testing out my new lens

nikor 50mm f/1.8d

You'll have some fun with it. Just wait till you do some low-light work with it.

yea, i haven't had a chance to get out in the evening, but looking forward to taking some pics. i ordered a flower shaped hood for it....

Congratulations on the new lens. My Canon equivalent although the cheapest lens in my kits has been my work horse lens for the past 2 years or so. A lot of the band shots you've seen my just post were done with it so you can see what you can get from the lens.

One thing to watch on your shots here is your horizon. Going to assume you were hand holding here so just straighten it out in your favourite program and you're good to go -- also watch for the skies as your clouds (especially in the 2nd shot) are pretty bright.

Have fun with the new gear.

...always with the horizon, aren't you?

Kenneth Armstrong wrote:...always with the horizon, aren't you?

HAHA. It's just something that always got me when starting out too. Just leveling that off at times helps the shot out with flow/eyes etc. Although there are those times where you can bust out of the rules and go all funky style.

was just playing around, nothing serious...

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new lens. I own it, and have been very pleased with the results. I was able to get some great shots of the nightly entertainment at the resort I stayed at in Punta Cana, without needing to use the flash.

This lens will come in handy for the new photo challenge posted yesterday

I've been looking at this lens for low light stuff....is it the 'best' one?
Where did you order a hood from??? I've had a hard time finding anything that I've been happy with.

I got the hood from ebay, shipping out of Hong Kong $7 for the hood...

Hoods are over rated

I'm semi bugging but really I've almost stopped using them -- I shoot mainly with primes right now but shoot without a hood on any of them and with my telephotos it's limited as well.

As far as if the 50 1.8 lens is the best for "low light" stuff a lot of that depends on your budget and what you plan on doing in low light and what sort of low light you're looking at. I've enjoyed my 50 1.8 quite a bit but plan on upgrading to the 50 1.4 mainly because I'd like just that extra bit of speed and that extra bit of IQ from the lens now. I'd go to the 50 1.2 but it's just not in my budget to do it and I don't see the higher price tag worth the extra bit of speed I would get. If you plan on shooting the water front at 1AM it doesn't really matter how quick your lens is as long as you have a tripod and have it set up to go -- unless you're trying to capture some crazy quick moving thing but really a 1AM is anyone moving crazy quick?

I don't have any experience with the Nikon lens but check some reviews out, get info from those who use it here etc. My 50 was the lens that always remained on my camera until I just got my 85 1.8 a few months back. The 50 however is still the lens I grab first/use most often at my band shoots as the focal length is better for how close I am standing (now a 30 would possibly be perfect).