The Nifty Fifty
I'm pretty damned excited. I just got a brand new camera lens! I ordered it on Sunday, and it was delivered yesterday. This new lens is the first fast lens that I've ever owned and it makes a fine addition to my arsenal of lenses. For a long time, I wondered how photographers get these vividly clear, sharp images with silky smooth gradients that I often see in magazines and the featured pages of flickr. (Photos like this one, and this one, for example.) Some of it is good lighting, some of it is good digital editing, some of it is a high resolution camera, but I learned that the rest of it is good glass. Whenever I would see professional photographers show up to an event, they are usually sporting a high end camera and a big lens. (Longer and bigger around than anything I have.) These usually end up being fast lenses (wide maximum aperture). Such lenses are very expensive, but that seemed to be the secret. It wasn't long before I started to experience lens envy.
After doing some research and consulting with other photographers, I now know that using faster lenses is the way the big shots do it. I have what I consider to be adequate lenses in my arsenal, but the fastest one only opens up to F3.5, which isn't as desirable as the expensive F2.8 or wider aperture lenses. At this time, I cannot afford any F2.8 zoom lenses, but I found that Nikon, Canon, and even Sigma make 50mm lenses that open up to as much as F1.4. These are fixed focal length (prime) lenses, so they aren't as expensive as zooms. I found the 50mm F1.4 D Nikkor selling for a price within my reach, so I sprung for it. All week, I was anxiously waiting for UPS to deliver it.
I read tons of customer reviews and looked at many photos taken with this lens. Apparently, it takes sharper, brighter pictures at higher F-stops too. Some users say that they can use it indoors when they want to shoot with available light only. I usually have to use a flash when I shoot indoors. For most medium range shots, I use a 18-70mm F3.5 zoom Nikkor that came with my D70. Now, I'll use this new 50mm instead. It doesn't zoom, but I can deal with that. It feels a lot like the standard 50mm lens that I used with my old Pentax K-1000, but with a slight magnification factor (due to the smaller APS-C sized sensor in my camera). A fast 50mm lens like this is affectionately referred to as a "Nifty Fifty".
Naturally, I had to go try it out as soon as I got it. I took the new lens for a spin down at the MSU botanical gardens. I go down there every year, but I haven't been very happy with the results the last few times. This time the results are noticeably better.
I took most of these shots at F1.4 and F2.8 just for the bokeh effect. I made about a dozen new photos from yesterday's shoot. You can see them all in this Flickr set. (Be sure to click the "All Sizes" link on each photo to see them at their original size.)