Shooting with the Nikon D40 and the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8: Use the Green Focus Indicator
So the Nikon D40, while being a great camera, doesn’t accommodate a great lens, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8.
The link is to the AF/auto focus, while I’ll be using and talking about the manual focus lens. I’m doing this because that’s the one that I have, but also because given the limited capabilities of the D40, it’s cheaper to just get the manual one than to use a hog-tied AF one.
Basically, the 50mm is great because it’s a sturdy, well-made lens that you can use to shoot in relatively low light situations, i.e., most indoor situations, and avoid using a nasty flash.
You can use the 50mm with the D40, but in a completely manual mode. This means that you have to set the aperture, shutter speed, and focus all by eye and hand. This is the way pictures were taken in the past, so it’s much the same. But the Nikon D40 actually does it make it a bit easier.
So this is the start of a series on how to attempt to use this great lens. It captures great light, gets good color, and is small, snub-nosed, and easy to get around with. No big nose sticking out of your face our your bag. In fact, with the 50mm, my whole D40 fits in my coat pocket.
My first tip: The green focus light still works with the 50mm. If you look through the view-finder, there will be a green dot in the lower right-hand corner. This lights up when you’re focused. So if you’re in lower-light situations where you might not be *too* sure if you’re totally focused—and this is important if you’re shooting f/1.8—then you can use the a steady or mostly steady green light as assistance in your shooting.
The next post/posts will be about shooting with either the Ghetto Flash Bouncer or the Lightscoop.