Nick Tropiano
I shoot a Nikon D5300 a DX camera with a cropped sensor. Not a fan of zooms. Never was. My main glass for the D5300 is the Nikon 35 1,8. This is a "nifty fifty" on FX, 70mm on a crop.I have a rarely-used Rokenon 85 f 1.4 for portraits. Dreamy, great bokeh, but large, heavy, and manual focus. Its 130ish focal length requires a lot of space. Ive been tempred to get the Nikon 50mm but couldnt justify the cost for an occasional use portrait lens for an amateur. Also, 50mm is a 70mm on a crop, kimda an odd focal length. Too short for traditional portrait, too long for general use. However, less than $70 for an F mount autofocus prime? Sure. Why not? I shot for a day, and here are my thoughts. Its not bad, worth the money. If you shoot primes on FX and are a 50mm shooter, and thats your main lens, spring for the Nikon. Its still a bargain and a great 50. It is visibly sharper at wider apertures and contrastier (evident on several comprisons Ive seen on the web). The Nikon contans an expensive aspherical element, a more sophisticated optical formulation, a quieter silent wave motor; its just a better lens all the way round. It doesnt make sense to spring for an FX Nikon and buy cheap glass. And Nikon charges a fair price for it. That said, the Yongnuo is certainly good enough to be your main FX prime. For an inexpensive ancillary occasional use portrait prime on a DX camera, however, I was impressed with the Yongnuo. Its a bit soft wide open, which is better for portraiture, actually. It sharpens up fine stopped down a couple stops. I encountered no issues with autofocus hunting in ambient light, no issues with the camera not recognizing the lens. It renders pleasing bokeh. The oddball 70mm focal length I found quite suitable for environmental candids in ambient light. Build quality is surprisingly good with gold plated contacts, 7 bladed aperture, and metal gasket. About as good as other consumer grade primes. Even has a distance scale (yay!). Im satisfied with this purchase. It might not be a world beater but consider it an excellent value for its intended purpose on a DX Nikon. For FX, however, Id recommend getting the Nikon 50. EDIT: The more Ive used this lens, the more I like it. You simply cant beat it for the price. Ive encountered no issues with its autofocus, it renders pleading images. Solid lens. Its almost a shocking value.
