NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Lens Talk => Topic started by: Lumens Pixel on March 01, 2026, 21:42:02
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The cheapest and humblest Nikkor probably.
But a delightful lens to use. Not without defects, but easier to manage in the digital age rather than on film.
The bokeh is not the smoothest but you come to like it for whatever reason. The blur is contrasty but not jittery. Resolution is very good in the center and extends to the corners at middle apertures starting from f3,5. The lens seems optimised for middle distances.
Colours and micro-contrast are subdued compared to more recent lenses. But a simple click and this is solved. Old lenses sometimes like digital. My copy shows its age with a gritty focusing. A typical Nikon problem since it seldom happens with my Canon or Minolta lenses.
There might be better lenses but that is quite hard to notice if you post process your pics.
Some pics:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621690783_afcc899d36_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rdJrFn)L'observatoire (https://flic.kr/p/2rdJrFn) by lumens pixel (https://www.flickr.com/photos/lumens_pixel/), sur Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54915291753_338845975d_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rEFe24)Le primeur druze (https://flic.kr/p/2rEFe24) by lumens pixel (https://www.flickr.com/photos/lumens_pixel/), sur Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55116946027_b716dc0f7e_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rYuKNT)Chez le Tailleur (1) (https://flic.kr/p/2rYuKNT) by lumens pixel (https://www.flickr.com/photos/lumens_pixel/), sur Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55116946327_bc8a8dfb44_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2rYuKU4)Chez le Tailleur (3) (https://flic.kr/p/2rYuKU4) by lumens pixel (https://www.flickr.com/photos/lumens_pixel/), sur Flickr
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Interesting shots, monsieur. Les primeur Druzes a unique ethnic group of people!
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Interesting shots, monsieur. Les primeur Druzes a unique ethnic group of people!
Merci Fons!
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I don't know how much is down to the lens, as opposed to your skills Mr L Pixel
But I like this varied collection of images
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Colin just stole my words :)
Great shots. My favourite is "chez le tailleur (1)".
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Can you share the details of your simple click? ;-)
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Very nice images and good BW conversion. With MF lenses on digital it can be a challenge to hit exact focus where it should be.
The gritty focus I am quite sure it is because Nikon uses pure aluminium helicoids. When grease dries out it is more and more alu against alu which will destroy its other over time (helicoid slack will occur). Lens needs a CLA and it will be fine again (re-grease). Other brands uses either alu against brass which has a self-lubricating effect. Also brass against brass has lower friction than alu against alu. There are a few old Nikkors that uses brass helicoids but not the Nikkor-F and up (as far as I know). New MF Nikkors or re-greased was known to have a very easy moving MF focus where other brands were more "heavy" moving. I think that was by purpose by Nikon to be able to focus very fast when used for action shots. Also the aperture ring was easy to move (a bended flat-spring was used instead of a steel ball to implement the click stops). Spring loaded steel ball usually feels nicer but bended flat-spring usually makes it faster to move (my own subjective experience).
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The cheapest and humblest Nikkor probably.
But a delightful lens to use. Not without defects, but easier to manage in the digital age rather than on film.
There might be better lenses but that is quite hard to notice if you post process your pics.
very good series, your skills and the lens seem to have a wonderful cooperation
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I don't know how much is down to the lens, as opposed to your skills Mr L Pixel
But I like this varied collection of images
Thank you! The lens is participating a lot, be certain of that. I have tried without. And failed.
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Colin just stole my words :)
Great shots. My favourite is "chez le tailleur (1)".
Glad you liked it!
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Can you share the details of your simple click? ;-)
Sure. I am using Rawtherapee as Raw converter but I am quite confident same results can be achieved with any other software.
The 50 HC Auto lacks a little bit micro-contrast despite having very good resolution. A combination of lightly added local contrast, high frequency wavelets and deconvolution, which is three clicks rather than one, I must admit, will get you very close from out of camera better 50ies.
This is why I think that some differences in quality are less relevant on digital.
The field is not perfectly flat either which is not an issue with ordinary 3D subjects but might be a concern at infinity. You would better close the aperture to f4,0 in that case, which is hardly a concern. Note that the center area is sharp at f2,0.
So all in all a very useful lens.
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Very nice images and good BW conversion. With MF lenses on digital it can be a challenge to hit exact focus where it should be.
The gritty focus I am quite sure it is because Nikon uses pure aluminium helicoids. When grease dries out it is more and more alu against alu which will destroy its other over time (helicoid slack will occur). Lens needs a CLA and it will be fine again (re-grease). Other brands uses either alu against brass which has a self-lubricating effect. Also brass against brass has lower friction than alu against alu. There are a few old Nikkors that uses brass helicoids but not the Nikkor-F and up (as far as I know). New MF Nikkors or re-greased was known to have a very easy moving MF focus where other brands were more "heavy" moving. I think that was by purpose by Nikon to be able to focus very fast when used for action shots. Also the aperture ring was easy to move (a bended flat-spring was used instead of a steel ball to implement the click stops). Spring loaded steel ball usually feels nicer but bended flat-spring usually makes it faster to move (my own subjective experience).
Yes certainly alu helicoids. I must say I prefer Canon and Minolta implementation of the helicoids since they fare better in time.
I have from time to time opened simple lenses to clean a glass element. But I often chicken doing so because of some memorable failures. I have never re-greased helicoids and this is certainly an error. Of course you can always find a professional to do the job. But I have the souvenir of a well reputed pro that fogged a Canon nFD 28 2,0 after servicing, probably due to excessive or incorrect grease.
In addition most of my lenses have been bought quite cheap and it does not make sense economically to service them rather than buying another sample. I hate writing that because I feel a kind of attachment to lenses that serve me well but that remains a reality.
I have a look from time to time to videos showing the greasing process but stubbornly pass on them. I should not.
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very good series, your skills and the lens seem to have a wonderful cooperation
Thank you Thomas!
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I don't know whether it's still the case, but one used to be able to find the AI version of this lens dirt cheap. Some years ago I bought one from KEH in bargain condition (perfect looking, but maybe a bit stiff in focus) for something like 25 bucks, and later got one at a yard sale complete with a minty looking FG-20 for $5. A really nice lens, robust and well behaved. These days, since "normal" is closer to 35 mm. I don't use mine much on DX digital, but the above photos remind me that I probably should.
I'm certainly no hot shot photographic artist, and have always tended to favor normal perspective. This is a lens that performs well with no surprises. Here is a picture of what I saw.
e.t.a. that last sentence should have quotes around it. It's what I presume the lens says, not an invitation to see a picture which clearly is not here.
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Beautiful examples of use of this great lens.
I don't know whether it's still the case, but one used to be able to find the AI version of this lens dirt cheap.
I have the AI version, great lens.
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I don't know whether it's still the case, but one used to be able to find the AI version of this lens dirt cheap. Some years ago I bought one from KEH in bargain condition (perfect looking, but maybe a bit stiff in focus) for something like 25 bucks, and later got one at a yard sale complete with a minty looking FG-20 for $5. A really nice lens, robust and well behaved. These days, since "normal" is closer to 35 mm. I don't use mine much on DX digital, but the above photos remind me that I probably should.
I'm certainly no hot shot photographic artist, and have always tended to favor normal perspective. This is a lens that performs well with no surprises. Here is a picture of what I saw.
e.t.a. that last sentence should have quotes around it. It's what I presume the lens says, not an invitation to see a picture which clearly is not here.
Should be interesting on DX where field curvature should be absent with a nice portrait focal length.
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Beautiful examples of use of this great lens.I have the AI version, great lens.
Thank you John!
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Very nice images!, classic 50mm view. IMHO these could have been shot more or less with any of the older Nikkor lenses, given your skill level is so high ;)
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Very nice images!, classic 50mm view. IMHO these could have been shot more or less with any of the older Nikkor lenses, given your skill level is so high ;)
Thank you Erik. I have just received a 50 1,8 AIS and the bokeh seems more jittery. That would have not resulted in a massive image change but for someone looking for the differences that might have an impact.
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Thank you Erik. I have just received a 50 1,8 AIS and the bokeh seems more jittery. That would have not resulted in a massive image change but for someone looking for the differences that might have an impact.
Do you have the compact 50/1.8 AIS or the long nose version? The compact version is based on the series-E lens, and while it is reasonably sharp I found the bokeh is rather harsh. The same optics were also used in the AF and AF-D versions. The long nose 50/1.8 AIS and AI versions have much smoother bokeh in my experience and is my favourite 50mm Nikkor. It also has a 7 blade aperture instead of 6 blades in the 50/2, so out of focus blurs have a nicer shape and nicer 14-point diffraction stars.
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Do you have the compact 50/1.8 AIS or the long nose version? The compact version is based on the series-E lens, and while it is reasonably sharp I found the bokeh is rather harsh. The same optics were also used in the AF and AF-D versions. The long nose 50/1.8 AIS and AI versions have much smoother bokeh in my experience and is my favourite 50mm Nikkor. It also has a 7 blade aperture instead of 6 blades in the 50/2, so out of focus blurs have a nicer shape and nicer 14-point diffraction stars.
I have the short version with 60 cm MFD. I have red somewhere on the web that computations were identical and that only coatings differ. Might not be the case.
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The coating difference is between the Series E-version and the standard AIS version?
Series E-version is single coated and AIS version has the standard multi layer coating Nikon used at that time.
The long nose 1.8 version which is made of metal also has the Nikon multi layer coating.
The two pancake versions the E-version has a higher weight as there is a alu-part which is plastic on the standard AIS version (at least on the one I have).
But I have heard that the E-version is cheaper made internally. I have never disassembled them :-)
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I have the short version with 60 cm MFD. I have red somewhere on the web that computations were identical and that only coatings differ. Might not be the case.
Correction. From your pages Roland, the long and short 1,8s do not share the same computation.
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I have the short version with 60 cm MFD. I have red somewhere on the web that computations were identical and that only coatings differ. Might not be the case.
There are 4 versions of the "pancake" 50/1.8 lens:
- original series E lens with black plastic grab ring, 60cm close focus
- updated series E with metal grab ring
- AIS model sold only in Japan, looks similar to updated series-E lens but with all metal build, fully multicoated and 45cm close focus. This is the best version if you can get hold of one.
Featured here: https://imaging.nikon.com/imaging/information/story/0060/ - Last AIS model with plastic build including focus grip, fully multicoated, 60cm close focus
The same optics were used in the early AF and AF-D versions.
The long nose AI and AIS 50/1.8 use a different, less compact optical design. I think the sharpness is about the same but background rendition is smoother. I also prefer the full size barrel, I had the Japan version for a while but found the narrow aperture and focus rings too fiddly.
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Of the two pancake 50/1.8 versions I have the E-version has more metal than the non-E version.
The E-version has no. 2867455 and the non-E has no. 4425999. Both has 0.6m as min distance.
Then I have two long nose with no. 3244278 and 3279369 and both of these has 0.45m as mn distance.
They just sit in a cabinet. One mounted on an EM and another on a FE2. All lenses still have smooth focus.