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- Produced Nippon Kogaku Corp., Japan
- Mount Nikon AI-S
- Focal length 50mm
- Aperture range f2.8-22
- Focal range .6m to infinity
- Filter thread 52mm
- Elements 6 in 5 groups
- Aperture blades 7
- Weight 4.75oz (135g)
- coated
Overview
My only Nikon lens, couldn’t afford a 1.4 Nikkor (except maybe an old NAI). Read and read and found that though the fun but limited Nikon EM is regarded as a beginner Nikon much like the Autoreflex TC is a starter Autoreflex (though granted much more versatile than the EM), its E Series 50mm lens is nothing to sneeze at. The general consensus is that it is nearly identical to the excellent 1.8 50mm Nikkor but single coated instead of multicoated, and in a more lightweight plastic housing instead of metal.
In fact the coating on the E is so lovely and amazing that it’s hard to believe it’s single coated, how much better could it possibly be? Truly, the only comparable lens in quality and coating in my SLR collection is my beloved Pentax SMC-A 2.0 50mm. Bottom line: it’s probably the best bargain you can get in real Nikon glass. I think mine cost about $20, like new, with caps and filter.
Special Notes
I’ll be honest, I’m completely baffled by Nikon’s lens mount system. I do understand that Auto Indexing (AI) is like the M42 Auto, while NAI is the older manual stop-down type. But the solid horns vs open horns and all that stuff is too much for my little brain. All I know is that this works fine on my FM2 as do my Adaptall-2 lenses with the AI adapter…
Related Links
- Great info on the E series lenses at the outstanding Photography in Malaysia site
- Talented Ken Rockwell‘s review of the E Series 50mm