Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G First Impressions

The Nikon 50mm f/1.8G arrived today from B&H Photo (about $220). At half the price of the AF-S 50mm /1.4G, it’s pretty much a no-brainer for any Nikon shooter.

A few things were apparent immediately:

• Wide open at f/1.8, central contrast and sharpness are outstanding, and this is apparent in Live View also.
• Autofocus is usually accurate and consistent compared to its sibling, the AF-S 50mm /1.4G, but like the 50/1.4G, has a propensity to front-focus.
• Bokeh looks promising.
• My copy generated either ERR or a bad exposure three times with the D3x when shooting at f/11. The 50/1.4G showed no such problem.
• The 50/1.8G takes the same size lens cap as the 50/1.4G and indeed cannot be distinguished at a glance very easily, except by weight and a slightly lesser bulk.

I will have a full review in DAP, and I have a hunch that the 50/1.8G is going to be a great lens (so I hope). I’ve already shot a detailed comparison, but it will take some time to prepare and likely won’t be published until Friday.

In the meantime, see my March 2009 review of the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G.

A number of ad-hoc tests showed that the 50/1.8G delivers outstanding sharpness wide open, with extremely accurate focus (within my very limited testing so far).