On Thu, 28 Nov 2002 22:28:00 +0100, "Niels J. Larsen" wrote:

>I'm a newbie and has just bought a Nikon F80S along with a 28-80 3.5-5.6D
>lens.
>
>However I'm still not 100% sure that I made the right choice about the lens.
>
>Would I be better off buying a 50mm 1.4 and later supplement it with a 85mm,
>135mm etc. instead of the relatively cheap zoom or should I buy the 24-85
>AF-S G lens instead ??

Zooms and non-zooms are different "animals"; the former
offers FL variety with a push of a ring, but poor
wide-aperture performance, limiting their use to daylight
or "icky" flash illumination; the latter offers no FL
variety (without changing lenses, not exactly a daunting
task...;-), but does generally offer MUCH better performance
wider than f5.6-8 compared with zooms, allowing good, sharp
images to be shot in light levels FAR below what a zoom can
be used in (and you can move to change the framing with
these...). I use *good* zooms for outdoor work, and *good*
non-zooms (mostly ones sharp by f2) for both interior and
exterior photography...

>Last but not least : there seems to be some different oppinions about the
>50mm 1.4 and the 50mm 1.8.

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

>Which IS the best ? I know that www.photodo.com grades the 1.8 higher than
>the 1.4, but I was under the impression that the 1.4 has a better build
>quality, better glass quality (of course it's more expensive, but ignore
>this for now).

The AF versions look and feel virtually the same (and
perform virtually the same, with the differences noted
at the URL above...); the MF versions (several) do vary
in look and feel, but also not much in basic performance...
Check a "real" Nikkor comparison site...! ;-)