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

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.

I bought this lens for my D3200 being a secondary lens to the kit 18-55. It's full frame equivalent length is something like 52mm i believe so in some ways it falls into the "nifty fifty" category you hear about. It's pretty great for street photography where you are close to people but you also don't have to put the lens in their face. I also use it for low light shooting because it is considerably faster and lets a few stops more of light into the camera than the at best, f/3.5 18-55 lens. Also the bokeh is nice for the money at f/1.8 or even up to f/2.5 or so depending on the situation. The sharpness is considerably better!! This lens on the D3200 body received a score of 24 on DXOmark- the website compared to 12 for the 18-55 lens and in general just seems to get more out of the scene and more out of the camera and i'm sure would do better on higher end DX body's. The one negative which to me is pretty big is the chromatic abberation. My goodness if there is something a bird, a tree branch, a railing on a light bright background there will almost certainly be a noticeable purple fringe around it. I shoot raw so i'm not sure if when shooting JPEG the camera software automatically compensates for it i think it is supposed to but i can't speak to that. I am usually able to correct the issue in post processing in Lightroom but it's still quite annoying and i pretty much just try to avoid putting lines or shapes on any sort of bright background. As big of an issue this is to me it is not a deal breaker, the lens is well made even if its plastic. It has a metal mount, its very compact like half or less the size of the 18-55 and still has the same size filter mount (52mm). Night shots and low lit shots are fantastic, sharp, lots of detail even at fairly high ISO's. So yes CA is annoying and this lens does have an issue with this in a lot of situations and i removed a star solely because of this, but it also does a lot right and for the price literally, cannot be beat. I've included a shot of a life guard chair in front of a setting sun where the Chromatic Aberration can be seen on the horizontal wood slats of the chair. This image has been cropped into this very specific area only to show the CA. The second image is after processing to remove the fringing (just to be fair to the lens and review) again this is a very cropped portion of the full image only for demonstration and you can see almost all the CA distortion is gone and at full size uncropped the picture is great.

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.

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.

Ok, so I've spent quite literally years being frustrated trying to get good pics for my jewelry business. I make jewelry from paintings, so it's critical my pictures show lots of fine details- each of my pieces are one-of-a-kind. I researched for months, and then found this lens when looking for a macro lens on Best Buy. Then I panicked after I'd purchased it and saw that it's not actually a macro lens (thanks, Best Buy.) I figured what the heck- I'd give it a go anyways and see what I could do with it. Now, please keep in mind I'm NOT a professional. This is my first DSLR camera (a massive upgrade from my Nikon Coolpix something or other) and I've only had it out of the box for maybe 20 minutes. I have quite literally no clue what these settings mean, what I'm doing (really, what's an f stop?) and I'm actually kind of surprised that I've even figured out how to switch out a lens without breaking something. I've taken maybe 30 pictures or so and went and uploaded them- not all of them are keepers (that would be asking way too much) BUT more than half of them are gorgeous and I've been posting them on facebook. Yes, I'm sure they could be better if I knew what I was doing. But I can get clear, concise pictures of 12mm round glass chips with paintings underneath- so for this NOT being a macro lens I really don't know how much better an actual macro lens could possibly be. Also- I'm NOT using a tripod, and I don't have any studio lighting set up. If this is what I get now, I'm super excited about how great these pictures are going to be once I learn a bit more about this camera and lens.

This is the sort of lens that would have been in a kit with an SLR a decade ago. It provides roughly a normal field of view (the focal length of the lens is the same as the diagonal measure of the image sensor or film). Unlike the kit lens of a DX Nikon, this allows for instant focus over-ride (Nikon calls this M/A mode), and the fast f/1.8 aperture gathers much more light for shooting moving subjects than anything in its price range, and certainly more than any zoom lens. The image circle is only large enough for Nikon's DX sensor format, not 135 film or FX digital, however, due to its relatively large image circle, it will also mount and work properly on the Nikon Pronea series of APS film cameras, if you still shoot one of those. It's small and lightweight, and features a metal lens mount for greater durability, a rubber gasket to keep contaminents out of your lens and body, and no external moving glass as it focuses, so there's no air being pumped in and out of the lens when you focus, making it great for less than ideal enviroments. It also has a 52 mm filter thread, the same as most manual focus and inexpensive DX lenses, so you only have to carry one size of filter and not drive yourself crazy. Although it's sharp, remaining so for the most part until it's wide open, it has some distortion and isn't as rectalinear - meaning straight lines appear straight - as I'd like, which is to be expected at this price point, and can be corrected in software. Bokeh can also be somewhat distracting, as this lens produces even discs. This is an indication of a lack of spherical aberation in the optics, which can be good for many things, but with this lens' tendancy to produce bokeh very quickly at f/1.8, it could be better. I absolutely recomend this lens. If I had to shoot with one lens on Nikon DX forever, I'd pick this one.

I'm an amateur photographer who knows the basics of photography, but I definitely don't consider myself an expert. However, like everyone else, I strive to take the best photos possible. I have a Nikon D5300 and the two kit lenses it came with, along with a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. I love the 50mm lens, but found that it was a little difficult to use indoors for family shots because you need to stand further back to capture your subjects, making space a bit of an issue at times. I decided to purchase the 35mm f/1.8 lens for indoor family photo sessions, and I have not been disappointed! In my opinion, the focal length is perfect for taking photos inside the house, and the f/1.8 maximum aperture really helps you to have nice, bright photos using only the natural light in your house (which I prefer to using flash or artificial lighting). I've only had this lens for a couple of days and taken only a few dozen photos, but I love the sharpness and quality of the images. The bokeh is also exceptional and really helps your subjects to "pop." This fast lens really gives my photos that professional look that everyone aims for. Another plus is that this lens is small and light, making it easy to carry and comfortable for longer photos sessions. I'm very happy with this lens and think it's a great addition to anyone's arsenal, regardless of skill level, especially if you take lots of photos indoors.

Alright guys so I'll keep it short but here's the main take aways from this lens: Considering the fact it's a DX lens, if used on a DX camera, it's actually roughly equivalent to 52.5mm In relation to a full frame camera. If used on a FX or full frame camera, there would be significant vignetting. This is a prime lens, the fixed focal length also means that unlike your kit lens, you cannot zoom. Your feet are you zoom. This forces you to think differently about composition and also pulls out creativity that you may not know you have. It has an Auto Focus motor in it, that is Nikons "Silent Wave" series (AF-S) and it tries to be silent, but you'll hear it. Best for last, the Bokeh (Bow then think of the "ke" sound in "kettle") this lens produces is incredible. It's aperture opens wide for the price you're paying (people call this aspect, "fast", a "fast lens") and at 1.8 your foreground is in focus but your background just melts away and to me it's a canvas to get real creative with lights and colors behind your subject. If you're a beginner like me, this is the time that you experiment with focus points and metering to really learn the ins and outs of your camera. Hope this helps, it's a great lens and at this price point, it's well worth the money. It's plastic, yes, but the lens mount is metal, so this thing is built to last and still has a premium feel to it. Great for a first prime lens!