Makarintosh said:

I am still kinda new to the whole DSLR scene and I am jus twondering, I have a d3100 Nikon, but I am not sure if it has a built in focusing motor or do I need to get lenses that have them built in. If they have them built in, are those lenses called AF-S lenses?

I am looking at this lens and it seems to tickle my fancy quite a bit because of the price but I know the apperture can be bigger. But for that price, it is a nice stepping stone, right?

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AB100 said:

I'm using a Panny GH2 so pretty much any lens will go on it with the appropriate cheap Chinese adapter. Apart from the excellent (and dear) Panny AF lenses I have:


Nikkor 35-70 F2.8 macro (mainly as a doorstop...)
Nikkor 50mm F1.4 (1970 mint beauty)
Chinon 50mm F1.9 (1984 mint)


I did a home 'studio' comparison of:


Chinon 50mm @ 1.9
Nikkor 50mm @ 1.4
Panasonic 20mm (aka 40mm) @1.7


The tiny modern Panny pancake was sharpest but to be honest you'd be hard pushed to see that much difference between them.


The Chinon is harder to manual focus (not well damped) and for those of you still using 1940s tech (i.e. SLRs with no EVF and therefore manual focus-zoom) it's harder to get right.


But yeah - the 50mm lenses are cheap as chips (til you drop down to F1.4 and wider).


Gavv...........you need to get the Canon 50mm F0.95. It's HUGE.


Mac...........how about the Zeiss 50mm F0.75? The one they used for the Moon landing and later, Kubrick borrowed to make the candle-lit scenes in Barry Lyndon. Yet to see one of those (2 or 3) lenses on ebay.......

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AB100 said:

Your camera has no focus motor.


That 50mm Nikon lens is an absolute gem and bargain so buy it. Check ebay first - DSLR users are obsessive and upgrade all the time - you can grab a mint bargain.


As for nomenclature - VERY confusing. This will help:


https://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/glossary/af_designations.php

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