Nifty Fifty

Update: Check out the review on the 50mm f1.8D before you decide which lens is best for you, I’d recommend that lens over this one for price alone (it’s $125 and just as sharp)

No, we are not talking about fedoras and jukeboxes.  Christmas is coming and if you or the love of your life doesn’t already own this lens (or its equivalent in your brand) you need to jump on it. It’s priced perfectly at $219 and is sharp as a tac. The Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras is your Christmas deal of 2012.

With a fast lens like the Nikon 50mm f/1.8Gyour able to take photos in low light situations without having to use the harsh light of a flash. There are many benefits of a prime lens over a zoom lens and vice versa but that’s another post for another time. Readers Digest version is that prime lenses have better image quality than a zoom (think zoom lens = jack of all trades, master of none).

Here are some tips for your new prime lens:

• Use your feet to zoom.
• For sharpest photos stop down your aperture to around f4.

The benefits of a 50mm lens:

• Great walk around lens, small and weather sealed.
• Good lens for portraits with excellent bokeh (blurred background)
• Manufacturers have the 50mm down pat since it’s such a popular lens; the optics are amazing.

If you haven’t used a prime lens before you will benefit from the high quality of optics as well as the technique of actually framing the photographs by moving your feet instead of zooming in and out.  With prime lenses you will have to walk the viewer right up to what you’d like to capture, make them a part of the photograph.  It’s really a great experience and you may end up preferring the prime lens over a zoom after you’ve had a chance to use the Nifty Fifty.

• FX format
• f1.8
• 58mm filter thread
• Auto focus (or manual)
• Nikon’s silent wave motor

Source: Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Other Helpful Links:

The $125 Lens You Should Know About and Own, Nikkor 50mm f1.8D

2012 Photography Contest to Win an iPad Mini

Photographing Christmas Lights

Photography Tips You Should Know