# Posting about new lense



## piperknitsRN (Dec 7, 2011)

Bought hese new lengs and exernal flash for camera: Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras and the SB 400. I'm trying to get the bunnies to "pop' in the relitively crappy light we have in Pac New West at this time. Any comments or suggstions? Want to be able to capture some of their yans and binkies and cute expressions without having them run out out of range of the camera before a cute shot can be taking.... [/b]


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## MikeScone (Dec 7, 2011)

While the f1.8 lens is a very good one, the first thing to realize about the lens you bought is that it's one of those which won't autofocus with the D3100 - I warned you about that when you first asked about the camera. Because the D3100 doesn't have a focus motor you have to be careful about what lenses you buy. The 50mm f1.8 AF requires a focus motor in the body. We've got two threads about that lens in the Camera Corner - Got a new lens and Fixed length lenses

You need to look for *AF-S* lenses if you want autofocus with the D3100. There is an AF-S 50mm f1.8 - the Amazon link is here - and that lens would work with the autofocus on your D3100. 

Also realize that the 50mm lens is not a "normal" lens on the D3100, it's actually a short telephoto. What you might find more useful would have been the 35mm f1.8 AF-S, which is both a normal lens and AF-S so it will autofocus with the D3100. If it's not too late to swap, I'd consider doing that. 

The SB400 is a nice off-camera flash, and should work fine with the D3100. As with the built-in flash, you're going to want to be sure to set the D3100 to manual ISO200 when you use it, and use Aperture Priority (A) mode to pick an appropriate f-stop. I'd suggest starting with f8, and then when you're used to how the pictures turn out, experiment with wider apertures (lower number, less depth of field, more effect to ambient light) and narrower apertures (higher number, more depth of field, less effect of ambient light)


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## piperknitsRN (Dec 7, 2011)

Dear Mike: I realized I had the wrong one last night and I believe I rectified the matter... if not, I can always ship it back, but thank you for pointing out an expensive error on my part. 

Thanks, too, for pointing me to a more useful model of lens!

Appreciate all of your help, truly!

:biggrin2:


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