Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Minor (UMi)  ·  Contains:  Part of the constellation Ursa Minor (UMi)  ·  The star 47Cas  ·  The star 49Cas  ·  The star 4UMi  ·  The star 75Dra  ·  The star 76Dra  ·  The star Errai (γCep)  ·  The star Polaris (αUMi)  ·  The star Yildun (δUMi)  ·  The star εUMi  ·  The star ρ2Cep
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Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - SERIES E (Pancake)  Test, andrea tasselli
Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - SERIES E (Pancake)  Test
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Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - SERIES E (Pancake) Test

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Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - SERIES E (Pancake)  Test, andrea tasselli
Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - SERIES E (Pancake)  Test
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Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - SERIES E (Pancake) Test

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Description

This test was carried out in the usual way but using the Fujifilm X-T1 which makes focusing much easier and sports a higher resolution sensor than the D610 in DX mode. The lens here is a version of the ubiquitous Nikkor 50mm of the early 80s in the E series, meaning that it was a cheaper alternative to the AIs version of the same speed (the other ones were the f/2, the f/1.4 and the glorious f/1.2 Noct). It turns out that this lens was a better performer and also rather lighter at 156 grams. Still the all-metal construction of those heydays.

Optically the results at f/2.8 (opening up the lens beyond that isn't worth doing as spherical aberration become significant as well as LCA) are rather astonishing in the center of the frame where the lens is so sharp that it runs into aliasing issues on the X-T1, with the average FWHM LESS than 2 pixels! However, as you move out of the central circle (i.e., the circle than can be contained within the frame size) things starts to go south rather quickly with significant coma taking hold all the way to the corners. Note that, however, ths PSF is still well contained thus sharpeness at the medium frequencies isn't much affected (so the lens is a splendid performer for daylight photography). Note also how colour fringing is all but absent over the sensor and no strong halo is shown on Polaris. Overall the usable field is of around 14 degrees or about 3/5 of the length of the sensor. This lens performs no worse than the much pricier f/1.4 lens at a fraction of the price.

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Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - SERIES E (Pancake)  Test, andrea tasselli

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