I have been looking at getting a nikon 50mm 1.8 recently. I have been 'shopping' around and they are selling used on Ebay for almost the same price as new on B&H. I was curious if there was any benefit to getting an older one? are they made differently? Or are they just in high enough demand that they are still selling for near new price? The difference is only a matter of a few dollars and the lens only being $110 new, a few dollars is hardly enough to worry about, so Im mainly concerned with quality.
Unlike the Canon one where the first version had a metal mount, and the second had a plastic mount, Nikon did something else with their update: The newer ones are "D" which only means that the camera will report the focal plane distance to subject measurement back to the onboard metering, which allows for more accurate flash metering, and in theory maybe better regular metering (but the main improvement is for automatic fill flash) So the only difference would be: ; Nikon 5 year warranty on new lenses And making sure that you get a "D" version.
My rule of thumb for used lenses is that as long as the used lens is the same version as the new lens, I want to get the used lens for half the price of the new one. If the used lens is an older version that is better than the new one, I don't like to pay more than 3/4 the price of the new one. ; Otherwise, I buy new.
Yes, I am getting a 'D' one. I thought of it after I posted this that I should've included that. So yes, 50mm 1.8D are going for about $90 used on Ebay and $110 new at B&H. Why?
For the flash metering. ; On a crop camera the 50 is a great portrait focal length and with Nikon's CLS flash system, you'll get better results with a D lens over an older non-D lens.
I understand the "D" and I know I want one of them versus an older non-D one. What I am still confused about is why used ones are selling for the same price as new ones. From researching, it looks like Nikon introduced the 1.8D in 2002. So, is a used 2002 1.8D any different than a new 2010 1.8D? my assumption is just that they are still in very high demand and people are willing to pay near new price because it's still only around $100, which is cheap. But I just wanted to make sure there was no difference in build quality.
I agree. ; Unless there was a recall on a particular lens there shouldn't be any difference in build quality between lenses that are the same model.
