Bought the "Nifty Fifty" - Sample Pix

[annnewjerz]

So, I decided it would be impossible for me to sit on my birthday gift card and would be wise to get the 50mm f/1.8. I can practice manually focusing with it and then when I eventually upgrade my body it'll auto-focus for me...or who knows, maybe I'll be hooked on manually focusing by then.

Here are some sample pix, straight out of the box without any editing. Just wanted to try it out before I went to sleep. Ignore the off-coloring...I'm inside with a lamp lighting the room. Seems pretty sharp and doesn't seem that hard to focus with the little "in-focus" light on the viewfinder of the D60. With the crappy setting I'm currently in, I can only imagine it will be even easier to focus during the light of day.

It was definitely $86 of my $100 gift card well spent (got a demo).

 

[boBQuincy]

What a sweet looking cat! Good photo too...

 

[annnewjerz]

What a sweet looking cat! Good photo too...

Don't let that expression fool you...of our 6 cats and 2 dogs, he is the biggest trouble maker of all

 

[Craig E Hood]

You'll love that 50, good price too.

 

[annnewjerz]

You'll love that 50, good price too.

$95 for it as a "used" lens and I always break out the military ID after I am given the price juuuuust to see what else I can squeeze out of them. In this case, an extra $10 off. I'll take it! With the leftover I was able to get an LCD scrren protector. Not too shabby for a gift from a co-worker.

 

[My2Girls66]

Nice! Have fun
I've gotta try using mine more.

 

[annnewjerz]

Nice! Have fun
I've gotta try using mine more.

You know, with the manual focusing I really can't see using it all of the time...for things like the animals or even people because they can't sit still, but it doees seem like it will be a great lens for stationary objects like sculptures, architecture and plants. I'm liking it so far, but only time will tell.

 

[Quicklabs]

What a nice sharp picture of your kitty!
I didn't know you are military? Are you up at McGuire? I work at Wright-Patt, retired AF after 24 years.
Keep your 50 on the camera for awhile. That way, you'll be motivated to find out the lens can do. Enjoy it! And belated happy birthday.

 

[annnewjerz]

What a nice sharp picture of your kitty!
I didn't know you are military? Are you up at McGuire? I work at Wright-Patt, retired AF after 24 years.
Keep your 50 on the camera for awhile. That way, you'll be motivated to find out the lens can do. Enjoy it! And belated happy birthday.

Thank you for the belated birthday wish!

I am not actually the military personnel in the family, my DH is. He was a submariner up in CT and once his time was up, we moved back here...now he just reports to Ft. Dix for the reserves. I have lived near McGuire and Ft. Dix my whole life...gotta love those air shows!

I actually kept the 50 on my camera when I went to sleep last night instead of changing back to the 18-200. Brought my camera into work today and plan to take it out on lunch to practice focusing on some of the nice fall leaves since after re-looking at the skittles picture I took I realize that while the writing is pretty sharp, the edges are out of focus so I think I'll need to play around for quite a while to get everything just right.

 

[annnewjerz]

Just bumping this up with a few more sample pix that I took with the 50 1.8. Considering I had to manually focus all of them, I am very happy with the way they are turning out so far...especially for the $35ish out of pocket the lens cost me.

Mickey loves his Kong more than anything.

Rocky is our big stupid dog, he's got a mean bark but is the biggest baby ever.

Panda, our first pet.

Toby, our little abandoned kitten that we had to bottle feed, all grown up.

Snuffaluffagus

 

[wenrob]

Anne, these are great, you're doing a fabulous job. I like the pic on the couch, they're both in focus which I understand is hard to do at first before you get used to it.
I have this on my wish list. DH keeps telling me to just get it but the little ones bday and Christmas are coming up so I'm waiting until I have that taken care of.

 

[annnewjerz]

Anne, these are great, you're doing a fabulous job. I like the pic on the couch, they're both in focus which I understand is hard to do at first before you get used to it.
I have this on my wish list. DH keeps telling me to just get it but the little ones bday and Christmas are coming up so I'm waiting until I have that taken care of.

Thanks! Not sure why exactly but I think this is a really easy fun lens to use, even with the manual focusing (but you have the D80 or D90 right?? So you wouldn't even have to worry about that). I got mine used for less than $90 and it was money very well spent. I shot all of the shots in Aperture Priority mode (which was funny for me, considering I had barely ventured off full-auto yet). When this lens eventually breaks or gets worn out, I will definitely be replacing it and I'm sure I'll love it more once I eventually have a body that has a focus motor built into it.

I will be posting some more a little later of pictures that I took at a birthday party in "lower" light situations where I thought it did pretty well, no blurriness at all because the aperture was so wide the shutter still managed to shoot at a really fast speed. which was a huge difference from my only attempt at using the 18-200mm VR in low-light, which was horrible without a tripod.

 

[ukcatfan]

Anne, you have just about as much of a zoo as we do! We only have one dog (F black lab), but also have four cats, a snake, and three daughters

You are off to a good start on the MF thing. Practice some fast focusing if you are going to use it in dark rides at WDW. If you cannot do it fast in those situations, the correct focus point will have changed before you press the shutter. That is b/c your ride vehicle is always moving and the DOF is small.

 

[annnewjerz]

Anne, you have just about as much of a zoo as we do! We only have one dog (F black lab), but also have four cats, a snake, and three daughters

You are off to a good start on the MF thing. Practice some fast focusing if you are going to use it in dark rides at WDW. If you cannot do it fast in those situations, the correct focus point will have changed before you press the shutter. That is b/c your ride vehicle is always moving and the DOF is small.

HA! Yeah, we do have a bit of a zoo. 2 dogs and 6 cats...no kids yet (unless you count my DH, I sure do )

Fast focusing is going to be something I need to get a lot of practice with. I got a bit trying to take pix of the animals because the dogs won't sit still...but I would try to take pictures of the children at a family event this weekend and when I saw the pictures, the focus would be on their hair rather than their face, etc. I've got a year to practice until our 09 WDW trip, so hopefully I can master it by then. If not, I'm sure I will have the Sigma 30 so there isn't too much to worry about

 

[handicap18]

Great job Ann!

Focus is really sharp. Well done for manual. I really like that lens. It is tack sharp. I especially love it for portraits. I've gotten some great shots of the kids with that lens. I haven't used it to much with my D300 yet, but I have some portrait work coming up soon for the holidays so it will get lots of good use.

 

[My2Girls66]

You did great focusing! Love the one of your golden We have a bit of a zoo, too. A crazy choc lab, 5 cats, 2 teens, tho, one is away at school