Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G lens will be announced tonight

By [NR] admin | Published: April 26, 2011

The Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8G lens will be announced tonight (EST). I will post more details once I get in front of my computer. The lens will be the only new product announcement.

[NR] rating: 99%

Related posts:

  1. Nikon Japan announced the release date of the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8G lens
  2. Nikon 1 J4 camera and Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 lens to be announced tonight
  3. Nikon announced the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8G lens
  4. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G lens also to be announced tonight
  5. Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art pricing and shipping info
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  • The invisible man

    So, how much ?
    $250 ?

    • I’m guessing it’ll be between $125 and $175. It is almost certainly more than the 50mm f/1.8D, and it can’t be more than the 35mm f/1.8G, which is $200.

      • ccwong

        Don’t forget 35mm f/1.8G is DX and this is FX

        • hexx

          that’s good point

  • ybpow

    fx? dx?

  • Joel

    I guess it’s pretty exciting stuff for those with a D5100 and below.

    • Must be a great life,feeling so superior…

      Whatever..

      • plug

        +1 Judging by the MTF charts it will be the sharpest Nikon 50mm, pretty cheap, lightweight and great for travel. Perfect for my D700, enough to tempt me to feel superior.

  • broxibear

    Hi Peter,
    Are you hearing about any other products being announced at the same time or is it just this lens…seems like an odd time to announce a such a small item on it’s own ?

    • Mark V

      Agree – however it could be that this is due to the ‘accidental’ leak of the lens so they are trying to get in on the hype that it generated.

      • broxibear

        Hi Mark V,
        Here’s my somewhat cynical view.
        I think the initial leak was a genuine mistake caused by a typo error concerning dates. It was leaked on 13/04/11 when it should have been 13/05/11 the day after the Nikon annual figures release.
        I wonder if a new price list will apperar at the same time ?

  • yrsued

    I’m guessing $200, the current 50/1.8 is about $2130 @ B&H right now.

    • whoah… i didn’t know prices went up by that much… =P

    • BeefHammer

      yrsued, I’ve got a 50/1.8 that I’ll let you have for $2000 even. You could turn a tidy profit on it if you hurry.

      • The invisible man

        free shipping ?

  • The lens will be the only new product announcement.

    Sorry, I am typing on my phone.

    • Paul

      boo, another disappointment after the lackluster D7000 firmware upgrade.

      • Andrea Leganza

        +1

        • Eric Calabros

          you always send sad news with your phone? 🙂

    • The invisible man

      I hope you don’t drive and use your phone at the same time, like 90% of today car drivers.
      I almost get killed last week by one of them (I was riding my bicycle).

      • The invisible man

        (and I don’t want to see any comments about the fact that I’m invisible, I ride on a pink VISIBLE bicycle)

  • My guess is 199$.
    What puzzles me is that according to the leaked MTF from nikon itself this lens isn’t as sharp as the 35 1.8G; the new 50 1.8 is FX, ok, but the “normal” focal lenght has always been a sweet spot in nikon’s range, i tought it would have beaten the 35 hands down.
    We’ll see in tests

    • D40-owner

      Not true.
      The DX MTF chart goes only to 12, that’s about 2/3 of the X axis on the FX MTF charts.
      If you take that into account, the new 50 1.8 is roughly on-par with the 35 1.8 DX.

      • dave

        And when they still had it up, I compared the old vs the new and the AF-S version is better than both the 50mm 1.8D and the 50mm 1.4G

        • dave

          The MTF charts, that is

  • Fingers crossed for low price.

    • broxibear

      Hi Slow Gin,
      In the UK the AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G is £310, the AFD 50mm f/1.4 is £240 and the AFD 50mm f/1.8 is £110.
      I’d say it’ll be around £160 ($265)… it’s got a narrow price window to fit into.

      • hexx

        35 f/1.8 is £169, very tight 🙂

      • Anyway, I will pay more since I’m Ukrainian and our local retailers are charging prices 12-17% higher.

  • kelly

    I have the nikon d7000. Its my first camera period… I was about to pull the trigger 2 weeks ago on the 50 mm 1.4g until I saw this. The 1.4g is now like 700 on amazon but still around 450 elsewhere. my question is, should should I spend more money to get the 1.4 or would this 1.8 be close to the performance as it on my d7000?

    • Ronan

      I would go with the 1.8G unless you REALLY need 1.4.

    • James

      The 1.8 version should be sharper with better contrast wide open. It should also have less distortion. Unless you need the speed the slower 50mm lenses are the better option.

    • nick

      wail for 50 1.2g

  • shivaswrath

    might be sharper than the 1.4 wide open?

    • Soap

      Slower prime being sharper than a faster lens of the same focal length when wide open is to be expected.

  • JETELINHO

    hoped for 85 mm f/1,8 G … won´t be coming out soon or at least seems like that; sad but true

  • I took a quick look on B&H’s website, and even though the 50mm 1.4G is out of stock, the price is $549.95. With the way that the Yen is and since this lens is FX, I’m thinking the price will be around $299.99 to start out with.

    • kelly

      So what will this FX 50mm lens do on my D7000. The 1.4g is DX right? Will I get the same picture? Sorry I’m still learning.

  • iamnomad

    …announced with the D800…
    (and free ponies for all)

  • JimmyD

    The 50mm 1.4G is $485, the 50mm 1.4D is $370 and the 50mm 1.8D is $135. So if the 50 1.8G isn’t anything radically different than the others, I’d say $180.

    However, given that the 35mm 1.8G is listed at $200 and now selling north of $300, who knows?

  • rhlpetrus

    This lens is clearly for the D5100/3100 crowd, who don’t have the AF engine in their cameras. I wished Nikon updated the 17-55mm f/2.8 to a 16-60mm f/2.8 nano. That would be a killer lens to use with the D7000 and coming D400.

    • D40-owner

      +1

    • dave

      What I recall from the MTF charts is that the new 50mm 1.8G is sharper than the 1.4G and the 1.8D it replaces, but still less than a 17-55mm 2.8 or a 24-70mm 2.8.

      • Absolutely different leagues. Those zooms are 2.8, this fix is 1.8. Zooms are way more expensive, but performance of each of them is not way better. Also, 50 mm is tiny and light. This is good point to travellers which can’t bear kilos of glass in their backpack.

    • CK Dexter Haven

      I’m hoping this lens is addressed at people who just dislike the bokeh aspects of the other Nikkor AF 50mm lenses. That would be me.

      I might have switched from Canon to Nikon with the D700 if not for the horrid OOF rendering of Nikon’s 50s. If this 50G works more like what i’ve seen from the 35/1.8, i’ll be happy-ish. I plan to get one for my F100, actually. I’ve been using an old 50/1.8 Series E on my FE2 and F100, and lamenting not having AF….

      I mean, how hard is it to make a 50 that doesn’t have overly complicated bokeh? Every other manufacturer does it. Even Nikon USED TO do it….

      • Soap

        1.8G = 7 rounded blades.
        Expect the quality of the Bokeh to be worse than the 9 rounded of the 1.4G but better than the 1.4D and 1.8D.

    • Subhasis

      Yes, I would love to have a 16-60/2.8 DX lens along with VR!

  • FDO

    Admin go to your computer and bring us this year the D400 and d800 d4 line up please i am in for killing my money piggie

  • The Man from Mandrem

    If it truly were for the DX crowd, why choose 50mm? What DX really needs is a 70mm prime.

  • camaman

    Whohoo!
    My guess is 350$
    Is it weather sealed? 🙂

  • Tony

    There is no reason for Nikon to price it below $299. With this kind of demand the price will be high.

  • d800 where are you

    where is the competitor for the 5dmk2?!?!?!??!!!?!????!

    • ckBren

      It came out 3 years ago

  • One More Thought

    Here’s another theory to go along Broxibear’s speculation: perhaps this lens was supposed to be released with other products, but those were delayed due to the disaster in Japan. Nikon knew a release of only one product normally would be underwhelming.

    So they leak this new lens and then when the official announcement is made, it is explained away by saying that the release was rushed due to the leak. Plus, the leak generates some buzz, so that when this lens is released, people are gratified that it is finally going to be available, rather than being as disappointed in the fact that this is the only product announced. So the leak provides cover for the only-one-product announcement.

    Anyway, just some idle speculation…this lens looks like it should be a winner. I’d be shocked if it were not at least as good as the 35 1.8 dx lens…

    • broxibear

      Hi One More Thought,
      You’re probably right, the problems in Japan have caused chaos as far as timelines for current and future products are concerned… nobody knows what’s happening at every point of the production line.

  • Tony

    Actually, I hate those AF-S lenses. Even though they focus faster than AF lenses, but and they are more expensive and it seems that more things could go wrong with the lenses.

    • Well, if we’ll bury deeply in this talk, AF-S lenses have pretty crappy bokeh and flat rendering. This is the price of high resolution across whole field.

    • broxibear

      Hi Tony,
      If you google test comparisons between the AFD and AFS lenses there’s very little between them, but there’s a heck of a lot of marketing behind the AFS models.
      Nikon are at the transition point where they’re slowly moving towards an all AFS lens range…I’d expect the D900 and D5 series cameras to have no focus motors so they won’t autofocus with the older lenses.

      • Tony

        Yeah I can see that trend is coming. Maybe they see that Canon is doing so well with their EF, EF-S lenses, so they just copy them. And with that EVIL camera is coming the day of AF lenses maybe over soon….

        I hop that Nikon will do something to keep the characteristic of their lenses though. NO! DON’T PAINT IT IN WHITE.

  • D40-owner

    Here’s a quick and dirty comparison of the 35G vs 50D vs 50G MTF charts.
    I extended the DX chart to match the others, just open the link you’ll see.
    http://bayimg.com/hAhFJaadm

    From those charts, the new 50G is quite better than the old 50D wide open, and is on-par with the 35G DX in the DX frame.

    • Soap

      Which is strong praise for the 50 1.8G considering the entrance pupil size is larger than the 35’s. One should expect the 35 to be sharper wide open.

  • R R

    is good to have Nikon producing new stuff, even though is a 50mm lens, now we have another 4 in production already (50mm f1.4 AIS, 50mm f1.4D AF, 50mm f1.8D AF, and 50mm f1.4G) oh well let this one be the 5th! Im pretty sure Nikon beats hands down any other brand producing 50mm lenses… mmmm wait…no f1.2? never mind.

    I guess someone at Nikon is NOT paying attention at its consumer needs.

    never the less I welcome this lens, I´m not going to buy it, (I have the other 4) but any new an updated stuff is welcome and I am been honest.

    But maybe putting some effort in to the D300s and D700 update? that would certainly make some of us spend real money on real stuff.

    my opinion. (sorry for the sarcasm) I dont mean to be rude or anything.. its just that every little new announcement Nikon makes, I close my eyes and pray its the D800.. but hey… maybe its just me.

    • Tony

      Keep praying as I’m doing the same. 🙂

      R&D for any product takes a long time of cause, but to cripple their lower-end product so much to make their high-end look better is no cool! Look at the D7000 not even an AF-ON button.

      If they want to make it different, they should a new idea like what they did with D5000 series with a swivel screen.

      I know it’s off topic. 😐

  • The invisible man

    The D700 FX is still out of stock at B&H and Adorama, if Nikon announce a D800/900 today with the 50mm f/1.8 AFS I will give away 5 TC for USA and 5 TC worldwide.
    🙂

  • John

    My guess is that this lens is aimed at Nikon making more money.
    This will likely not be made in Japan and they are looking to sell a higher quantity to folks like myself who don’t need f/1.4 and are not willing to pay the f/1.4G price. I have the 50/1.8D and a 50/1.2AIS – The AIS is sharper than the D at all apertures and I really use it at f/2 most of the time anyways. I’d love to have an updated 50/1.8G for my D700. This lens will also appeal to those non-pros like myself who already have a FX dslr and to the upcoming folks who will buy a future FX dslr that may not have a drive motor in it anymore.
    I’d love a smaller FX body that did not have a drive motor in it (though the drive motor is not necessarily the thing that makes the FX bodies larger).

  • Kaze kaze

    Cant wait to get my hands on the AF-S and see how the ASPH lives up to the specs changes. I keep a AIS 50 1.4 in my cabin or to use with my 80’s film body, a new AF-S G lens will be a good demo lens to use as an outfit on the entry bodies and training for the new comers.

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