OK Smart Forum Friends,
DW gave me exactly what I asked for and, right out of the box, I have a dumb question.
This is a prime lens I wanted: AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

Minimum aperture lock (Fig. A) For programmed auto or shutter-priority auto exposure shooting, use the minimum aperture lock lever to lock the lens aperture at f/22.

From a brief period of experimentation, it seems to me the instructions should say, "For everything except Manual, use the minimum aperture lock lever to lock ... etc"

I used my mode-wheel to spin thru the various possibilities and it didn't matter what I had set: Auto, P, S, or A, if the aperture was locked at f/22, then the display showed me a selected setting, e.g. 1/60th f/4. If, however, the aperture was unlocked and I set the ring to anything other than f/22, the only exposure data shown in the display was "F EE" Hmmm, I've never seen that before and, so far, can't find an explanation in my Nikon manual.

Am I correct to simply think -- I am going to keep this locked at f/22 all the time.

Merry Christmas,
Rusty

Rusty.. I have had my 50mm on for a few weeks. It seems to take better portraits than my 18-200.

I know when I bought it the guy at the camera store locked it. I went to look and it is locked on 2.8. Now I also know it got moved. So I am not sure what it was on to begin with. (sorry)

My understanding was.. for the auto focus to work with the lens it needed to be locked.
Try Byron or Bill. They may have the lens and we both know they know more than me.
Have a happy Christmas!

Edit: just because the lens is locked. I can still change my aperture to whatever I want.

My Nikon D70 won't autofocus unless the lens is locked at the smallest aperture either f/22 or f/16 depending on the lens used.
Chas

OK, Chas,
That's confirming what my experimentation is producing.

I have, of course, been playing today. Locked on f/22. Everything works fine. We had guests for a meal today. The table was all set and I liked the way sunlight was hitting a glass. This was handheld, f/5.6 on Aperture Priority produced 1/500th:

glass.jpg (133.62 KiB) Viewed 1006 times

This lens is really a lot of fun. I find myself looking at the front of the camera just to make sure something hasn't fallen off. I guess I am totally acclimated to how heavy my zoom lenses are. Even in my film days I switched to zoom back in the 1980s.

This little gem reminds me of what it used to be...

50mm-f1.8.jpg (132.35 KiB) Viewed 1008 times

Lots of fun ahead.

Rusty

Rusty,
That's one sharp lens! It's definitely a keeper.
The glassware came out fantastic.
Chas

Excellent lens for the money! I have one and have always had it locked at f/22 and it does everything the camera asks it to do. I need to shoot with it more, probably pick a day and a lens and just go out with that ONE and see what I can come up with.

Wow Rusty, what a great lens. I will have to put it on the top of my "to buy" list.

Charlotte,
It really is fun. I've used it almost every day since Xmas; most of my recent "snow pictures" were with that lens. The nice thing -- it's really dirt cheap. It's 4 tanks of gas with my little Chevy; 3 tanks if you have a SUV

Rusty

Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8 I've seen new for just over $100. I bought an older 50mm AIs for $37.50. Where are you getting your gas? I can only fill my F150 a little more than once for $100. I really like it, but with my D40 I have no metering at all and no auto focus... everything is manual. I'm keeping my eye out for a f/1.2, but want to get a camera that will make the most out of it first.

Well, Gary,
don't drive a big, honking p/u truck (and I say that in the nicest way)

I have a little Chevy Cobalt - it only holds 11.5 gallons
Depending on where you buy it, that lens is about 110 bucks.

Maybe I could have screwed around to find something for less but, at some price point, my time is worth something I like buying from my local, full-service camera store. They have real people behind the counter (guys with gray hair, not high-school kids popping gum in my face) that can answer Qs and explain things.

I'm shooting a D50 so I'm not limited to "in-lens focus".

Rusty