


50mm f/1.8

Discussion in 'Lens Lust' started by confused, Jul 30, 2005.

  1. Just recently received it a few days ago. Love it! Focuses incredibly fast when I am used to 3.5 or above. It will be great for the wedding I am going to next weekend. :D  Definitly going to be on the camera a lot!
  2. eng45ine


    May 11, 2005
    Chicago, IL
    Congrats Elliott...put that 50 to work and please share a few images for us to see.
  3. Gale


    Jan 26, 2005
    Viera Fl
    Great lens. Wish I could use all my lenses more often.. Timeeeeeeeeeeeee time.. EEEEKKKK so short of it.
  4. Gale


    Jan 26, 2005
    Viera Fl
    50mm 1.8

    CLOSE Real close. Kinda shady....

    Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
  5. Gale, is that your family cat?
  6. I think it just wanted to be petted..... :wink:
  7. Greg


    Apr 5, 2005
    Fayetteville, TN
    Gale, don't show this to my wife. She'll have one of her own or have me support one. Very nice cat shot. as good as you are with PS have you thought about cloning out the chain and handler? just a thought.
  8. Beautiful shot of the cat.
  9. Here are some photos and while I have this thread open I was going to ask just a general question.....if you feel it should be a new thread I can do that too.

    It seems no matter what lense im shooting with...(the kit, 50mm or 70-300) it seems that my focusing is about 50% off 50% on. Sometimes what will look right in the viewfinder will turn out totally wrong over the computer. I usually shoot AF. I almost always shoot AF-S....I tried AF-C once but I had even less photos that were in focus with that. What am I doing wrong? Cause obviously if its happening with 3 lenses then it is me. Not the lenses. If anybody has any ideas? Below are 2 photos on the 50mm where it didnt focus right and got a too soft of a feeling. Also, does anybody know of a way to control the light on my dog? I usually get one eye that you can see and the rest of her looks very very soft and out of focus. Thanks!



    here are the other photos taken with the 50mm (no processing yet for them)




    I know they aren't the best but I am trying to learn before the wedding next week. :? :shock:

    So the focusing question? What am I doing wrong...that is my main problem. Thanks a ton in advance!!!! :D 
  10. PJohnP


    Feb 5, 2005
    Elliott :

    A few points come to mind in looking at your shots.

    To start, with one exception, they're all shot at f/1.8, which is going to have several implications. Firstly, that means a pretty shallow DOF for focus, which can give you exactly the results you're seeing. While it's great to be able to shoot in low light with reasonable shutter speeds, that kind of shallow DOF is a bit tricky to get working well.

    Next, your lens may not be stopped down sufficiently to get to its "sweet spot". If you look at Bjørn Rørslett's website, http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_norm.html , he discusses the aperture ranges of lenses where best results occur.

    In addition, it's possible that your lens is a bit softer than the "average" 50mm f/1.8 when wide open, adding a bit more to the effects of the lens.

    Your shutter speeds look reasonable (1/500s on the young lady), so I doubt it's camera shake. But I do notice that you're shooting shutter priority - you might wish to switch over to aperture priority and try stopping down to perhaps f/2.8 and seeing what happens. As you probably know, your DOF is dependent on aperture, so if DOF is the critical issue for you, control aperture and let the shutter speed change.

    Having said that, I'd suggest running a series of photos at various apertures to see if there's a lens flaw. Set up the camera on a tripod to control potential shake and give a consistent position, and then blaze away with increased f/stops in aperture priority mode. Study the relative sharpnesses of the various images, and see if you can discern your lens' "sweet spot(s)" or if there's a consistent lack of clean focus. Defective lenses do exist, but a return will require some clear proof.

    Couple of other ideas...

    How is your focus set with respect to reticules ? You may be focusing not quite where you want to with the camera. Many people decouple the shutter release button from lens focus so that they can gain their desired focus point, then recompose the photo layout without losing focus. The shutter release button then only snaps the shot, but the focus holds (assuming that you or the subject don't move).

    You may need to run some sharpening/USM in processing/post-processing. Depending on how you've set up the camera, you may have no sharpening taking place within the camera.

    Hope this helps a bit.

    John P.
  11. I did that shooting at different f-stops and started at 1.8-9 and I think somewhere around 3.2 was the clearest while still having decent light in it.

    I think I will go try the same thing with my kit lense and 70-300. Figure that out too since I have a wedding this weekend where I am doing the just go around shooting whoever I want. Light is going to be an issue there.......trees and harsh sunlight that is gonna be going right down on us. Would you recommend using my SB-600 and underexposing it by like 2.0? 3.0? Or just not use flash?

    Thanks again a bunch!

    btw, how did you know what I shot each photo out? I can't even find it out.......well I don't know how. But where do I find all that info? A program or something?
  12. PJohnP


    Feb 5, 2005
    Elliott :

    The first thing to mention is Opanda I-EXIF Viewer. That's what lets me look at your shots and see the settings. You can also look at the photos inside Nikon Viewer and see all of the settings.

    You mention, "...somewhere around 3.2 was the clearest while still having decent light in it..." which sounds a bit perplexing. You should be able to shoot in aperture priority and have the shutter speed drop as necessary for adequate exposure. You might get shake effects at smaller apertures-high f/stops, but the exposure should not be way out of whack. I note also that you're shooting with flash in some shots and not others. Your test of the lenses at different f/stops should be "flashless" if possible. That's part of the reason, BTW, that I recommended using a tripod for the test to remove camera shake issues and not need flash.

    Pick a spot with reasonable light, set up the tripod, and shoot a stationary subject with some three-dimensionality (don't use a poster or something "flat"). Make sure the camera is in aperture priority, no flash, and pick a reasonable focus point on the subject. Start at f/1.8 and progress to smaller apertures. Check for focus on each shot. You should be able to shoot the range in a few minutes without issue.

    If the camera can't compensate for the changes in aperture with appropriate shutter changes (read : longer exposure times), you'll see the photos progressively get darker, which likely indicates a camera problem of some type. You might try using the aperture preview on the camera with each shot to see if your viewfinder shows progressively smaller aperture effects. If it doesn't, perhaps the lens has an aperture problem. If it's the lens, you shouldn't see the effect when you do the test with another lens. If the problem occurs with more than one lens, it's likely the camera.

    But it could also be some setting within the camera we haven't discussed yet.

    Are you applying any in-camera sharpening ? Are you applying any sharpening in processing or post processing (are you processing these images) ? These can be pretty significant issues.

    It's all kind of difficult to speculate on at a distance like this.

    As for the wedding, that kind of photography is not my métier, honestly. I'd think you'd want fill flash for some shots, but I'll defer to more knowledgeable people here at the Cafe for more exact suggestions about flash, reflectors, diffusers, etc. You might post a question in another thread to get some answers.

    John P.