People love nifty fifty because it allows you to create stunning images at a fairly low price. However, Nikon’s nifty fifty is not really the nifty fifty because it costs twice as much than Canon’s nifty fifty. Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM costs $100 while Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G costs $200. Why does it cost extra $100? It’s because it has a lot more features than Canon’s. But is it worth? Well, lets take a look.
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Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G Lens Review
Specifications
- Focal Length: 50mm
- Maximum Aperture: f/1.8
- Focusing motor: Silent Wave Motor (SWM)
- 7 Diaphragm Blades
- Optical Designs:
- Super Integrated Coating (SIC)
- Aspherical Lens (AS)
- Weather Sealing: Yes, partially
Specifications are almost identical as Canon’s except for some key features. Super Integrated Coating (SIC), aspherical element, Silent Wave Motor (SWM), and weather sealing are added to Nikon’s nifty fifty. And these are some image changing features that cannot be ignored. Faster focusing with SWM, reduced ghosting and flaring with SIC, reduced spherical aberration with aspherical element, its ability shoot while raining or snowing, and all this just for extra $100? I think it is well worth more than $100.
Build Quality
This lens is solid overall. It is mainly plastic with metal mount, but it does not feel like a cheap plastic. It has some weight to it and feels like a premium product in the hand. I bumped this lens against the wall couple of times, but I didn’t witnessed any damages on the lens. This lens certainly feels much better than the kit lenses.
Image Quality
No matter how good it sounds on the paper, it must perform good for us to open the wallet. Image quality of Nikon 50mm f/1.8G is outstanding and superb. Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM suffers to bring sharp images at f/1.8. You must stop it down to at least f/2.2 or f/2.8 to take tack sharp images. Nikon 50mm f/1.8G is sharp starting at f/1.8. The corners are not as sharp as the center, but is still significantly sharper than Canon’s. You will be amazed by its performance.
All of my recent work were done using Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G lens. Here are several links to my previous blogs so you can see the photos taken using this lens.
Conclusion
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G is Nikon’s “nifty fifty”; Although it is bit more expensive than Canon’s. If you are a Nikon user, there is absolutely no reason for you to not go with this lens. It’s sharp, solid, and has all the professional features for you to enjoy and take advantage of. I’ve done professional shoots with this lens combined with D750, and it created gorgeous images.
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