A week ago I went out and bought a new 50mm Nikon 1.4/G lens. Having started years ago in photography with a 50mm lens, I thought it would excite me to get out and use one again. I also figure it will be handy in those very low light conditions coming this winter and fall. It did, and it will,  but…

Having used zoom lenses for so long now, I’ve forgotten how to ‘zoom with my feet’. There will be a learning curve with the new lens and I’ll need to be more active when using it. That’s good, I think.

It’s small. Yikes, even with the lens hood on it only extends about 3.5 inches out from the camera. Most digital lenses in the bag right now extend at least 6 inches and weigh a lot more than this one. I’ll have to remember not to reach out too far to fine focus the thing. Not that I need to fine focus very often – this baby is quick to focus and generally dead on. Still, there’s that learning curve again.

While walking along a trail in Deas Island park on the weekend, I noticed my ‘vision’ looking for detail like insects, droplets on leaves, spider webs, and things. The thought occurred to me that I might do better with the Nikon 60mm 2.8 Micro lens. The length for the 60 is fixed and close to 50, but it does have some macro capability. The 50mm doesn’t focus too closely and is somewhat restricting in what I can do with it, especially for close up work. I guess I could use a teleconverter to compensate, but that’s another step.

I am going to like the speed of the 50. An f-stop of 1.4 lets in an awful lot of light. Overall, it’s a fine new lens. It’s sharp, bright, and produces a nice bokeh in the background. It’s so light you hardly know it’s on the front of a D700 camera, and I expect it will produce nice portraits and landscapes once I get use to it. Guess I’ll just have to get out and practice with it. Darn 😉