negotiating - nikon 50mm f/1.4G auto focus

I have always loved to take photos. Recently, my best friend had a baby and I used her camera and protrait lens to take photos of her baby and I fell in love love love with the portrait lens. She has a Canon digital SLR and bought the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens for around $80. It is a great little lens for getting the bokeh effect that makes babies and kids look so cute. Here's a sample photo of the Canon lens (not full resolution).


I have a Nikon D40X and unfortunately, a lens as affordable as the Canon lens was not available, so took a look at the handful of Nikon friendly portrait lenses out there.

1. Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF - not enough bokeh for me, but affordable about $135

2. Nikon 50mm f/1.4D - manual focus only for Nikon D40X, can autofocus for higher end Nikons about $339

3. Nikon 50mm f/1.4G - autofocus for Nikon D40X, but about $130 more than the 1.4D. Hmmm... am I willing to give up autofocus for $130?

4. Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM - I read great reviews about this lens, but it's 1.1lbs! (vs 9.9 ounce Nikon f/1.4G and 8 ounce f/1.4D) The online price was about the same as the Nikon f/1.4G

5. Nikon 50mm f/1.2 Nikkor AI-S Manual Focus - way out of my price range at $614

I decided that the Nikon 50mm f/1.4D was what I was looking for and in my price range. The only disadvantage was that it does not autofocus with my Nikon D40X. I wanted the lens asap because my other friend just had a baby and I had to get those early shots before she started growing so I called all of the local camera and electronics stores to ask if they had the lens in stock. I also wanted to avoid the 1% increase in sales tax here in California. Unfortunately, they all said that they would have to special order it for me. One store said that they had the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G lens in stock. I decided to go to the store to take a look. This lens is the newer version of the f/1.4D lens.

I tried the lens at the store and the autofocus feature was super nice. I also tried an f/1.4D lens that was on hold for for someone... also super nice. The store was offering the 1.4G lens at $499 online. The 1.4D was $339. Both lenses had the nice blurry background effect that I like and both were about the same weight (photographing babies takes a lot of patience... meaning a lot of time holding the camera).

I decided to see what the store could offer me in the form of a discount on the 1.4G. I did my research on prices of the f/1.4 lenses before I went to the store and had the lowest prices available online in mind. I had already decided that if I would be willing to pay $450 all in for the f/1.4G lens and if I couldn't get the f/1.4G, I would be happy ordering the f/1.4D lens without the autofocus for $300.

At first, the salesman threw out $439 for the f/1.4G and kept emphasizing that this price was $60 off the online price. This WAS cheaper than the lowest online price I found of $485 new, $469 used and $455 on ebay, but it was still over $110 more than the cheapest f/1.4D lens I found online. I always get really flushed when I negotiate, but I do it because I am always more satisfied with whatever I end up getting when I know that I have at least tried to negotiate. FYI - offering to pay cash did not make a difference probably because the store is a local chain. At this point, I reminded myself that it was the end of the month and if these guys work on commission, he might be willing to go even lower. The $439 also didn't get me below the $450 all in that I had already decided that I was willing to pay for the f/1.4G.

I held out a little longer and the salesman went to the computer and punched a few numbers and came up with $419 plus tax. On the outside I thanked him and said ok, I can do $419 (with tax, it came out to $452.50). On the inside, I was so excited!!! I basically paid $90 more for the autofocus feature and to get it right away, no shipping, no extra California sales tax and pretty close to what I decided I would pay.

I have tried out the lens and it is just wonderful. My friend's new little spork baby looks so sweet in the photos.