russraman Loc: New York City

To me, the term "nifty" should be limited to a 50mm "pancake" lens that is unobtrusive and can be carried around in your pocket. I have a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Series E AI-S manual focus pancake manufactured in Japan from the early 1980's that I use on my Nikon Df and D850. It's not only "nifty," but it's also "cute as a button" ... and takes good photos.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

"Nifty" is an actual word- it is in the dictionary:

nifty
[ˈniftē]
ADJECTIVE
informal
particularly good, skillful, or effective.
"nifty footwork"
synonyms:
skillful · capable · agile · useful · effective · practical
fashionable; stylish.
"a nifty black shirt"
synonyms:
fashionable · stylish · smart

It is an "informal" word but it is not slang. I enjoy entomology for fun- find out the mean of words and their origin. I am not a "word snob" and I don't take any particular joy or interest in picking apart peoples' vocabulary, accent, writing style grammatical usage or lack thereof. Shaming folks and taking them to task for the way they speak or write, especially in the context of a photography forum lie this one, serves no purpose, only leads to hard feelings and nasty exchanges.

The only objection I have to the over usage of the lingo, buzzwords, acronyms, and abbreviations is that it all "muddies the water" and is antithetical to clarity when the technical and artistic matter is being discussed. This is especially unfair to newcomers to the craft and folks who are really trying to learn and improve their skills. Brevity may be important in certain kinds of communication such as in two-way radio communication among the military. police, emergency services and amateur radio operations where there are established codes and abbreviations. In technical writing, however, over usage of certain abbreviations can be difficult for everyone to understand.

I'll use a word that is age-appropriate for my generation "COOL" I feel it is UN-COOL to stereotype, categorize, negatively criticize, and talk down at people that you do not even know and classify them based on the manner of speech or writing or worse on the nationality, place of birth or upbringing. Terms like "Brooklyn Hipsters" give me a stomach ache! I was born and raisin Brooklyn- Bedford Stuyvesant and Williamsburg to be specific. Believe me, one does not need to study sociology in college to understand the structure of human society. These are diverse neighbourhoods, always in flux and mixed with folks for every imaginable background, race, religion, income level, and group. If you were to walk the borough you will meet doctors, lawyers, tradespeople, gangsters, merchants, clergy, and everyone else! You will see slums and mansions, factories, stores, vacant lots and construction sites. There are art galleries. museums, schools, colleges and lots of graffiti!

How do to define a "Hipster"? That too is in the dictionary.

hipster
[ˈhipstər]
NOUN
informal
A person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream.

If any of y'all met me in person or listen to me speak, how would you categorize me? I was raised, mostly, by my immigrant Jewish grandmother who spoke with a thicks Yiddish accent. My 6th grad teacher said I should become a doctor because I spoke like doctors write. My schoolmates were a great mix of kids from Hispanic, Italian, Polish, and African-American backgrounds. I took my military training in the Southern U.S. One picks up words, phrases ad accents as one moves along. By the time I settled in Canada, my first employer says I sounded like Sylvester Stallone and should take elocution lessons. I did eventually learn to pronoun my "Rs" and stop slurring my words and grunting. When I speak to my remaining Brooklyn relatives, I kinda revert to my" Brooklyn accent"- it takes me 24 hours to recover. I cuss in French!

wolfMark Loc: Southern Oregon

I shoot mainly Nikon DX format and the 35mm f1.8 is my go to lens. Almost equivalent to 50mm on FX format. It's small and light and versatile and suits my arthritic wrists which tire from carrying larger zoom lenses all day. Can I call it my nifty 35?

Quixdraw Loc: x

Is "nifty 52.5mm 35mm equivalent on DX" too much of a mouthfull?

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

My nifty fifty is one of the original EOS 50mm, f/1.8s that was given to me by a friend who had a camera repair shop. Someone brought it in because it wouldn't autofocus. A price was quoted, the guy said he'd get back to him and never did. Repeated phone calls produced no results and the thing sat around for a couple of years gathering dust. When my friend closed his shop he gave it to me and I used it for a while, focusing manually. I have always like the 50 mm perspective, although I'd prefer a 1.4, probably because I'm an old guy and used that focal length a lot when it was considered the "normal" for 35mm cams. I finally sent the thing to Canon and got it to autofocus again and use it quite a lot for portraits with my old 20D and for candid shots of my grandchildren. Can't beat the price even with the $55 (I think) repair cost.

wolfMark Loc: Southern Oregon

srg

I own a "Nifty" 90, as well as a "nifty" 24-105. I was an exceptional athlete when young. But I am no longer nifty now.

User ID

Very good photographer according to you. Dismissible by reasonable standards of adult communication. Maybe s/he actually is “very good”. Too bad. Still dismissible.

And yes, “Hassy” is childish. For whatever reason, “Blad” did become acceptable adult jargon. Tri-X is verrrry often called “Tee Ex”. But “Tri” ? Reeeeeeally now .... the child mind does tend to make up cutesy nicknames.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

My first SLR, purchased in 1970, had a 55mm 1.8 lens and I was told it was a slow lens. How many now would like to have a 1.8 and some even a 2.0?

hrblaine

CHG CANON wrote: "If it's the plastic fantastic 50 at f/1.8, yes, it is a nifty 50"

Yep, one of the first len I bought way back when. And it is "nifty". I must say that I don't use "nifty fifty" much but CC is right, it is! Harry

User ID

$55 is very cool for freshly serviced. Used $$ for that model are $75 to 100.

I’ve got several working examples but I always use the newer STM. The interim “plastic fantastic” model is rather widely shunned. The STM is somewhat more solid and its AF is like magic. (My top choice is the 40/2.8.)

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Well, originally "nifty 50" was applied to all 50mm lenses for their versatility.

Today a lot of people refer to the cheaper 50mm f/1.8 lenses that way.... but those were originally called "thrifty 50".

Personally I just call 50mm lenses "ho hum" or "boring" (on full frame/35mm film... but I love my 50/1.4 on APS-C).

There are other cutesy terms for lenses, such as "pancake" and "noctilux". There also was the "Bigma" (Sigma 50-500mm).

Let's not forget the "holy trinity" of three zooms we're told everyone must have. One YouTuber would like to add the "Hebrew trinity" of three ultra fast primes.



So what you're telling us is that Minoltans (?) are particularly prone to giving their lenses cutesy names?

A lot of owners call their camera and lens, as a kit...

User ID

In 1970 we focused using the screen in the SLR finder. This did give a very slight advantage to the f/1.4 but I would never call f/1.8 “slow”, even in 1970.

Quixdraw Loc: x

I remember when the 50 F2 on a Leica M3 was just magic - couldn't name all the fab photographers who used them. The old Nikon, both 1.4 and 1.2 were were pretty darn good, and all I needed. There used to be times when you just couldn't get a usable photo - not so much anymore.

ecommons

I can't think of a rhyme for my 200mm.