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50 years of Nikon F-mount – Nikkor-S 5 cm f/2 vs. Nikkor AF 50 mm f/1.8D

10. Focusing

When we have to focus manually the old lens shows us its advantage.The designers saw to it: the manual focus ring is conveniently wide, has fingertips grooves and works confortably and smoothly. In the case of the new AF 1.8/50D the assumption was made that most of focusing would be done in the autofocus mode and the manual focus ring was treated as just an addition. As a result it is rather narrow, placed at the very end of the lens and it doesn’t work as nicely as in the old brother’s case.

On the other hand, though, the new lens will allow us the autofocus cooperation with the Nikkon reflex cameras, equipped with so called “screwdriver”. In that case, the work is relatively silent and quick but not especially accurate. We just get what we have paid for – after all, the Nikkor AF 1.8/50D is one of the cheapest lenses on the Nikon’s offer.