50mm f/1.8D lens

vikas

Hi everyone, I recently started photography. I had an 18-55mm which worked well, but someone suggested I buy prime lenses so I ended up buying a 55mm f/1.8D AF and later I realized AF doesn't work well with the D3100.

Some images at f/2.8 have come out amazingly good. My question is, is it matter of practice and how much distance do I need to click pictures to reduce the blur on the subject?

PaulsPics

Hi vikas.
I believe the 50mm f/1.8D lens requires a focus motor in the camera body. This is why the D3100 will not auto focus with this lens. However, there should be no problem with metering, you just have to keep practicing with manual focus. Nikon makes G series lenses (eg 50mm f/1.8G) which have the focusing motor built into the lens which allow auto focus with the 3xxx and 5xxx camera bodies.

Moose

Hey @vikas - Manually focusing with the 50mm /f.18D can be very challenging, especially when shooting with an aperture of f/1.8. The reason it's challenging is because of the shallow depth of field or shallow area in focus. If you or your subject moves even just a little bit during the process of focusing and image capture, the end result will most likely result in an out-of-focus shot.

By closing down the aperture to f/2.8, you're essentially lengthening the depth of field or area in focus, which improves your odds of capturing an in-focus shot if you and your subject are moving.

Of course a lens with autofocus like the 50mm f/1.8G, you can attain focus and image capture almost instantaneously, so shooting at f/1.8 becomes much easier. All the best!