I recently bought a 50mm “nifty-fifty” lens for my full frame Nikon camera. It’s a lightweight and versatile lens that is great for all types of photography. I have been planning to get one for a while, but I had held back because I already had the 35mm lens on my old APS camera that is the equivalent of 50mm. I also preferred shooting wide-angles, which I found the focal length of a 50mm a bit too of an in-between focal length, struggling to get enough room for shooting indoor images. I decided that I didn’t need another lens at least for the time being. It wasn’t until I got fed up of having to carry two cameras with me every time I went on family trips - my full frame that I use for regular shooting and the APS camera for freelensing.

The principle of using the nifty-fifty lens for freelensing is the same as using the 35mm, which I explained in detail in an earlier post here. (Please note that the advice is specific for the newer Nikon lenses). So far, I have only tested freelensing with the 50mm lens once that was while I was with my family visiting the beach in Cromer, Norfolk.

Much to my surprise, I found I got sharper images freelensing with the nifty-fifty than with the 35mm. The edges that were in focus also appeared cleaner. Both are Nikon prime lenses that I have used on different camera bodies, so I am not quite sure if it is the lens or the camera body (50mm lenses are known to be super sharp!). I suspect both have something to do with it, because I still freelensed in the same way. The difficulty to determine whether it is the camera or the lens or even photographer’s technique is made trickier, since with freelensing you will always get different results depending on the slightest movement, when the lens is rotated to get the magical soft blur and sliver of focus to the photo.

Anyhow, take a look below to see the images that were taken on Cromer Beach. I’ve also shared a few images underneath from another trip to the beach, which were taken on the old APS camera and 35mm, for comparison. What do you think? Do you like the results?

Seascapes, Cromer Beach

Freelensed images taken with 50mm + D750 camera body.

Old Hunstanton beach, Norfolk

Images taken on the 35mm + D3300 Nikon.

I have joined together with some creative freelensing artists from around the world who have discovered our love of this photographic technique and challenging our art through detaching the camera from the lens. Visit the next artist in our Free 52 blog circle to my talented friend, Lauren Frost Jensen, to read and see her freelensed images from May.