What is the difference between these two Nikon lenses?
I've posted this question before, but I really want more opinions.
I have a Nikon D3100 and I really want to know the difference between these two:
Nikkor AF-S, 50 mm F/1.8G
AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 G
Well, other than the f-number, but is there a huge difference between f/1.4 and f/1.8?
There's obviously a huge price difference.f/1.4 is more expensive.
What do you think, or do you have a better lens suggestion?
You can see the features reviews and can also get it cheaper here
Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
http://www.amazon.com/...B004Y1AYAC
Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S FX SWM Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
I use canon so can't really tell you, but canon do a 1.4 and 1.8 50mm
I have the cheaper 1.8 which is amazing for the money (£100)
The depth of field at 1.4 is very narrow I would doubt you would stop down to it very often.
So my advice is go for the 1.8
The optics may well be better in the 1.4 but the 1.8 is far better than most zoom lenses, so you will be happy with it.
One hardly ever uses a f/1.4 lens at f/1.4. The point of such lenses is less the maximum aperture, but the different location of the "sweet spot".
Let me explain:
Not only the depth of field but also the sharpness inside the focused part changes with the aperture. At wide open aperture, most lenses are somewhat unsharp, soft. The same applies to a closed down aperture, at f/16 you will get unsharpness caused by an effect called "diffraction".
Typically a lens will perform best about two stops down from its maximum aperture. Two stops down is at twice the maximum aperture value. That is called the "sweet spot". For the f/3.5-5.6 kit lens that you probably have this will be at about f/7.
Now, with a f/1.4 lens the sweet spot will be at f/2.8, and the lens already will perform nicely at f/2. A f/1.8 lens will need to be stopped down to f/3.5 to achieve maximum sharpness. If you work a lot with shallow depth of field, then that can be a difference that is worth the extra expense. If you don't use shallow DoF that much, then just get the f/1.8 version. After all, f/3.5 already is very nice for portraits at 50mm.