I like my 50/1.8 AI long nose. Shot alt monthly entry using it. Seems very good, I need to take it out. Seems excellent at mfd, as well, and I have an old tube.
Mine has focus shift. Others may, as well. But I just focus stopped down. Kind of a pain, especially past f/8-11.
50/2 AIS probably good, from what I have read on here, you might look at mir.com, they had a page for nikkor 50's, to tell the different ones apart. Site having Nikon serial numbers can help figure out what's going on, too.
Some had 2 ft mfd, probably how they made the pancake 50's shorter. So that might be of interest, but even my 1.5 ft mfd, with its longer nose, isn't too large.
I prefer the 50 f/2 AIS to the 50 1.8 AI-S pancake (or even the 1.8 AF-D) .It has a smoother wide open bokeh, and overall pleasing rendering. The 50 1.8 is a little harsh, but sharper especially when stopped down. 50 f/2 AI-S is one of my favorite budget MF lenses.
I used that 50 f2 lens all through the late 70's and till mid 80's, great lens. I also liked the cheap 50 E series MF lens. The exposures were view 8X10 or smaller, however.
The F4 is auto focus as I recall, maybe not.
Joseph. wrote:
I prefer the 50 f/2 AIS to the 50 1.8 AI-S pancake (or even the 1.8 AF-D) .It has a smoother wide open bokeh, and overall pleasing rendering. The 50 1.8 is a little harsh, but sharper especially when stopped down. 50 f/2 AI-S is one of my favorite budget MF lenses.
Thanks for the input.
I can't imagine ever needing to use this lens for portraiture, but rather I am thinking it might be a good lens for detail landscape shots.
What would you recommend for that use case? The 50 1.8D or the 50 F2 AI-S?
I have no experience with the 50 F/1.8D, but the 50 f/2 AI is a lens I use quite regularly. It's absolutely usable for portraits, but also for your use case of landscapes.
There was a recent thread about "old Nikon lenses with character", where I posted a comparison with the 50 f/1.2 AI-S and a wide open example in this post (the 2nd photo, of the shoes). You'll find some discussion regarding the 50mm MF Nikkors there, too. While my copy of the f/2 is (marginally) less sharp than the f/1.2 (something easily corrected in post, mind!), I really like using it for travel photography because it's light, small and has a nice rendering.
One thing to consider about the 50mm D version is that currently there's no adapter with a built-in drive motor for the Z-mount, if you plan to go that route in the future. Of course you'll still be able to use it manually focusing.
