Nikkor Ai-S 50mm f/1.8 - Review / Lab Test Report
Lens Reviews - Nikon / Nikkor (APS-C)
Article Index
Introduction
Analysis

Review by Klaus Schroiff, published May 2006

Special thanks to Dirk von der Ehe for providing this lens!

Introduction

The Nikkor Ai-S 50mm f/1.8 is the first manual focus Nikkor lens tested locally. A zillion of these lenses can be found for extremely low prices over at eBay and its genes are closely related to the current AF 50mm f/1.8 D so I thought it would be interesting to check it out. On APS-C DSLRs such as the D200 the field-of-view of the Nikkor is equivalent to 75mm on classic full frame SLRs so the standard lens is transformed to a moderate tele lens within this scope.

Typical for most Ai lenses from the good 'ol times the build quality is excellent. The rather small rubberized focus ring operates very smooth and exceptionally well damped. You should specify the lens data using the Non-CPU Lens Data option in the shooting menu of the D200 so the aperture is correctly displayed in the viewfinder as well as in the EXIF data of your files. In this case you may even take advantage of the color metering system. Please note that this is not possible neither on the D50 nor on the D70.

Specifications
Equiv. focal length75 mm (full format equivalent)
Equiv. aperturef/2.7 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field)
Optical construction6 elements in 5 groups
Number of aperture blades7
min. focus distance0.6 m
Dimensions28 x 64 mm
Weight220 g
Filter size52 mm (non-rotating)
HoodNikon HS-11, HR-4 (optional)
Other features-



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