“Nifty: In general, anything that is great, helpful, or unexpectedly awesome.” (From the urban dictionary)
In JAPB terminology, a nifty fifty refers to a 50-58 mm focal length (≈40–48 ° field of view) ‘standard’ lens that has a maximum aperture in the range of f/1.7–f/2
In total, JAPB uses the following terms to classify various 35 mm format (a.k.a. ‘Full frame’) standard primes according to their maximum aperture:
Superfast fifty: 50-58 mm focal length; maximum aperture > f/1.4 (typically f/1.2)
Fast fifty: 50-58 mm focal length; maximum aperture f/1.4– f/1.6 (typically f/1.4)
Nifty fifty: 50-58 mm focal length; maximum aperture f/1.7– f/2 (typically f/1.8)
Slow fifty: 50-58 mm focal length; maximum aperture < f/2 (typically f/2.8)