Evoking a good bit of nostalgia, a 1958 Buick waits at the Wig Wag signal as the Nebraska Zephyr backs into Barn 9 at the Illinois Railway Museum on September 19th, 2021. The passenger cars on the Zephyr date to 1936 and the E5 locomotive dates to 1940, so the Buick is a bit of a baby compared to the railroad equipment.
Nikon Z7, Nikon Z 50mm f1.8S
I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately; both in general but especially with regards to my photography. There are a lot of elements to it but the long and the short of it is that I’m just having trouble creating work at a level that I used to be able to attain and I’m having trouble figuring out what I want to do photographically.
In the past, I’ve had luck engaging in a bit of retail therapy and picking up a new piece of gear to get the creative juices flowing. The Sigma 12-24mm was a great example of that. I recently got a nice little bonus at work and had a little free spending money, so I decided to see if all of the accolades surrounding the Z Nikkor 50mm f1.8S lens were deserved. The short answer is a very easy “Yes!”
Over the years, I’ve used a host of moderate speed 50mm lenses. While I’ve owned a number of f1.4 lenses, I’ve always gravitated to the slower f1.7 or f1.8 or f1.9 or f2 kind of lenses that maybe weren’t quite as flashy but were usually a lot cheaper and were as good or often even better optically than their faster brethren. Since I’ve became a Nikonian almost a decade ago, I’ve had occasion to use a host of 50mm lenses including the Nikkor-H C 5m f2 rangefinder lens (a Sonnar formula with a unique rendering) to the AI 50mm f2 (a favorite) to the 50mm f1.8D (which I found to be overhyped) to the 50mm f1.8G (definitely a modern looking lens that was alright but still kind of lacking). The Z leaves them all in the dust.
Take a look at this shot, which admittedly is just kind of a test shot to see what the lens could do:
If you feel like pixel peeping, here is a link to the Flickr page where you can download the full resolution version and other sizes if you’d like. I’ve only done light editing and the B&W conversion. I have only used the default Lightroom sharpening on the file. Please note, this file is provided for personal use only and cannot be sold or used for any commercial purposes.
This scene is not far from my work, so next time I’m out this way, I’ll take some of my other 50mm lenses to do a proper comparison. This shot was at f5.6 and I think it would still show differences but I think the really remarkable bit will be a comparison wide open. Stay tuned.
I know that some people have bemoaned the price of the Z Nikkor 50mm f1.8S. It’s definitely not priced like the “nifty-fifties” of old. I understand that criticism. The recently released 40mm f2 is a smaller, more affordable lens in the “normal” range that meets the more traditional definition of a cheap, standard normal lens. I think the 50mm f1.8S is a quiet kind of statement lens. It’s bigger, eye-wateringly expensive stablemate, the 58mm f0.95 Noct, is making a much more cacophonous but similar statement. Nikon seems to be saying that they started as an optics company and they are using the Z system to show that they can still make some really, really good glass.
Indeed, the whole of the Z lineup seems to be trending that way. Even “kit” lenses like the DX 16-50mm that gets paired with the Z50 and Zfc (and isn’t the latter just a sweetheart of a camera? I think I may need to pick one of those up as a backup to my Z7/small, carry everywhere kind of camera) is optically pretty good.
I really look forward to getting to know the Z 50mm f1.8S a little more. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been this excited about a standard focal length.