I’ve got a D90 and my usual go to lens is the 18-200 f3.4. For a christmas gift I got a 50mm 1.8. During a recent event I broke out the 50mm to take some lower light indoor shots. Looking back at the shots, it looks like all of the images are a little soft. Slightly out of focus. I later found out that the lens was a referbished lens from Nikon. Could something be out of spec on this thing to make it not focus sharply? Is there a way to tell if it’s me or the lens? Thanks
The 50mm 1.8 lenses are tough in low light sometimes. My advice would be to stop down to f/2 or f/2.2 and give it a go again. If it has problems then, I would then consider sending it back.
Thanks for the info. Being a new photographer I had a lot of trouble adjusting for the lighting. Dim room, red flooring and dark ceiling. Auto White balance but people were still a little orange. While I have your ear, what lens are you using for your sports and wildlife?
There are so many variables as to why your shots are “out of focus” it wouldn’t be wise to assume without more info. The 1.8 works well in low light! Can you post a picture?? Much easier to make a call with a photo and data. Is the lens having issues in good light??
I HAVE SPENT MOST OF MY LIFE FISHING AND WASTED THE REST OF IT!
Titan made a good point here. Go out in good light and see how it works and then switch over to something in the shadows and see how it performs.
I will try that and also post up a pic of two. Thanks for your help.
CC,
A lot of different lenses from different manufacturers are notoriously soft wide open, but perform well stepped down. In the case of zooms, some are soft at the longer focal length and fine everywhere else. I would Google a Nikon lens database/user evaluation board and look for your particular model of lens. Folks always assume Primes are perfect…some are…others aren’t, and some are great because they are a little soft or have a unique bokeh effect.
JB
Before I think about investing in my next lens, I usually like to go here and read reviews of the product. This site has been extremely valuable to me for research, not to mention great subject matter ideas for images. They review pretty much every lens that’s out there.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showcat.php?cat=12&page=1&sort=7&perpage=12&stype=
