Nikon - AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Standard Lens - Black

If you currently own a DSLR kit lens, you maybe wondering why you need to shift to a prime lens that your kit lens zoom range already covers. The simplest answer is this prime lens does things that no kit lens could ever do. But to first convince yourself if you need a 35mm prime lens, take a look at the exif data you've used in your other pictures. Chances are, you have taken a lot of indoor shots and you will see that you took a lot of shots in the 35 to 40 mm range of zoom already. So, a 35mm lens is pretty much in the sweet spot for most your pictures. Next look at how many photographs you took that require the use of a flash. The beautiful thing about an F1.8 stop lens is that it allows you to take a natural light photography, indoors, without using the flash and having an incredibly sharp image all the same. Don't worry that this lens does not have vibration reduction, it doesn't need it. It is so fast at that wide open aperture that camera shake isn't really an issue under most indoor lighting circumstances. Of course this lens won't replace a good telephoto zoom under all circumstances. For example under outdoor lighting conditions for sports or an air show or something like that you'll want a telephoto zoom. But I keep this lens on my camera at all times indoors so I can finally catch those shots of the kids running around being adorable or doing something goofy and not have to worry about flash or overexposed pictures or out of focus pictures because the kit lens wasn't able to keep up or wasn't open wide enough to take a good shot. I'm still debating whether I need to get the much touted 50 mm prime lens, but for sure the 35mm here is a no-brainer.

This is quite possibly one of the if not THE best lenses you can buy for your low range Nikons (like your D40's), and even for the semi-pro and pro D series, it is still awesome (there are better non internal motor primes for those like the 50mm AF 1.4) But seriously, for $200, you can not buy a better lens period. These have now become harder to find and the prices will be going up (most places they have) if your lucky enough to actually find one at a BB for $200, BUY IT NOW. Sharpness: Awesome Bokeh: For its price, ok, but much better out there Ease of use: Seriously? Value: People will end up paying twice as much for this in the future.

I usually don't review products but felt I had to review this one. I have had this lense for a few weeks now. I LOVE it. I purchased a Nikon D5000 bundle with the 18-55 VR kit lens and the 55-200 VR zoom lens from Best Buy a few months ago. While I was getting great shots and much better quality pictures than my point and shoot the D5000 replaced, I still wasn't getting the shots that poped in low light! Especially inside my house where I was taking pictures of my kids, the reason I wanted to upgrade from a point and shoot in the first place. I tried the 50mm 1.8 lens first due to reviews online. I did not care for having to manually focus it on my camera body. I couldn't get but a few in focus pictures of my kids with it and was so aggrivated. I read the great reviews of this and decided to try it out. I am so HAPPY that I did. This lens never leaves my camera unless I am in the deer stand and need a zoom. I hate to use flash even with a puffer and with this lens you won't have to. This lens will make your pictures look like what your eye sees, with just that much vivid color, warmth, depth - people's faces look three demensional. I have used this lens outdoors without and with the lens hood, indoors for pics of my kids and family especially during these holidays, inside and outside of historical sites/museums we have visited - all with GREAT results. You cannot go wrong with this lense for any reason I have found so far. The 35mm focal length is perfect for indoors allowing the user to take in subjects, epecially where with a 50mm a wall would have stopped you from backing up any further for the shot, even head shots of people across a table from you as one review mentioned. If I am in a museum and cannot get any closer to a subject then I just take the shot and then utilize my 12.3 mp with crop once home in my Paint Shop Pro. This lens is fast, I have my camera set to take consecutive shots so I never miss a cute expression or jesture and with this I can hold down the shutter button and get every movement my kids make in perfect clarity. Also this lens will allow for great bokeh or an open clear shot. This is a must if you want the pics you bought a DSLR for in the first place. I think the photos uploaded here come out grainy due to compression by the site but I uploaded one anyhow.

This is truly a great lens. Have you ever wondered why your pictures from your Nikon DLSR look good, but not great? This lens is the answer. Good glass makes such a difference! A 1.8 lens gathers 4 times as much light as a 5.3 lens, so this will blow away the 18mm-55mm kit lens as well as the 18mm-200mm all-purpose lens. What this means that in good light the pictures will be tack sharp and have great color. It also means this lens works great in poor light- in fact, I have dimmer switch on my room lights and I tested this lens by dimming the lights and taking pictures as it got darker and darker. I had to turn the lights completely OFF before I could get the lens to not focus. Most of the time you won’t need a flash with this lens, which makes it perfect for weddings and churches. It will work with any current Nikon DX, the AF-S means it works with the D40/D40X/D60 line perfectly. Set your auto ISO to 1600 and 1/30 trigger and you will get sharp pictures in almost any lighting. The 35mm on a DX camera is equivalent to 52.5mm on a full-frame camera, which is almost a 1:1 or “normal” lens. This means that what you see with your eye will be the same as what you see through this lens, as far as apparent distance. It’s neither a wide-angle nor a telephoto lens. The lens is a bit smaller than I thought, but this works well with the small size of the D40/D40X/D60 line. It’s lightweight due to use of plastic in its construction, although it does have metal ring where it connects to the camera. A nice touch is that to manually focus all you do is turn the focus ring; you don’t have to move a switch first. Price was right at $199.99, and my local Best Buy had several of them in stock and none on display, which makes sense since this is a very popular lens and those who know about it won’t need to see it on display. My only complaint with this lens is that VR would have been a nice feature, even if it added a few dollars to the price.

When i bought my first DSLR, I got this 35mm lens with my zoom, thinking to use it only in some family party or birthdays, closed in the wall of some house, I hate flash so I need a low-light lens. The problem started when I mounted this 35mm on my little Nikon D3100: I can't get it off! Simply it's fantastic. I usually shot people and landscapes, but this lens has become my faithful night friend. It took the place of my other zoom lens (Nikkor 16-85) and now I roam in the evening and also some hours in the night catching spectacular photos of bell towers, old medieval buildings and many other particulars (bricks, windows, ...) that during the day are invisible, because literally covered by people or cars passing by. Not be frightened of darkness, this 35mm can see in a large sort of conditions, where you will never mind of taking a photo. It's light, autofocuses rapidly and also in low light conditions, but if you need grab it ad it will follow (automatically switches to manual focus). Hand held your camera, 1/30 sec is just what you need; white balance and saturation can regulate the colors of your picture or, if you dare, give them that particular amazing effect

Go now and buy it! You won't regret it.... I use it on my D7000, mostly indoors but works well outdoors too. Believe it or not, it takes pretty nice "macro" shots too, just check out the pecans in the middle of the pie :-). The other pic was taken at sunset, no flash of course and is still very sharp and I love the colors. Super sharp, fast auto focus,great bokeh every time. This is the best lens you can buy for $200.

I've been shooting with a nikon D40 and was happy with it at first but felt I had outgrown it... I bought this lens b/c the 50mm would not autofocus with the D40.. LOVE IT! Def. recommend this lens! Can't wait to use it with the new D7000 when it comes out!

I use this lens with my D300s: it is very good for low light shooting,very good for portraits(my best pics were with this inexpensive lens),I find it hard to remove the lens from the camera because its so versatile. It has great depth of field & high speed when its needed. I am not a pro but this lens makes it easy to take great pics, another very good quality is its light weight, you wont want to put it down.I've used it for some 7 months now & don't think I'll need another lens for a long time to come since I bought the 18-200 mm 3.5 - 5.6 lens when I bought the camera over a year ago its been relegated to back up to my 35 mm f 1.8 lens.I only use the zoom for long distance action/wildlife shots,the 35mm for everything else.