According provided by Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) many thanks to Igor Sidyachenko.
Review of the Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII)
'Nikon Lens Series E' lenses are among the simplest Nikon lenses. These lenses were used as accessories for entry-level Nikon film cameras (Nikon Super Compact Bodies: EM, FG, FG20). The 'E' series is the whale lens of its time. Typically these lenses had slightly worse body and optics quality than the more advanced Nikon lenses. Nevertheless, the 'E' series is appreciated by many amateurs for its light weight and good image quality. When I wrote this review, I noticed that none of the 'E' lenses no name 'Nikkor'which is the name given to all Nikon 'real' lenses (Captain Obvious suggests that this is no accident).
There are 8 Nikon lenses in total. Series e, of which 5 fixes and 3 zoom lenses:
- Nikon Lens Series E 28 mm 1: 2.8 MKI
- Nikon Lens Series E 28 mm 1: 2.8 MKII
- Nikon Lens Series E 35 mm 1: 2.5 MKI
- Nikon Lens Series E 35 mm 1: 2.5 MKII
- Nikon Lens Series E 50 mm 1: 1.8 MKI
- Nikon Lens Series E 50 mm 1: 1.8 MKII
- Nikon Lens Series E 100 mm 1: 2.8 MKI
- Nikon Lens Series E 100 mm 1: 2.8 MKII
- Nikon Lens Series E 135 mm 1:2.8
- Nikon Lens Series Zoom E 36-72mm 1:3.5
- Nikon Lens Series Zoom E 75-150mm 1: 3.5 MKI
- Nikon Lens Series Zoom E 75-150mm 1: 3.5 MKII
- Nikon Lens Series E Zoom 70-210mm 1:4
MKI versions have a black plastic case, MKII - with a chrome insert for the depth of field tags.
As for the Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII), this is a 50-aperture lens, which Nikon had a dozen different versions and modifications of. There are two types of Nikon Lens Series E 1mm 1.8: XNUMX lenses:
- Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKI), was introduced at the end of 1978, was produced until 1981. It is easy to distinguish from the second version by the plastic middle ring (the ring for which the lens is held during installation on the camera).
- Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII, presented in this review), was produced from 1981 to 1985. It is easy to distinguish from the first version in the aluminum middle ring. 20 grams heavier than its predecessor. Optically, the lenses are the same (maybe better enlightenment).
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) with covers, focused on infinity.
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) is AI compatible lens (can transfer aperture value to cameras that have diaphragm rheostat, with it there will be no problems when installing on any CZK Nikon) Does not have metal 'ears' to work on old film NON AI cameras. Please note that a special chip was additionally installed on this lens (see the photo below). Why this chip is needed is described in detail in the section. Dandelion Lushnikova.
How to use Nikon manual lenses (such as this one - no CPU and manual focus) on any modern Nikon digital SLR camera or on 'Nikon 1' system cameras, described in the 'manual optics'. Older lenses are sometimes watched by owners of Canon cameras, who can use them on their cameras no worse than on their Nikon cameras. To do this, just use the adapter Nikon - Canon. Of course, manual lenses from SLR cameras can also be used on any mirrorless lenses with the help of an adapter.
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) Rear Lens with Adhesive Dandelion Lushnikov
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) is a pancake lens, it is small and not very tall. The lens weighs only 155 grams, while it has a metal mount and a metal thread for light filters. The diameter of the front light filter is small - 52 mm. Despite the fact that it is from the 'E' series, it is well made. This baby is much more pleasant to the touch than modern whale lenses. On the case, you can find the inscription, warming the soul - 'Made in Japan'.
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) with front cap. 'Made in Japan' lettering
The focus ring has a narrow rubberized insert. The ring rotates smoothly 135 degrees. During focusing, the front lens does not rotate, and the trunk of the lens lengthens slightly. The minimum focusing distance is 60 cm (slightly larger than modern autofocus fifty dollars) The lens has focus distance marks in meters and feet, the depth of field scale, a mark for shooting in the infrared spectrum. The F numbers and the depth of field lines (on the aluminum ring) have a different color and correspond to each other, which is typical for old Nikon lenses:
- F / 11 - yellow
- F / 16 - blue
- F / 22 - orange
Diaphragm consists of seven petals, which affects the 'nuts' in the blur zone (example on f / 2.8). Diaphragm closes to F / 22. Aperture ring plastic.
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) MDF focused
The optical scheme of the lens consists of 6 elements in 5 groups and they say that the same scheme is used in the lens Nikon 50mm1: 1.8D AF Nikkor (in fact, in all three options: MKI, MK II, MKIII) Also, most likely, the same scheme is used with Nikon Nikkor 50mm 1: 1.8 AI lenses, AI-Sthat have been produced since 1980.
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) lacks multi-coating (all 6 lenses have only single-layer coating and this is not an advanced coating like 'NIC', 'SIC' or 'N'). In the optical viewfinder, you can see how the picture from the lens is painted in a warm yellowish tint.
For the lens, you can buy a rubber hood Nikon HR-4, which is screwed in instead of or over the filter.
Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) with Nikon to Canon adapter и Canon mount adapter EF-EOS M on camera Canon EOS M
The lens is not the sharpest at F / 1.8, but it’s worth a little to cover the aperture and everything falls into place. Despite single-layer enlightenment, the Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) is not particularly afraid of backlight. There is noticeable vignetting on F / 1.8. Rough bokeh. In general, image quality is very similar to autofocus counterparts MKI и MKII... Once, on a 'serious' Western forum, I came across information that the optical scheme for the lens was designed with one main task - to create the sharpest image at closed apertures, while sacrificing the 'drawing' of the lens.
Here link to the archive with the originals - 225 MB, 20 photos in .NEF format (RAW) from the camera Nikon D700.
All Nikon 50 / 1.8 Autofocus Lenses
- Nikon 50mm 1: 1.8 AF Nikkor (first version, MKI) - the lens was produced only in Japan from 1986 to 1990. It is easy to distinguish by a window with a focusing distance and a narrow plastic focus ring. There are two subversions that are no different:
- MKI first subversion. Weighing 210 grams. It is easy to distinguish by the screw under the inscription '1: 1.8'. From September 1986 to March 1987. Serial numbers start at 2
- MKI second version. Weighing 165 grams. It is easy to distinguish by the absence of a screw under the inscription '1: 1.8'. From 1987 to 1990. Serial numbers start at 3.
- Nikon 50mm 1: 1.8 AF Nikkor (second version, MKII, also known as the 'N', or the 'NEW' version) - the lens was produced in Japan and China. The MK II version was produced from 1990 to 2001. There are three subversions that are no different:
- Nikon 50mm 1: 1.8D AF Nikkor (third version, MKIIIbetter known as 'D'-version) - the lens is available from 2002 to this day. All lenses are made in China.
- Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1: 1.8G SWM Aspherical (fourth version, MKIVbetter known as '1.8 G'-version or '1.8 AF-S' version) - the lens has been produced since 2011, all lenses are made in China.
- Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1: 1.8G SWM Aspherical Special Edition (fifth version, MKVbetter known as version 'Special Edition' or 'SE' or version for the camera with a retro design of the case Nikon Df) - the lens has been available since the fall of 2013. All lenses are made in China.
- Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm 1: 1.8 S, from summer 2018, lens for mirrorless cameras with Nikon Z mount... Diagram of 12 elements in 9 groups, 2 ED, 2 ASP.
Details on the lineup of fifty dollars from Nikon can be found in my article 'All Nikon autofocus fifty dollars'.
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Nikon Lens Series E 50mm 1: 1.8 (MKII) - small fifty-dollar pancake. At F / 1.8 it is not the sharpest, but as for a budget lens, it is quite suitable for shooting.
Material prepared Arkady Shapoval.
It’s interesting to read and compare photos as historical information, but what can a budget manual fifty for now be really useful in the presence of much stronger manual (both foreign and domestic) at an equally small price? Or is this article exclusively historical / encyclopedic?
> but for what a similar budget manual fifty dollars can really come in handy now if there are much stronger manual manuals (both foreign and domestic) at the same low price?
For taking photos :)
> Or is this article exclusively historical / encyclopedic?
The article has the meaning that you did not extract from.
:) probably…
Someone such a fifty dollars or similar according to the scheme may simply lie, but after reading this article he will understand that you can remove it and how to remove it))) and it’s not necessary to dream of something else which is not a fact that is much better (in skillful the author’s hands and cans are removed :)), but for which you have to pay, and not everyone has extra money, Arkady Respect for the article !!!
Probably I just have a biased attitude towards the optics that participates in the reviews. I evaluate any lens from the point of view of how it can be useful to me theoretically / practically now or in the future. How it can be useful to the real owner of such a lens, I did not think. :)
Nikon's frankly bad lenses are extremely rare. You can squeeze a lot from this fifty dollar. Everything else - someone needs it, does not need it, they buy it, do not buy it, look at analogues - this is everyone's personal business :)
I have such a lens # 1527416 on Nikon EM, with a black aperture ring. Not very good as a portrait photographer, but a good landscape painter. Arkady, I have a question for you ... The focusing rubber ring is stretched and lost ... Can you somehow get out of this situation? Thanks.
On e-bay they sell rubber bracelet rings, you can replace them. Or a rubber bracelet, only trouble, its black color is difficult to find.
Cut a ring or two from the old bicycle camera and the norms.
There was such a film. Stole, bastards.
I also had one on EM-ke.
It was for EM that they started to do it. Small camera, small lens
EM seems to be considered the most compact DSLR format 135
Arkady, your opinion is interesting, how do you think this fifty kopeck or Helios 81N is better?
Sorry to interfere. Helios is certainly more interesting. he has an interesting drawing, twists bokeh and is sharp on f2. the only negative is not f 1.8.
Not everyone likes the bokeh swirling from Helios. I have a G-81N, I really like it, but a friend, a professional "canonist", I absolutely do not like it. But this fifty dollars, which in the review - bokeh too restless, and rough as Arkady noticed.
F / 2.0 versus F / 1.8 is not important (the difference is a quarter stop). More question here - twisted bokeh or light Nikon.
they used to put decent glass as whales! but because of some kind of m..ka they switched to 18-55 and so on.
in vain you screw Nikon's optics to the Canon, even through an adapter ... it's all from the evil one!
From the evil one only prejudice :)
Consistency and correctness is good and necessary, but sometimes it gets tired and you want variety. Therefore, they try new lenses, unusual angles. Monocles made of technically sound lenses are not “broken” for reporting. We are amateurs, not professionals :)
Gentlemen, I apologize in advance that I will now get into the topic on a question not related to the subject, but apparently the site engine is so arranged that in those topics that "rested in the Bose" the probability of an answer tends to zero.
I want to take the Sigma 7100-17 f / 50 to the D2.8, but everyone knows that choosing a sinless copy is almost impossible. So this is what you think: it is worth going through N-variants of copies in the store in an attempt to find "more or less", or take a used one and a half times cheaper, and spend the saved money and time to go to Moscow to the Sigma service center and adjust the glass for your carcass?
You can on the spot with a used seller. sigma poke the lens. Better yet, take a “money-back” for 2-3 days.
And this is offtopic, and other topics are alive and commented.
It has been written so much that you don't need to go anywhere, but just use the AF fine-tuning function on your camera…. Amazing!
No need to be smart. AF can be fine-tuned for fixes, and even then not always. And at zooms, when at the short end +5, in the middle +2, and at the long end -3 - it is impossible to adjust AF normally using the camera!
The docking station goes to it, if you like to move the technique, it is the most - here it is to tweak, reflash there and the day is somehow busy :-)
The docking station goes to her, - Here you say the docking station is coming. Are you confident in your words?
Good afternoon!
Arkady, share your secret - how do you take a photo with such beautiful bokeh from almost any lens?
Manual focus on MDF + select the far background. It turns out, however, not always.
Focus on MDF, and focus on arms / legs?
As with macro photography.
Thanks, I will try)
I have this fifty dollars, what it is good for is its small size, f4 in my opinion is the most working hole for it, if you do not want to carry heavy optics, and so “for notes” is it itself. about the commentary in rel. better than Helios-81 or the lens from this review is a moot point, as noted above, 2-on-81-n working, in contrast to this Nikon (although it may depend on curvature or a specific instance of optics). Arkady, as always, thanks a lot for his work !!
I use the MKI version. And as for me, it is much better than the autofocus analogue in the picture.
Arkady, which is better than this or Helios-81N 50mm F2.0 MC?
Thank you!
I was in a hurry, did not read all the comments ...
Good afternoon, Arkadiyu, please tell me whether weasel, who is not harsh in their photos (how can you see the Nikon D700 here) come from the Nikon D80?
These are two completely different devices - full frame and crop, even the type of matrix is different - CMOS versus CCD. Pixel size d80 smaller than d700
Because of the crop, the picture will be slightly different, because of the CCD, the color rendering also.
Helios81 smears the edges ugly because it twists the bokeh ... and Nikon does not smear ... an even picture (it smears less on 2.0 than helios) but this is the modern Nikor one with d at the end, and this Japanese I have not been ... if this one is not worse than the modern 50 / 1.8 then I would have taken this
I have one and the other. Gelik is sharper. But grayish. I prefer the nickname because of more contrasting transitions. On holes from 4, the sharpness is not less than g81n
Arkady, welcome. Soon, I will try to provide you with a topic for review, unless of course there is a desire to publish all kinds of things, differently. In short, I bought fifty dollars the same as in this review, only without electronics. Well, of course, I first twist and spin the purchase and learn it experimentally, and only after trying to bring it back to normal I go to your site and am wildly surprised. So this time. Something, I see, the diaphragm does not close when installed on the central locking cylinder. Of course, let's break the lens for joy. I cut the lever, which, as I later found out here, when the shutter clicks, it throws off the diaphragm to the displayed positions. In short, he tricked him into such a way that the devil would break his leg, but suddenly the idea came up to find a position in which the diaphragm return lever (I had the mind not to break it) allows closing the diaphragm as much as possible, in this position I fixed it with cyanoacrylate. Next, I will tightly connect the diaphragm control ring to the walking diaphragm platform into which the lever broken by me (catching the shutter strokes) was inserted. So I’ll get the lens completely manual, without the puzzle of exposing the aperture from memory, focusing on the fully open.
That is, now, the diaphragm will no longer be dependent on the CZK. You can immediately set. But again, by eye, because the previous aperture values will no longer coincide.
Have you seen the idiot (sorry) !!! Yes, like I did everything as I said. But I photographed the process on a camera without a memory card. The main problem here (I'm not talking about memory) is that having disassembled the lens, I knocked down the adjustment and now I need to select the focal length empirically. But in fact, there is nothing terrible in making the aperture completely independent of the camera.
Nikon 50mm f / 1.8
Nikon Series E (1979-1985) - lens that I redesigned.
Something tells you that you’ve ruined a normal lens in vain
Good day! Found on e-Bay Nikon Nikkor 1: 1,8 Lens 3238547 HWY, but I can not find any information about him. Can you tell something about him?
https://kenrockwell.com/nikon/50f18ai.htm - even Rockwell has a minimum. Typical non-autofocus high-aperture fifty.