aellman Loc: Boston MA

Check out new and used lenses from B&H, KEH, Adorama, Best Buy, as well as ebay and Amazon.

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Thaz how primes contribute to better more interesting images. Zoom lenses promote atrophy of the improvisational hemisphere of the brain. Zooms are primarily great business machines, and acoarst I can’t knock earning an honest buck or two. Worked okay for me.

splatbass Loc: Honolulu

I can't remember the last time I used mine.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

A hopelessly broad generalization. When a zoom is set at 50mm, for example, it's kinda sorta a lot like a 50mm prime. Primes only do one thing, of course, so they're best at it. Yes, you could probably tell the difference in a print blown up to wall size, and sometimes you want f1.8 instead of f3.5, but the contention that a prime lens increases your photographic brain power is just silly. Here's a shot from a couple of weeks ago made with my allegedly awful quality kit zoom...
THE HORROR!.

Alan <<<<

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DanCSF Loc: SA Bay Area CA

Nothing wrong with a nifty 50 1.8, generally speaking they are inexpensive, light, fast, and reasonably sharp. for us old fogies, the 50 was the first lense we got with a SLR...Now days with so many zooms it's easy to forget the nifty 50. But here's the they thing a nifty 50 will make you a better and more disciplined photographer because of its' limitations. You have to think about your shots, zoom w/your feet, but your back will thank you for it. cheers

flip1948 Loc: Hamden, CT

I managed to get a 50mm f/1.4D on eBay for $180 including shipping, but actually ended up getting it for less.

The young lady selling the lens had listed it as NEW, but after receiving it I discovered that while it was in near mint condition, it was not NEW.

For some reason she included the original invoice in the box. It turns out she had purchased it 3 years ago from Adorama as a "refurbished" lens.

This caused me to immediately dash off an e-mail simply to give her some advice based on my own eBay experience of over 400 sales. That advice was to be totally honest in your listings. I told her that my immediate reaction was to leave her negative feedback, but decided against it because she was relatively new to the game and I figured this could serve as a learning experience for her.

I told her something she had used for three years could be described as "mint" or "near mint" but could definitely not be described as "New". I also explained that a refurbished item was not "NEW" by any stretch of the imagination.

I also told her that if she had been honest I probably still would have purchased it for the same price.

The result was that she wrote back apologizing and thanking me for my restraint and advice. She also surprised me by offering a $50 refund.

Now I didn't write expecting to get anything, but in the end I did accept the refund simply because I could use the money as I am living solely on social security. The net effect was picking up an excellent 50mm f/1.4D for a net cost of $130 and I will definitely be using it to shoot film on my F100 and if we ever get another stimulus check it will also see a lot of use on the D750 I intend to buy.

This is actually the fourth 50mm f/1.4 I've owned in the last 50 years. The first was a Pentax Super Takumar on a Pentax Spotmatic II, a Nikkor AI on a Nikon F, a Nikkor AI-S on a number of Nikons and now a Nikkor AF-D for my F100 (love that camera).

To the original poster, these nifty 50s are among the sharpest lenses each of these manufacturers have ever produced. They are all exceedingly inexpensive and you will not be "wasting" money should you decide to pick one up. Just get one and use it, you will not regret it.

DanCSF Loc: SA Bay Area CA

Kudos to you for your excellent response to the seller, very reasoned,kind and she learned something from you. Karma gave you money back, and a f1.4 to boot...a win all around...;-)