Hail, hail the Nikon 50 mm 1.4 lens. Hail!

Cheap (in price) little lens. 50 mm used to be the standard length most SLR cameras would come with, or most started with; many famous photographers shot nothing but 50 mm during their careers. The 50 mm length is called a "normal" lens as (wrongly from a strictly technical standpoint) it is said to mirror the human field of vision. At 1.4 it is very fast (meaning it can shoot in low light) too. But the wonderful thing is because 50 mm used to be so ubiquitous the optical work is all but perfected by people such as Nikon and so for the price of a medium priced pair of shoes (which I had my eye on at Holt's) you get this kind of crispness.

This blogger in no way endorses Pears shampoo :)

It just happened my favourite camera shop (but not where I bought the lens, for while my favourite they are also the most expensive camera shop) had a light box set up (white walls lit from outside the box to provide profoundly even, shadowless light) with this shampoo bottle in it. As I waited to be served, I fired off this shot to test the sharpness of the lens. WAH! Keep in mind this is a pretty low res copy, as well, so blogger won't throw up and prevent me from posting.

50 is also apparently a superb full length portrait lens; plan to FINALLY do some formal work with a model while on holiday in early August. I also owe the Markham family with grand patience a family portrait.