Nikon Introduces 50mm/f1.8 AF-S Lens

[glen_sansone1]

No aperture ring, no thank you. Another plastic lens.

[rodeo_joe1]

<blockquote>The nice thing about the new primes Nikon has been releasing is that they don't have the Mechanical play in the barrel that I find so annoying as the elements move internally.</blockquote>

<p>Is that really a nice thing Andre? A little bit of wobble in the barrel of a unit-focusing lens usually isn't such a big deal, but that same amount of play <em>between</em> elements or groups of elements can be an absolute disaster. About half of the zoom or IF lenses I've bought in recent years have had to be returned because of bad decentring faults. The ones I've kept or had replaced are also a bit short of perfect if I look hard enough. E.g. one corner slightly less sharp than another, or areas of the image that vary in sharpness or bokeh with focusing rotation. That never used to happen with unit-focusing primes.</p>

<p>Yes, aspherical elements <em>can</em> give performance we only dreamed of a few years ago, but the slightest bit of displacement in them can equally be a nightmare.</p>