Data sheet: Nikon series E 50 mm f/1.8 (silver ring)

Pekka Buttler, 08/2022

Specifications

The table below summarizes the lens’ key specifications:

Brand:	Nikon (Nikkor)	Lens name	Series E 50 mm 1:1.8
Focal length 1	50 mm	Angle-of-view 2	46°
Maximum Aperture	f/1.8	In Production	1981–1985
Lens mount	Nikon F	Subfamily (if applicable)	Series E (Ai-s)
Length 3	27,8 mm	Diameter 4	62,5 mm
Filter ring diameter	52 mm	Weight	157 grams
Lens element count	6	Lens group count	5
Aperture blades (S/R/C) 5	7 S	Focus throw	140 °
Minimum focusing distance	60 cms	Maximum magnification	1:9,6
Has manual aperture ring	YES	Has Manual focus ring	YES
Aperture mechanism type	Automatic	Aperture click stops 6	1.8•2.8-4-5.6-8-11-16-22

Further notes:
• This lens – the series E 50 mm f/1.8 – is the only series E lens that shows a distinct difference between all-black and silver ring variants: The all-black version has an identical optical layout, but is around 20 grams lighter and 3,5 mm shorter. Hence, they will be treated separately.
• Even though longer than the all-black version, also the silver-ring version qualifies as a pancake lens.
• The lens’ dedicated lens hood is the HR-4 (a rubber, collapsible, filter-thread mounted hood).
• Series E lenses are Ai-s compatible.

A brief genealogy of Nikon SLR lens types

Nikon is undoubtedly one of the great names in 35 mm SLR photography. The Nikon F mount has been in continuous production since 1959. During that time, the mount has developed/changed in some detail, however without ever fully sacrificing compatibility.

In short (a longer version is here), the development of Nikon’s SLR lenses can be traced as follows:
• 1959–1977: Pre-Ai. Manual focus lenses that use ‘rabbit ears’ to communicate selected aperture with the camera body.
• 1977–1986: Ai and Ai-s. Manual focus lenses that may have ‘rabbit ears’ for backward compatibility, but are designed to communicate selected aperture with the camera body through indentations in base of aperture control ring.
• 1986–today: AF and AF-D. Autofocus lenses that do not have a focusing motor within the lens, but rely on the focus motor within the camera. All AF and AF-D lenses are simultaneously Ai-s lenses (they are Ai-s lenses extended with AF) ⁷
• 1996–today AF-S and AF-P. Autofocus lenses that have an internal focusing motor and do not rely on the body having a focusing motor.

Series E lenses are – in this respect – a minor oddity. Intended as an economy offering (E as in economy) to forestall the onslaught of 3rd party lenses, Series E lenses are technically entirely Ai-s compatible lenses. Read more on the Series E here.

The optical design first pioneered in the all-black series E 50/1.8 (800 000 copies during 1979–1981) was reused in this lens (1,4 million copies during 1981-1985), and subsequently reused again in the Nikkor Ai-s (Japan) 50/1.8, the Nikkor Ai-s (new) 50/1.8 and three consecutive Nikkor AF 50/1.8 versions (3,6 million copies to date), making this one of Nikon’s most successful lens designs ever.

For a summary of the genealogy of Nikkor’s 50 mm f/1.8 designs, see below:

years	Series	optical construction	aperture blades	MFD	notes, links
1978–1982	Ai	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,45 m	[data sheet]
1979–1981	series E	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,6 m	pancake, all-black design
1980–1982	Ai-s	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,45 m	pancake, for Japanese market
1981–1985	series E	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,6 m	pancake, silver-ring design [this lens]
1981–1985	Ai-s	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,45	for export market
1985–2005	Ai-s New	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,6	pancake, plastic focus ring [data sheet]
1986–1990	AF	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,45	plastic focus ring [data sheet]
1990–2001	AF new	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,45	rubber focus ring
2002–today	AF-D	6 elements in 5 groups	7, straight	0,45	new barrel design [data sheet]
2011–today	AF-S; G	7 elements in 6 groups	7, rounded	0,45	no aperture ring
2018–today	Z	12 elements in 9 groups	9, rounded	0,4

Adapting

Besides adapting, this lens can be used natively on all current high-end Nikon dSLRs and several earlier medium-to-high-end older Nikon dSLRs ⁸. Likewise, if jury-gigged with rabbit ears, it can be natively used on all Nikon F-mount film cameras ever produced (without the rabbit ears, it is limited to post–1977 bodies).

Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable dumb adapter (and such adapters are easy to find). Moreover, a wide range of special adapters (helicoid adapters, tilt/shift adapters, speed boosters) for using Nikon F lenses on most mirrorless systems are available.

Using Nikon F lenses on non-Nikon SLRs and dSLRs is likewise a distinct possibility. Thanks to the relatively generous flange focal distance of the Nikon F mount (46,5 mm), adapter rings for all dSLR mounts are available as well as for a goodly portion of film-era SLR mounts. Such rings may not allow for auto aperture, but even then the lenses can be used in stop-down metering mode.

Footnotes

1. Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
2. Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
   > 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
   70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
   50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
   40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
   20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
   10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
   5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
   < 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎
3. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
4. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
5. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
6. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
7. There is a further sub-class of AF-D lenses called AF-I lenses that are otherwise AF-D lenses (meaning, fully Ai-s compatible), but have an internal focus motor. Only long tele lenses were made in AF-I variants. ↩︎
8. As of this writing, the following Nikon dSLRs fully support Aperture priority and manual metered modes on Nikkor Ai-s lenses: D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D200, D300, D300s, D500, D600, D610, D700, D750, D780, D800, D800E, D810, D850, D7000, D7100, D7200 ↩︎