Fifty is nifty again with FX
by eNoBlog on Feb.08, 2010, under Equipment
You may have read or heard that 50mm isn’t the most practical focal length on a cropped sensor camera. While many wouldn’t agree, I certainly found 50mm a less than useful focal length on my DX DSLRs, the Nikon D80 and D90. That was disappointing, because I own a classic AI 50mm f/1.4 lens. This last week, my new D700 arrived, and my disappointment gave way to that feeling of returning to a familiar place.
While the D700 is a tad on the heavy side, especially when one has gotten used to carrying around a smaller D90, the AI 50mm feels great on it, making the D700 feel a bit more natural in the hand. The D700 also gives me a bonus feature: metering with this non-CPU lens. Simply tell it the lens’ maximum aperture and focal length, and the D700 is ready to go, making aperture priority, manual mode and even flash photography a snap. And did I mention how good the AI 50mm looks on the D700?
Best of all, however, 50mm is normal again. No longer do I need to back up forever to be able to compose a photo, especially indoors, where walls and furniture often came up too fast when using foot zoom to frame a shot. Here’s a shot I took today without too much need to back up and get run over in the middle of the street:
I’m sure I’ll have more to say and show with my new D700 in the next few days. Not only will my AI 50mm gain new life, but so will my 55mm micro f/2.8, 85mm f/2.0 and my 105 f/2.5.
February 8th, 2010 on 10:30 am
Congrats with your D700! 50 on full frame is great, just like any other FF lens in fact. I recently got a 105/1.8 AIS and oh my it is just awesome with D700.
February 13th, 2010 on 7:09 am
Thanks. I have yet to try out my 105 f/2.5, but I’ve been told I’m going to be happy.
February 19th, 2010 on 4:43 pm
The 50mm on a DX crop never bothered me too much, then again, I knew what to expect. The D700 is a wonderful cam. I got to borrow one awhile back and got some great stuff even though our weather here is dark and gray most of the winter.
Funny story – I went out shooting with a local young novice buddy back about a month a go. I took out the D90 for a workout, mainly because I bought it, did a brief test, and put it on the shelf. Well anyway, I put an old manual 50mm on the D90 and we went out to the local botanical garden. My friend wanted to try out the new cam (he had a canon rebel thingy) and went a little bit bonkers because there was no AF and no zoom. A look of dismay came on his face. No zoom! Aargh!!!
We went out for coffee afterwards and I chatted with him about the old days of yore, or film. I could see him start to twitch at the thought of waiting two days for film or even a week for slides. Pretty funny. We also had a chat about primes though, and guess what? Last week he came and borrowed the D90 and the 50mm, and he came back with some really nice stuff. I think next time we go out I’ll take the old Oly C5050 just for fun
Hey I’ve been out of town working but I should be black blogging soon. Take care