In article
>In article
>Gary Schloss
>>In article <19970217142400.JAA13412@ladder01.news.aol.com>, drmar@aol.com
>>(DR Mar) wrote:
>>>I know that Moose doesn't think much of the Series E 50 that the last
>>>poster mentioned favorably, but I've had the same experience. I got mine
>>>for $35 and it's produced some very sharp chromes and negatives.
>>I believe there were two versions of the 50mm/f1.8 Series E lens. The
>>first one was all-black, all-plastic, and had received very bad reviews.
>Its optics were fine. It got bad reviews because people didn't like
>its appearance.
>>The second version had a chrome metal ring, and my close inspection shows
>>it to be a repackaged version of the Nikon 50mm/f1.8N. (Can anyone second
>>that?) The latter is described in Moose's 4-th edition as optically the
>>best manual focus 50/f1.8.
>The second version was pretty much the same lens as the first one
>except with different cosmetics. The 50/1.8N came later and was
>also pretty much the same lens with different labelling. The even
>later 50/1.8 AF's were pretty much the same lens in AF. The earlier
>50/1.8 AIS was totally different, all metal and about twice as heavy,
>and is still in demand in some circles. Personally I'm happy with
>the lighter version.
You covered it well. (Makes one wonder about some of what we hear
[second hand!] from the M.P. book....;-) The larger version f1.8
may have a bit of an advantage at the corners at the widest apertures
(a subtle difference, but it can be important if you are doing
available-light shooting on a tight budget, and want the best image
quality...), and the disadvantage of having slight barrel distortion
(the E/E/AISn/AF version has no linear distortion). Also, the E 50's
were not multicoated (big deal....! ;-). BTW, there was also a rare
(I have seen it [and have it! :-]) AIS version of the compact lens
that has a metal barrel (and aperture ring - though no f5.6 prong).
Hope This Helps