Round Up: Which Nikon 50mm Lens Should I Buy?

Nikon 50mm f/1.8G Lens: The New Kid

Cost: $217
Fastest aperture: f/1.8
Slowest aperture: f/16
Size: 2.8x2.1inches
Weight: 6.53 ounces
Number of elements: 7 in 6 groups
Number of Blades:7
Made in: China
Released: June 2011
Stand-out Spec: The only lens of the four to feature an aspeherical element.
Click for a more in depth breakdown of this lens.

Who Should buy it: Entry-level, Mid-level, prosumer and pro DSLR shooters (D3000-D3), those who want to take full advantage of Nikon’s newest lens technology, but are willing to sacrifice ½ a stop.

Who should skip it: Those who want to use the lens to shoot video, those looking for a lens with a big f/1.4 maximum aperture.

Of the four lenses, this is the only one we have not yet tested, but being the newest of the four definitely has its perks. The 50 f/1.8D lens is the only one to feature an aspherical lens element, which helps to cut down on chomatic aberration, or the weird color fringe that can occur when shooting wide open.

Like its more expensive counterpart, this G-series lens plays nice with all Nikon DSLR’s. So if you are in the market for a 50, and have a D5000-series camera or lower and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, this is your lens. It is also 3.37 ounces lighter than the 50mm f/1.4G lens and about .1 inches smaller thanks to the fact that it has one less element.

We are very excited to see how the 50mm f/1.8G compares to the 50mm f/1.8D lens in terms of our subjective quality factor test. We will post the results of that as soon as we get the lens in for testing.