Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D Lens

Tri-X 1600 ISO simulation; otherwise unchanged from the previous photograph. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens on a D2Xs, thus field of view similar to a short telephoto.

Posted eight years to the day since briefly making the acquaintance of these co-operative ladies enjoying refreshment and a smoke outside the Red Lion at Avebury. A lot of water under the bridge since that day. I converted the photograph to black and white after cropping and sharpening it up a bit. It didn't need much post processing, being taken with the Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO, a setting where it reigns supreme (I wish I remembered this fact more often). Shot at f/7 using a 50mm f/1.4 lens with a shutter speed of 1/200th.

It could be worse.

Nikon D50 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. Converted to black and white and processed in Lightroom.

In the UK this item is called a clothes peg. In the US it is called a clothes pin. But I never heard of a JPIN. Mario Maccaferri, creator of the Selmer-Maccaferri guitar Django Reinhardt used in the 1930's-1950's, patented two types of plastic clothespin designs in 1947. Thanks to Murray Leshner (known on ipernity as ‘Murrayatuptown’) for this interesting snippet. Lens: Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D.

Nikon D2Xs and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. 400 ISO, f/4.5, 1/80th. Window light.

Pears photographed using a Nikon D2Xs and a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. To get a nice close-up I set the camera in high-speed crop which doubles the field-of-view of the lens, in this case to 100mm. In manual mode I set the ISO to 200 and the shutter speed to 1/125th sec. Aperture was f/2. Natural light only. The result was, I admit, unexpected.

This photograph of a 28mm f/2 lens was taken using a 50mm f/1.4 lens on a crop-sensor camera. The aperture was f/4.5 and I was surprised by the falling-away in depth of field - it looks as though a much wider aperture was chosen. However, I was fairly close to the subject, which probably had an influence.

A pint of lime-and-lemonade in the 'Rising Sun' following a walk over to the ruins of Barn Farm. Nikon D700 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D.

Through photography I have come to realise the depth of my love of trees. Nikon D700 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D.

When by chance I met this Italian visitor outside the 'Red Lion' in Avebury, she was on holiday from her home in Ireland. She was enjoying a glass of real ale and preparing a cigarette. Telling me about her day out, she opined that the Avebury landscape had its limitations. She said, 'You walked a bit, and saw a pile of stones. You walked a bit more and there would be another pile of stones'. Never before had I heard Avebury Circle described as 'a pile of stones' but she had a point, and she certainly expressed it amusingly. In days of yore the locals broke up the stones to make building materials, and so they didn't overdo the reverence and awe. They probably just said, 'here be a handy pile of old stones'. Photographed using a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens on a Nikon D2Xs. Cropped and converted to black and white.

Nikon D2Xs and 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. The D2Xs has a hi-speed crop feature which doubles the field of view on the lens, so the experience was akin to 100mm. Given the luxury of getting several test shots, I eventually settled on f/5. Anything faster than that gave no form at all to the passing lorries. Another time I might try f/8. The raindrops could do with being sharper.

Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D on a Nikon D700. Now eclipsed by the Fuji X-E1 and the 35mm f/1.4 Fuji lens - smaller, lighter, easier.

Winter sunlit afternoon. Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens. f/11.

... or thereabouts. Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens. f/4.

This is a picture of the interior of the ‘Rising Sun’, the one remaining pub in Christian Malford. It used to play second fiddle to the mighty ‘Mermaid Inn’ on the main road at the other side of the village. Then the M4 motorway opened and the main road was downgraded. The ‘Mermaid’ closed and the ‘Rising Sun’ somehow survived despite the calamitous decline of the traditional English pub. The ‘Rising Sun’ was built in the 18th century and was formerly a smithy. Its proximity to the railway halt which was in operation between 1926 and 1965 provided a sideline selling tickets for the Great Western Railway for some, but not all, of those years. The postal address of the ‘Rising Sun’ is Station Road, Christian Malford. This is curious because there never was a station in Christian Malford. The rudimentary timber-built halt was unstaffed, had no facilities, and no footbridge over the two short platforms. Even when there was a halt, the road was not named after it. Perhaps some strange romantic nostalgia influenced the street-naming authorities who wanted to convey a sense of importance to the village long after it had become so unimportant that even the ugly little halt had been taken away. As a matter of historic fact, the street on which the ‘Rising Sun’ is situated already had a perfectly good name as evidenced by official census documents of the second part of the nineteenth century. It was known as ‘Frog Lane’. Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens.