cygone Loc: Boston

I read a post somewhere that the commenter states the 1.8 or 1.4 50 MM lens are not good lenses to use on my D850 because they can't handle (or is it, resolve) more than 23MP. Is this correct? If so, what is a good walking around lens on the D850. Thanks

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I shoot the 50mm 1.8 lens off the D850 without a loss in MP unless I crop of course.

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

I’m a Canon photographer but when I used Nikon I remember the 50 1.4 as being an extremely sharp lens. I doubt there is any truth to that. The 50mm focal length is an excellent walk around lens if your aim is for people, street scenes and semi-close up photography. It will leave you wanting for landscapes and architecture.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

There is no basis to support that claim. If you are referring to the perceptual megapixel rating then the 23mp number refers to a comparison between a perfect lens which would return 46 PmP, and either of these two lenses that would return around 23 PmP. But they don't have a rating for the D850, only the D800/E and the D810.

By comparison, the 50mm f1.4 on a D700 shows a score of 9 PmP - and the sensor has 12 mp. This doesn't mean that the same lens is less sharp on a lower mp camera. But that it does show is that it returns 75% of the resolution of the sensor compared to a perfect lens - indicating that it is a better match for a 12 mp sensor than a 36 mp sensor. Or put another way, if there was a sharper lens, the higher mp camera would take better advantage of it.

This illustration shows how the excellent Zeiss Milvus performs on a 50mp 30mp and 20 mp camera (Canon) returning 39, 25 and 19 PmP. It would be wrong to imply that this lens would be a bad choice for a 50 mp Canon 5DR.

Tony Northrup and others misused the DXOMark test results to arrive at incorrect conclusions, like the one you posted. He cannot wrap his head around the PmP thing.

https://www.dxomark.com/carl-zeiss-milvus-1-4-50-ze-lens-review-nifty-fifty/

I used the claims made in his video, posed as questions, which I directed to DXO, and I printed their response in this thread:

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-377405-4.html

This is how three of Nikon's 50mm lenses perform on a D810, using DXO's PmP scoring:

https://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/AF-Nikkor-50mm-f-1.4D-on-Nikon-D810-versus-AF-S-Nikkor-50mm-f-1.4G-on-Nikon-D810-versus-Nikon-AF-S-Nikkor-50mm-F18G-on-Nikon-D810__198_963_199_963_435_963

22 PmP which is 61% of the camera's resolution, is actually very good, compared to a crappy lens like the 28-300, which only manages 10 PmP or 27.7% on a D810.

Brokenland

Although I'm using a Canon Camera with a fixed 50mm f/1.8 STM lens, I've not found any issue with this being a walk about daily lens. However, it does force one to be more particular when selecting subjects to shoot. In this case the aperture would need to be adjusted if the camera has been set to automode.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

The Sigma Art is really good but pretty expensive, no sure that you need it but it will keep up with your camera. Remember, sharpness isn't everything and can be over rated. The Sigma 50 gets a pretty hefty score at DXO.

https://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Sigma/Sigma-50mm-F14-DG-HSM-A-Nikon

cygone Loc: Boston

I very much appreciate all these replies as it has been a learning experience for sure.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Tell whoever said that to suck a lemon...or something!

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

"I read a post somewhere that the commenter states the 1.8 or 1.4 50 MM lens are not good lenses to use on my D850 because they can't handle (or is it, resolve) more than 23MP."

Looks like b.s. to me.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

It is probably true, it does not mean that you can't use those lenses on the D850 or the Canon 5DSR, it just means that you will not get the full benefit of the high pixel density of those cameras. What is surprising to me is that this issue did not come up before the introduction of the high mega pixel full frames because a 24mp APS-C camera has a higher pixel density than does my Canon 5DSR. I can tell you from my own experience that most Sigma Art lenses or some of the newer OEM lenses make a significant difference in image quality when shooting with the high megapixel bodies.

BebuLamar

If the 2 Nikkor 50mm lenses are not good enough for the D850 then any lens with the 50mm focal length is good enough?

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

As others here have said, "total BS". 50mm Nikkors have always been among the best resolving lenses one could buy for a Nikon camera. So many folks today use zooms almost exclusively. I doubt that any of them will please a "pixel peeper" as much as either of those 50s will.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

What??? Where did that commenter pull that out of? <-- note terrible English grammar.

I use a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 on my D850 and it produces quite satisfactory results.
--Bob

Stevejayd Loc: Palm Desert Ca

I just did a photo exhibition (mainly portraits) using only the 50mm 1.4 on my d750 . People were amazed how sharp the people were. Shot most at 2.0 or higher when possible

cowboydid2 Loc: The highways and byways of America

Having seen some of Bob's work here on UHH, ' satisfactory' for him generally means ' outstanding' for most of the rest of us hobbyists.