Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D

Entry Date: 2/2/2024 (Summary in retrospect)

My first full frame prime lens, which I had purchased to use when I got my D700 when I was in college.

When I was using the D90 previously I had tried my hands on the DX 35mm f/1.8G, which was my first time using a prime lens for the DSLR system. That experience made me interested in using prime lenses, and so when I got the full frame D700, I decided to just keep things simple at the start and just have a 50mm lens.

At that time there were three options available for Nikon 50mm’s - the 50mm f/1.4D, this 50mm f/1.8D, and the AF-S 50mm f/1.4G.

While either of the 1.4 alternatives were definitely tempting, as a student I did not have that much of a budget after getting the FX body, and also the 50mm 1.8D is known to be sharper and have less distortion than its 1.4 siblings, so it was an easy decision to go with the 50mm f/1.8D.

I remember how intrigued I was with the screw-drive autofocus - the autofocus operations made quite a bit of noise and I had to make sure to keep my fingers off the focus ring as it rotated together with the focus mechanism.

f/1.8 was definitely more than useable at that time since sensors were not very high resolution (D700 was at 12MP), and stopping the lens down a stop to f/2.5 increased the sharpness tremendously across the frame.

It was my go-to snap lens for a long while, and I used the same D700+50mm kit for travels too.

Having a simple prime lens kit helped me learn more about composition and lighting, as well as having the creative option to open up the aperture for bokeh and background blur if needed.

This was also the lens that made me realize what kind of shots I actually do prefer, which in turn affected my lens purchases down the road as well.

Even as I upgraded my kit over the years, I still kept the 50mm f/1.8D around as the image quality was up there with the big boys and there was a fun factor in using a compact prime lens too.

Ultimately I managed to score a good deal on a used 50mm f/1.4D many years later, and as my cousin was getting into photography I decided to give him the 50mm f/1.8D to try his hands on prime lenses.