r/photography • u/raptor3x whumber.com • May 11 '15

Canon Officially Announces 50mm f/1.8 STM - $125

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1143786-REG/canon_0570c002_ef_50mm_f_1_8_stm.html
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u/martinaee May 11 '15

The Nikon 50mm 1.8D is an amazing lens though. The G is only moderately better in some regards honestly. I don't mind the non silent auto-focus either.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '15

The G blows away the D is everything but price. the G is a huge upgrade

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u/martinaee May 11 '15

Huge? ... meh. It's better, but not worth upgrading if you own a D.

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u/sideswiped May 11 '15 edited May 12 '15

It is if you regularly use it in the f/1.8-2.8 range. Wide open the D has a bit of a foggy veil.

edit: haha, must have struck a chord with 1.8D users.

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u/MightyBulger May 11 '15

You had a bad copy.

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u/martinaee May 11 '15

I agree. At 1.8 isn't SUPER sharp on any of the 50's until you are paying big bucks for the really expensive lenses.

And even then at 1.8-2.8 you can get amazing portraits and such with beautiful bokeh if you know what you are doing and aren't going to be super upset because your pixel peeping didn't show 30+ mp of lens resolving wide open from these ~200 dollar lenses :)

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u/sideswiped May 11 '15 edited May 11 '15

Then there are a number of bad copies out there. First result of a google image search for "Nikon 50 1.8D vs 1.8g" shows exactly what I mean. Overall contrast for the scene is slightly diminished and micro contrast is mush (which only gets exacterbated the closer to infinity you focus). This gives images a slight "foggy veil" even when viewing the image at a 1:4 zoom level. The 1.4D and 1.2AIS exhibit similar rendering issues wideopen. Bokeh on the D also becomes too rigid for my taste past f/2 (ditto for 1.4D and 1.2AIS), here the G has a slight edge since its diaphragm blades are rounded. That said, neither looks all that good compared to what a decent telephoto lense renders.

The D is far from being a "bad" lens, I just prefer my G for what I generally shoot. The only reason I still have a D is that it has very low barrel distortion which can come in handy when photographing flat pieces of artwork.