[Fj]

I've been getting to grips with the D40x I bought from CJD just before chrimbo with the kit 18-55 lens and after some pleasing results started to think about a prime lens.
This one caught my eye but I was wondering what your experiences were using a 50mm for taking bouldering photos.
Also I like the low light stuff so f1.4 would be good for that, but would it be overkill for everyday use?

cheers.

[SA Chris]

I don't have experience of that lense specifically, but for my first year with an SLR I only used a 50mm lens, and found it to be very versatile. I still go back to it occasionally.

[slackline]

Nikons 50mm lenses are brilliant, althought note that on digital bodies they are essentially 75mm focal length due to the 1.5x crop on the sensor.  Note also that the unless "AF-S" means that the lens has an onboard motor you'll find that you will have to manually focus as the D40/D40x/D60 don't have motors for focusing lenses that don't have on-board motors (plenty of info out there on this so have a Google around to check whether it will work).

The one thing to watch out for with a prime like this though is walking backwards over a boulder/edge as you walk back to get the framing you want!

[Johnny Brown]

The 50/1.4 G lens has only just been released so expect to pay a premium, on the other hand it will focus on a D40 which the older, cheaper D lens won't. Its not a bad length prime for photography, though personally I would prefer something either a little longer or shorter [ie 35mm efl of 50 or 90, rather than 75]. Unfortunately Nikon don't do an 85/90 equiv for DX, I do have the 35/2D though which makes a nice standard lens and gets a lot of use [but won't focus on a D40].

Actually I think the new 50 is the only G prime Nikon make that isn't an extravagant price/ focal length, so I guess the choice isn't which lens, its just a yes/ no. For the same money, you could get either a wider or longer zoom instead, depends what you'd use most.

[dave]

I used my 50mm 1.8 for bouldering a lot, it is a useful length, i often just take that and a wide zoom out. However if i had to pay the top side of £250 to get a 50mm that focussed on my camera I'd probably not bother, 50mms are supposed to be dirt cheap, hence the 50mm 1.8 is a steal. If you've got £250 burning a hole in your pocket you could always sell the D40 and buy a old-fashioned AF 50mm and a better camera than can focus it for the same money (second hand D200/D80?).

[Fj]

It was the fact it seems like one of the few nikon primes which will auto focus with the d40x, that drew me to it.
Unfortunatley I dont have £250 burning a hole in my pocket, so I guess I'll stick with the kit lens and keep experimenting.
cheers all.

[Johnny Brown]

You could always pick up an old manual 50/1.8 'for fuck all' and then just manually focus and expose [possibly aperture priority auto - don't know the D40?].
Most of the time you'll be using it at a fast aperture, so it needn't involve the hassle of 'stop-down' metering, just set it to 2.8 the whole time. The aperture is jammed on my 35/2 so I do that anyway.

[dave]

You'd get metering with an old Af 50mm on the D40 but not with a manual focus (AI) lens. Since the price difference between the used AF and AI is minimal it'd make sense to get the Af version for this reason. You can't do stop-down metering with the D40 anyway. Might be worth thinking about how realistically you'd be able to manually focus a 1.8 or 1.4 lens on a D40 though wide open - with no split prism or focussing aids and a viewfinder screen optimised for slow zooms, coupled with a small viewfinder, its going to be pretty hard work if not impossible a lot of the time. i never manually focus mine on the D70 (basically same finder as the D40) for that very reason.

[Fj]

using the viewfinder and manual focus on a prime could definitely be a set up ending in walking off an edge while framing the shot.
it seems difficult to find an af-s lens suitable for bouldering which doesn't cost more than the camera did.

[dave]

i think they basically build the D40/x/60 in mind for people who're going to only buy the kit 18-xx and 55-200 lenses and nothing else really, hence the lack of affordable options. don't expect to see many af-s lenses on the second hand market either since they are so new. this is basically the problem with those cameras, very easy to grow out of.

your only other options are sigma lenses which have a faux af-s motor. may not be cheaper though.

[Jim]

bin the prime and go for a wide zoom for bouldering