Is the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D a good choice on a D5000 even though it won’t autofocus or offer VR?
Asked 8/18/2010
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I’m considering the Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D as a low-cost portrait lens for my Nikon D5000. I understand that this lens will not autofocus on the D5000 because the camera body doesn’t have a focus motor, and it also doesn’t have VR. For portrait use, are those limitations a big problem in practice? Would manual focus be realistic on a D5000, especially when shooting wide open with shallow depth of field, or is it likely to be frustrating enough that I should look for an AF-S alternative instead?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
16y ago
2 Answers
8
VR: I don't think VR matters at all for portraits, where you can control the lighting to make sure you have a suitably fast shutter speed (1/125 or 1/250) to avoid blur due to camera shake.
AF: This depends on how good you are at focusing manually. For portraits with shallow depth of field (wide aperture), it's critical to make sure that one or both of the eyes is in perfect focus. If you can do this manually, then by all means, go for the manual focus lens.
Before buying, you can try manually focusing on one of the lenses you already have, and then check your focus by looking at the full-size image on your computer. I often find that I've missed by a bit when focusing manually, but some people are quite good.
Originally by user414. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user414
16y ago
0
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VR usually isn’t a major issue for portraits. You can often use enough light and a shutter speed like 1/125–1/250s to avoid camera shake, so lack of stabilization alone shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
The bigger issue is autofocus. On a D5000, the 50mm f/1.8D becomes manual-focus only, and accurate manual focus at wide apertures can be difficult because depth of field is very thin. For portraits, the eyes need to be precisely in focus, and the D5000’s small viewfinder makes that harder. Many shooters find shots look fine in-camera but turn out slightly off when viewed full size later.
So: if you’re comfortable with manual focus, work carefully, or shoot on a tripod/tethered, it can still be a good value. But for many people it will be frustrating for portrait work wide open. If you want a more reliable experience, an AF-S 50mm option is the safer choice on the D5000.
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