On Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:15:10 GMT, "STIG" <mancity@shaw.ca> wrote:

>This weekend I bought a Nikon F70 with the Nikon 28 - 80mm f3.5-f5.6D zoom

>lens and I'm very happy with it, especially since it was in almost new

>condition. Anyway, I've decided to buy a 50mm prime lens but can't decide

>between the f1.8D or the f1.4D. I can get the f1.8D new for $179 CAD and the

>f1.4D used (excellent condition) for $260 CAD. I'd really like to get the

>f1.8D and save some money towards getting a good wideangle lens but I'm

>worried that later on I'll really regret not going for the faster lens, any

>thoughts?

See: www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/slemn.html.

Basically, the f1.4 should rarely be used at f1.4 - its

image quality improves considerably by f2, making it roughly

equal to the f1.8 at f2 (the 1.8 performance is more

uniform center-to-corners, but with lower contrast, and

with lower linear distortion; most of the image area of

the 1.4 at f2 is "snappier", but the edges/corners are

softer than the 1.8 - and at 1.4 it is low-contrast...

By f4, they are hard to tell apart.