Nifty Fifty with MF only?

[KimC81]

I bought a Nikon AF 50mm 1.8 lens for my Nikon D5000 not realizing that I can only use manual focus with it since the D5000 doesn't have a motor for it. It doesn't even seem like Nikon makes this lens in an AF-S, but there is a 35mm f/1.8 for about $75 more out there.

I'm willing to learn to manual focus if that's a surmountable task, but right now, unless my subject is completely still, 3 out of 4 of my photos are way out of focus and most of the rest are just out of focus enough to be unusable. Even with a still subject, I'm not doing all that great. I don't want to miss a bunch of great shots because I'm having trouble focusing!

So, should I return this lens and save up for the 35mm? Is manually focusing something I'll get the hang of with practice or will it always be tough? What would the difference be between 35 and 50mm anyhow? Any tips on how to focus with a D5000? My old manual SLR had a split screen that lined up the images when you were in focus. Is there anything like that I'm missing?

[Jamie Hickey]

I went to buy the same lens and bought the 35 mm f/1.8. With practice I am sure it will come to you, however it is nice to have the very quick autofocus. You can step up if you want the 50mm that will auto focus and get the 50mm f/1.4. It will work on the D5000.

[inkista]

Learn how to use the green dot.



See the green dot labelled "1" in that diagram of your viewfinder? That will light up when the AF system in your D5000 thinks focus has been achieved. It'll help get you in the ballpark.

You may also want to try stopping down the lens (using a larger f-number/smaller aperture) than f/1.8 to get more depth of field so focusing accuracy won't be as critical.

[firebox40dash5]

The 35mm AF-S is a great lens for the price, and many prefer the 35mm focal length to 50mm on DX bodies. The 35mm length works out to about the same field of view as 50mm on film, a 50mm on DX is more of a short telephoto, and can seem 'cramped' if you don't have room to move back.

I would recommend against buying the 50mm AF-S just to get AF with your camera. For the ~$350 extra it costs, you could easily upgrade to a D90, and have AF with the 1.8D you bought. Yeah, the 50mm AF-S is a better-made lens, but I don't think the image quality is an improvement, it's just a bit faster (in aperture and focusing speed).

Even when manually focusing, the focus confirm dot in the viewfinder works (little green dot in the bottom left corner). Some of your problems might be from using it wide open, especially at closer distances. The depth of field at f/1.8 is much smaller than at f/3.5 or higher that many first-time prime users are used to with zoom lenses. The upside to that is that when you focus, you're seeing the DOF at f/1.8, so if you get your subject in focus and shoot stopped down a bit, you'll get more in focus than what you saw in the finder. You can definitely get better at manually focusing with practice, though that lens has a pretty loose focus ring when it doesn't have an AF drive pin engaged, and takes a good bit of rotation from close focus to infinity. But you can guesstimate using the range scale on the focus ring to 'preset' the focus distance, and fine-tune from there using the viewfinder.

[jorf]

Although it's a PIA (to my opinion) live view is good for manual focus because you can zoom in on your focus point and really get a good look at it. It's a process tho.