msmoto said:

I have those two lenses on my d7000 and they compliment each other nicely, however I suggest go out and test them, it may be different for you.

bmw_328ci said:
Hi,

I have D7000 and I have 35mm 1.8g and I really like this lens.My wife bought me 50mm 1.8G. I dont know since I have the 35mm should I keep it or return it ??? I didnt had a chance to use it outside,is it good for landscape ??

Thank you

No problem

TaoTeJared said:
@tcole1983 - do a quick search for it - there was a ton of us you compared the G,D, 1.8D versions a while back- way too much to re-hash.

The big one for me is the bokeh is much smoother and has round highlights where the 1.8G is hexagonal and a bit more jittery bokeh. Personal taste on which you like. The 1.4 feels better made and more sealed.

Thanks. Found it...I searched before, but didn't search hard enough.

jlmphotos said:
Even though I own the 24-70 F2.8, and the 16-35VR F4 I do use my 50mm 1.8 very often. However, I do find that shooting at 1.8 the images are not very contrasty so I find that opening useless regardless of what Nikon claims. I usually stop down to 2.2 and that makes the images more usable whereas the 24-70, wide open at 2.8 is incredibly contrasty and reasonably sharp if you nail focus.

Are you reffering to the 1.8D or G version? The contrast wide open on the G version is greatly improved over the D.

@tcole1983 - do a quick search for it - there was a ton of us you compared the G,D, 1.8D versions a while back- way too much to re-hash.

The big one for me is the bokeh is much smoother and has round highlights where the 1.8G is hexagonal and a bit more jittery bokeh. Personal taste on which you like. The 1.4 feels better made and more sealed.

Is there any advantage to the 50 f1.4G over this lens?

After being against getting the 50 f1.8G, I might have changed my mind after some portrait pics last weekend. The 35 f1.8 was too wide.

Even though I own the 24-70 F2.8, and the 16-35VR F4 I do use my 50mm 1.8 very often. However, I do find that shooting at 1.8 the images are not very contrasty so I find that opening useless regardless of what Nikon claims. I usually stop down to 2.2 and that makes the images more usable whereas the 24-70, wide open at 2.8 is incredibly contrasty and reasonably sharp if you nail focus.

adamz said:
@nsx - get sigma, it has standard 77mm thread

one thing You don't mention guys is speed, the new 50/1.8 has faster AF than both the old D version and the 50/1.4G

The new 50 G is slightly faster, but not by much. The D version is really fast on my 2 D7k's though, but that's totally body dependant.

@nsx - get sigma, it has standard 77mm thread

one thing You don't mention guys is speed, the new 50/1.8 has faster AF than both the old D version and the 50/1.4G

Perhaps my only issue is that both versions of the 50mm AF-S both use 58mm threads, which means I'd be using different filter threads- 67mm, 62mm, 52mm and 58mm.

It's a minor quibble, but I'd like to use the same threads if possible.

I have and love both. The G version is much sharper wide-open with much better contrast as well as better bokeh when all around (especially stopped down). The D version is slightly sharper onced stopped-down in the center but the G is always sharper in the corners, despite aperture. The G version has slightly more CA and barrel distortion, but both are super easy to correct. I don't agree with everybody's assumption that the D is still the better buy. It's a fact that the G version is much better at just about everything. The small issues the G version has is not the big deal everybody(online review sites) is making them out to be.

Cassius - The lens does have some issues that the D version did not, such as a mild amount of barrel distortion. The distortion is easy to correct, however. That said, the G version has arguably better bokeh and better corner sharpness. It's a tradeoff. I've had both, and I prefer the G version despite the distortion.

So after some reviews:
"It is a better lens both in the center and especially in the corners than the 50mm f/1.8D it replaces. Significantly so, in my opinion."
- Thom Hogan

"The most noticeable fact is that the new version does not achieve the same score than the previous version... (The) overall score difference mainly comes from a less good resolution for the new 50mm f/1.8G. The homogeneity of the lens is also less well controlled on the revamped version."
-DxOMark

Any thoughts on whether this is sample variation or poor testing? I'm leaning towards sample variation or poor testing by DxO. Even though I haven't tried the new 50 1.8G, I have a hard time believing that Nikon would downgrade the optical quality of a standard fifty... although they did it in the 90s with some of the af updates like the 35 f/2 ai-s vs the 35 f/2 af.

I have a 50mm 1.8d and picked up the g (gave the older lens to my second shooter who happens to be my wife=) and I love the new update. This lens really is a step up from the previous lens. For the price its a great addition to the d700.
~Cheers

I got the AF-S 50mm 1.8G a week ago. I like the possibility to use AF with manual override. And the bokeh is very nice for a cheap lens.

Compared to the physically smaller manual-focus only 50mm f/2 AI the new lens does not seem just as sharp at equal apertures. So I think I will keep both until the AF-S 50mm f/1.2 reviews appear on the net.

I was able to shoot a few photos with both 1.4G and 1.8G and here are the results:

50/1.8G @ f/2.8

50/1.8G @ f/4.0

50/1.8G @ f/5.6

50/1.4G @ f/4.0

50/1.4G @ f/5.6

Unfortunately I don't have a proper comparison shot for 50/1.4G @ f/2.8.

Here are both wide open:

50/1.8G @ f/1.8

50/1.4G @ f/1.4

I think I'm going to get the 50/1.4G instead.

They have been able to knock the edges down on the update - impressive!

That heptagonal bokeh is strangely appealing.

Here are same crops from a test I did with the two lenses, both set to F4.

AF-D

AF-S

VilleK said:
CaryTheLabelGuy, Thank you for the example shots. The out of focus backgrounds seem nice to my eye. Unfortunately all of those were shot ~wide open and the effect of the shape of aperture blades is not visible.

I was posting those shots for everybody, not as an example of stopped down bokeh, but rather wide-open characteristics. I can tell you that stopped-down, the new G lens has much more round bokeh until about F/5.6 or so, then it gets a little hexagonal but not near as bad as the D version, which can be seen at F/2.8. The rounded blades make a huge difference.

CaryTheLabelGuy, Thank you for the example shots. The out of focus backgrounds seem nice to my eye. Unfortunately all of those were shot ~wide open and the effect of the shape of aperture blades is not visible.

Here is one of our latest shots using the new 50mm 1.8G. There are several more in our stream, have a look. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaceyjordan/5865037631/in/photostream/

Bokeh highlights? How do they look when stopped down to f/2.8, f/4 or f/5.6? I'm trying to decide whether to buy this lens or 50/1.4G. I only have AF-D lenses which don't have rounded aperture blades so I cannot produce circular bokeh highlights and I'd like to.

I've got my 50mm 1.8 Ai, ( darn sharp little lens that is..), my 50mm 1.4D , an older 50mm 1.2, so Í'll skip this one and wait for the New 50mm 1.2 AF-S ( I know, it will come someday... :-) )