Another 50mm f/1.8D AF thread.

I just got mine from e-bay, and just wanted to share a few pics. For 90 bucks you can't go wrong.
However this manual focus thing (d3100) is going to take some practice. Right now I'm not seeing much difference between this and the 18-55 kit lens set at 50mm with the same aperture settings.

These were taken with the 50mm


These were taken with the 18-55 kit lens.


Do you guys have any tips on manual focusing?

Both were set at f/5.6

It is a wonderful lens. Enjoy!

blacktop said:

Do you guys have any tips on manual focusing?

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What you can do is get the focus close by turning the lens barrel. Once you are very close, test your focus by moving the whole camera forward towards the subject and then back from subject and take notice of the difference. Find the sharpest point and click. I actually used this method on this shot (and others)

Some more AF 50mm f/1.8 "D" goodness


Azalea blossoms

The D3100, like most other Nikon DSLRS have a "focus confirmation dot" in the viewfinder, so you should not really have any problems with manual focusing (in terms of it's accuracy)...

DraganDL said:

The D3100, like most other Nikon DSLRS have a "focus confirmation dot" in the viewfinder, so you should not really have any problems with manual focusing (in terms of it's accuracy)...

Click to expand...

Is that the small green circle on the left bottom corner of the viewfinder? So if it stops flashing then I'm in focus?

Thanks MikeD90 for that tip.
Tomorrow we might go to the Atlanta botanical gardens to see the orchid house. Full bloom right now.
I'm just going to take the 50mm with me, and see what happens.

Yes Sir! That dot is "signalizing" that the focus point has been achieved! To be sure that we've understood each other: 1) you set your focusing mode to "manual"; 2) choose a center dot as the one and only focus point; 3) you half-press the shutter button and point that dot towards the desired spot; 4) when the flashing gets steady, focus is achieved.

I need to look for that green confirmation dot. I have never actually used it or even noticed it.

Oh, it is strange (I mean, that dot is very fluorescent, it's hard not to see it), unless you shoot mainly using AF mode (like we all mostly do)... Actually, I use the manual mode quite often, since the majority of my lenses do not have a built-in motor drive, so when I use D5100, I just have to focus manually (or when I use a combo D7000+non CPU lens)...

Once I get this manual focusing down, I think I'm going lens shopping on e-bay.
So many bargains, it boggles the mind.
Lenses that would cost thousands of dollars back in the 90's could be had for just a few hundred or even less now.

Man, I love this lense. The more I use it, the more I learn how to use it, the more I love it!
Here are some pics I took of my best friend, just now. Late afternoon, sun is going down.
No PP, straight out of the d3100.