Most photographers would agree: a 50mm lens is a great addition to your lens collection. The 50mm focal length has always been popular, and 50mm lenses tend to be cheap, lightweight and small.

There are a couple of odd exceptions. Many lens makers use this focal length to create what are called “halo” products: large, flashy, expensive items that they don’t really expect to sell. Nikon, for example, introduced a 58mm f/0.95 “Noct,” (meaning “night”) in October 2019, with a retail price of $7999.95. Sure, this lens is exotic and can make wonderful images, but at that price, it seems doubtful any of us would ever buy one, and might not ever even see one in the field.
Those of us without private jets and yachts are left with more affordable options, and one I always recommend is one version or another of the 50mm lens. My photography students will sometimes ask me which one they should get, and my first answer is always “the one in the junk drawer.”
But if you are in a buying mood, I like a lot of the current offerings from Nikon, Canon, Sigma, Sony, and even some odd brands from the Pacific rim.
I have a number of 50mm lenses, and recently shot one of my favorite monthly events, Open Mic Night, with one of them, the AF-Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G. The results were amazing, as always, from this diminutive workhorse.

I also decided to compare this lens with another 50mm in my collection, the AF-Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G. And yes, these two lenses are very similar in name and performance.
Why did I grab the f/1.8 instead of the f/1.4? Maybe it was looking a little forlorn on my bookshelf. Maybe I wanted something a little lighter? Smaller? Less showy?
The truth is that most lenses in this class are very capable of producing the results we need, and the differences between them is fairly insignificant. Is the f/1.8 lighter and cheaper? Yes. Is the f/1.4 brighter in the viewfinder and happier to be used at those very large apertures? Yes. Could I have made these same images with any lens in this class, from the 1969 Minolta 58mm f/1.4 to the 1985 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 “pancake” lens to the $8000 “Eye of God” lens? Sure!
I often roll my eyes when someone on a web forum or social media site says they want to “upgrade” from the f/1.8 to the f/1.4, because I know there is almost nothing the f/1.4 can do that the f/1.8 can’t. You know when you should upgrade? When the f/1.8 falls apart in your hand because you’ve made 50,000 images with it.
In the end, I am always happy when I get out and and shoot with any of my lenses in this category, and I would urge you to do the same.
