ( I hate not having full bloom)

[Manfred M]

Randy,

Have you tried zone focusing or interested in the technique? If so you'll want a lens with a DOF scale.

http://www.markushartel.com/blog/lea.../zone-focusing

Most of the "old" film shooters that used fixed focal length lenses will be very familiar with that technique as is was in common use in the old days before autofocus lenses (and their short focus throw) and zoom lenses without the zone markings. A "rule of thumb" is to be a bit conservative and use one f-stop smaller aperture.

I still use this technique, based knowing my lenses, the DoF chart for the given focal length / aperture and being fairly good at estimating distances. I will focus somewhat ahead of what my camera suggests (one has to use single focus point to use this technique) and then I recompose and take the shot.

[rtbaum]

I seem to recall using a string to gauge distance...with knots at 1' increments