decisions, decisions.... just wanted some input!

[JimmyO]

humm... so much to consider... i'll really have to think all this through... thanks a lot guys :]

Word

Just remember your gonna upgrade sooner or later, then think about the lenses.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Nikon's AF-D series 50/1.4 and 50/1.8 are not very flattering imagers....the bokeh is poor on both of those lenses. I would not buy either of them new, but only used. And like I said, neither is a flattering imager for portraiture....this is true of most 50mm lens designs; high sharpness, so-so rendering. If you have no autofocus, on the smaller Nikon bodies, the viewfinder quality is not as high as on the pro Nikons, and manual focusing can be tricky for many people. But....if you do want to go manual focus,and you want a lens that's a useful portrait lens on a D60, my money is on a lens that was made and discontinued before you were born Patrick: the 70-150mm f/3.5 Nikon Series E. It's a nice and light single-ring zoom lens; you can zoom out to 150mm where the magnification is high, and then zoom back shorter and shoot. The area between 70mm and 85mm is quite useful to have on a 1.5x body. The lens is light, affordable, and very sharp, and is optically good enough to migrate forward.

In my book, a used 50mm f/1.8 AF-D Nikkor is a "pawnshop lens" or an "e-Bay lens" that you buy on a clunker like a Nikon N6006 for $55; keep the lens and throw away the camera. The last 50/1.8 AF I bought was from a pawnshop, four years ago, and I payed $40 for it in mint condition. I would not buy the 50/1.4 G just as a people lens.

Manual focusing on baby Nikons is somewhat difficult for me with lenses in the 20-24-35-50mm lengths, due to low magnification and the cameras' built-in viewfinder screens not being optimized for manual focusing. Longer focal length lenses, like 85-105-135 primes allow easier manual focusing---especially if the lenses are older, manual focusing lenses, which have longer focusing ring rotations and allow precise manual focusing. Some lenses, like the classic 105mm f/2.5 Ai or Ai-S are very easy to manually focus. Your comment about the focuysing arc on the Tammy shows that you are aware of just how cranky many AF lenses are when manually focusing them.

The real problem though is the area between 50mm and 85mm is quite a wide expanse; it might not seem like it is, but the difference between a 50 and a 55 or a 60mm lens is pretty wide; at each of those steps, the angle of view changes quite a bit and the 1.5x FOV factor makes it even more-pronounced. This is why I am suggesting the 70-150mm f/3.5 Series E as a portraiture lens; it has a lot more range than many lenses, decent look to its images, and pretty good manual focusing.

The other alternative is to look at the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8...that's probably going to be your best choice as a portraiture lens in an AF lens 50-150mm F2.8 EX DC APO HSM II - Telephoto Zoom Lenses - SigmaPhoto.com

Agreed. It's a bummer the 85 won't AF because it would be dynamite.

The tiny viewfinder in the D60 is like tunnel vision and i'd skip manual focus lenses. If you have a lens with an aperture of f/1.8 or 1.4, than it would be damn near impossible to get consistently focused pictures, you might get one here, or one there, or really close alot of times, but you won't be perfect every time.

Counter to what Derrel mentioned, although I agree with what he says, I would recommend the AF-S 50G. It's a newer Nikkor with a warmer rendering which is great for skin tones, has REALLY accurate focusing, it's small enough to where it won't freak out your subjects, and will balance really well on the smaller body of the D60.


Not to mention, it's just a really fun lens, i love mine to death.

 

[PatrickCheung]

yes! i've been waiting for someone to post sample images from the 50 1.4

the way i see it now is... i either:
take the upgrade to a d80, $600 for body + 18-135kit + tripod + 2gb SD, then possibly sell one of my kit lenses (the 18-55 or 18-135) and use that money towards portrait lenses in the future

OR

buy me a 50/1.4.... sigma HSM or nikon AF-S? which is... "better"? i guess what i look for most in a portrait lens would be sharp images and nice bokeh, whether it be nice smooth bokeh or like balls of light.

so basically... a body upgrade or a lens upgrade...

man. that is IF i get birthday money... my parents got pissed at my marks (85.6avg is horrible to an asian parent XD) and said i spend too much time on photography...

 

[JimmyO]

Keep in mind you dont HAVE to get a kit lens or any of those other things with the d80 (and all those ebay deals are scams), up to you though. As for what 50mm id go with nikon without a second thought. It just always works out better in the long run to go with the nikon version. Im sure the 50mm afs is a great lens but i just think thats a bad idea becuase your getting it just becuase it will work on your current camera that will be upgraded soon anyways.

 

[PatrickCheung]

D: the dude wont sell it without the kit i'll probably try and find a better deal if i get the d80... iunno but i'm dying for a portrait lens... AH!!

hummm... yeah you've got a point, but iunno if i want a body upgrade so soon yet! i mean... even if i'm upgrading to the d80, i'll want a d90 one day... seeing as if the d90's like a generation ahead of it. the way i see it, i should probably get better glass (people say the sigma 50/1.4 renders nicer bokeh o.o), and upgrade to a better body... iunno, i love the fact that the d80 has commander mode and a focus motor and all, but other than that it's image quality is about the same as my d60's... i'll feel like i'm wasting a good $600 D: