The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 S, the Little Lens That Can

[John Geerts]

It's not pretty, the light 'outburst'.

For Nikon Z6/Z7 users it may be convenient to enter 

- Photo-shooting menu - Silent Photography   and
- Custom Settings D5 Shutter type

in the 'My Menu'.

[Frank Fremerey]

I agree. There is some CA, but mostly removable in post.
 The 50mm f/1.8 S is very sharp, not very heavy, and no FTZ. I still use the Otus lenses in the studio or around home. In the middle of a swamp or a hike, the f/1.8 50 S is pretty decent.

to hear YOU say that is almost a coronation!

[John Geerts]

Too early to have a final judgment but  results with this  lens are very promising

Posted in Oktober 2019
Backlight - underexposed


Posted in November 2019
F8  16000 ISO

[Bent Hjarbo]

I have seen examples and comments on DPR and elsewhere that the blooming is actually some sort of flare caused by diffraction at the vertically traveling shutter blades at short shutter speeds. It can be remedied by using a fully electronic shutter. What has not been answered is why this is specific to these bodies, and does not seem to be an issue for our DSLR's.

Do we see this on our DSLRs? My guess was that the shutters where the same regardless the type of camera

[Øivind Tøien]

Look here:
https://photographylife.com/mechanical-electronic-shutter-efcs

Yes, that was one of the articles I was referring to, thanks for providing the link.

[Øivind Tøien]

Do we see this on our DSLRs? My guess was that the shutters where the same regardless the type of camera

A reason it seldom shows up is that we usually stop the lens down to get the star bursts, causing shutter speed to get long enough to get out of the problematic range. However with a quick check I found one exposure where I forgot to stop the lens down and it should have shown up at 1/2500 s. So with the D7100 used here it was not much noticeable:


D7100, f/8 @ 12 mm, 1/2500, ISO 400

[pluton]

Do we see this on our DSLRs? My guess was that the shutters where the same regardless the type of camera

I have definitely gotten it (and noticed it) from my Fujifilm mirrorless cams. DSLR? Gotta check...
Update:  I checked my D800E w/ 17-35/2.8 at 17mm.  No bilateral sunstar flare at 1/800 sec and longer, flare appears at 1/1600 sec, getting worse as the shutter time is shortened(worst at 1/8000).
IMO, this type of flare has a more "natural" feel than, say, the color blob ghosts generated by the Nikon 14-24G zoom.

[Bill De Jager]

Thank you to Øivind Tøien, Nikfuson, and John Geerts for the info and link.

That is some serious sensor blooming from the sun there Bill.I'm quite surprised to see that,,, Is that 'normal' for Z6

As I mentioned in my post the sensor photosite lines run up and down in that photo, not side to side which is the orientation where people have found lines in their Z6/Z7 photos under other conditions.  My first thought had been the sensor until I remembered the orientation of the camera. The other photos I took into the sun that day were in landscape mode and the flare went up and down, mainly down.

I hadn't previously seen this effect because I hadn't shot into the sun, and the slower lens I was using before resulted in slower shutter speeds.  I was deliberately trying to stress the lens in that photo but it looks like the camera was at fault for the flare.  The shutter type was set to auto so at 1/6400 sec the mechanical shutter was involved.

I spoke too hastily about the quality of the flare.  It's better than having blobs all over the place (unless you want that effect) or massive veiling flare, but in a photo of serious aesthetic quality it would be distracting.  I think the lens itself did very well, though, with regard to flare.

It's still early, but from what I'm seeing so far I expect to be using both F and Z mount cameras for a good long time into the future based on their respective strengths and weaknesses.

[Øivind Tøien]

Some more tests needed: I was thinking about waiting for clear sunny weather, but then realized I could use an artifical sun: aiming straight toward my Niterider bike light set to 200 lumen. Both of the exposures with my D500 and 12-24mm lens below were captured at 1/8000 sec ISO 1600, to the left f/4, then to the right f/8 with +2EV exposure compensation in CNX-D. Interestingly it is less noticeable at f/8 where diffraction spikes from the aperture dominate, while with the  lens wide open the vertical spikes show up (both resized identical heavy crops):


1/8000s f/4 left                                                           1/8000s f/8 right

It looks like the vertical spikes with the D500 and this lens are less pronounced than that seen in the Z bodies. Again, normally a smaller aperture than f/8 would be used for starbursts, and it would not be noticeable.

[Akira]

This is an intriguing but a bit annoying phenomenon.

I could very easily induce the flare in question.  Fujifilm X-T3 in mechanical shutter mode at 1/6000 with Zeiss Touit 1.8/32 at f5.6.

[Bent Hjarbo]

Thanks for testing and sharing, so it seems not to be a mirrorless only issue.

[Airy]

I saw it first mentioned at SLR times, late eighties, when 1/4000s became a commonplace. Or was it just the deformation of moving subjects?

[Nikfuson]

Indoors the S works really well.

[John Geerts]

Nice.

Wide open met Nikon Close Up lens 6 T (Reversed)

[Birna Rørslett]

Have you tried this lens with an extension ring? Fotodiox makes one that transmits the signals between lens and camera. It provides 12mm extension which is perfect for the 50 (and presumably, the 85 Z as well).  Not cheap, but very well made.