Manual Lenses

[zcar21]

I want to buy a 50mm all manual lens, but there are too many I don't know which one to choose. This is what I've seen

Non ai
50mm 1.4
50mm 1.8
50mm 2

ai/ais
50mm 1.2 (out of my budget)
50mm 1.4
50mm 1.8
50mm 2

series E
50mm 1.8

Can somebody explain the difference between these lenses, to be used on a nikon d40.

 

[480sparky]

The 1.4 or 1.8 or 2.0 is the maximum aperture. The smaller the number, the larger the aperture. This can be handy for controlling depth of field as well as shooting in low light, and making focus in low light easier.

The Series E lenses are low-end glass.

Truth be told, on a D40, any of the others will work just fine for you. You may want to look at the 50/1.8 D lens as that will AF on a better body when you upgrade.

 

[zcar21]

Is image quality pretty much the same? What about the manual focus ring?

 

[480sparky]

Unless you're gonna try to make billboards out of your images, you probably won't see a whole lot of difference.

All D lenses have focus rings, as well as an AF screw drive for body motors.

 

[zcar21]

Thank you, I think I'll get one of the ai/ais model. Beside larger aperture one of the reason I'm getting one of these lenses is to practice manual exposure. If I need to upgrade I'll be skipping the dx0 series and go for the dx00 series. Either that or go back to Canon.

 

[snowbear]

The AI-S won't meter on the D40, but it's easy enough to take a couple of test shots if the subject is stationary. My 105mm micro (macro) is an AI-S and has been fine. I wish my eyes were better so I could nail the focus, but that's another issue. The user's manual tells you what limitations each lens family has.

There's no real reason to skip the AF series lenses for a D40 - you'll have to manual focus and it's real easy to do manual exposures - just use "M" on the dial.