Nikon 50mm F1.8 does this look right?

[ian in lancs]

I have a Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8D lens. At f1.8 and 2.8 its softer than a beer glass. Is that normal and what I can expect or do you think its knackered? Seems to ok in every other respect but noting the raving about 50mm lenses I'm getting a little puzzled! Camera is a D700.

f1.8 100% crop vertical is 25mm


f2.8


f4


f5.6


f8


f11


I was hoping for a sharper low-light lens. Seems I'll have to crank the ISO up instead.

[GFWilliams]

Just don't take pictures of barcodes

more seriously, the lens is never going to be as sharp at F1.8 compared to stopped down a bit. You might have been slightly OOF because the subject was so close and by using a higher F stop you're bringing it into focus

[RobDickinson]

Was this on tripod and manual/live view focused?

[andy-xr]

Not as bad as that, but I had issues with my 1.8 D. 1.4D was night and day though - maybe try the AF adjust for backfocussing?

[ian in lancs]

I get that it will be softer but I'm surprised how much; especially as people are raving about them. I'm wondering whether I have a rogue one.

Barcode seemed to be a perfect focus chart

Resting on a table with single spot auto focus and using flash to prevent any movement.

I think the fine focus is OK... Focus point 150mm

[RobDickinson]

Just had a look at the ISO crops:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-122...

Does seem the nikon version has poor CA wide open and is softer than the canon one (tho half of that is the CA).

Nikon have just released a new updated version with optics that match the canon one.

[ian in lancs]

RobDickinson said:

Just had a look at the ISO crops:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-122...

Does seem the nikon version has poor CA wide open and is softer than the canon one (tho half of that is the CA).

Nikon have just released a new updated version with optics that match the canon one.

That's quite a difference! Mine looks just like the ISO image. Oh well best I can expect I suppose then.

[Super Slo Mo]

Is it soft though, or is it just that the autofocus isn't hitting the 'spot' as it were, when wide open.

I have a manual focus 85mm f2 lens (fairly elderly, but very nice) that is a bit strange to use when wide open. I can focus on an object, and see it sharp in the viewfinder, but the actual photograph has the point of focus as being a bit beyond what I thought I'm focusing on. The answer is to focus slightly closer than the desired object.

I've also got another, not terribly good, zoom lens that won't autofocus properly at one end of the lens. It can be focused, but the autofocus won't do it, it has to be manual. I should probably calibrate the camera, but the issues are easy enough to work around, for me at least.

[Simpo Two]

Assuming you've done your tests right, remember ATEOTD it's only a £90 lens, and that most if not all lenses are not at their best wide open. The usual reason for using max aperture is for shallow DOF or to shovel more light in to get the exposure, and optical perfection is the trade-off.