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35mm f/1.8 standard lens * designed for Nikon DX SLR cameras * ideal for everyday use * minimum focus distance: 12 in. * minimum aperture: f/22 *
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Technical Details
- Engineered for Nikon DX-format digital SLRs - Optical formula optimized for use with Nikon DX-format digital SLRs
- Aspherical lens element - Minimizes coma and other types of lens aberrations, further improving image integrity
- Nikon Super Integrated Coating (SIC) - Enhances light transmission efficiency and offers superior color consistency and reduced flare
- Exclusive Nikon Silent Wave Motor (SWM) - Enables fast, accurate and quiet autofocus
- Close focusing to one foot for creative perspectives and versatility
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2010-03-30
By Kevin H (Ithaca, NY)
I have a Nikon D90 with a kit 18-105mm lens. One of the first lens to come out since I owned the camera was this 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, which at the time was sold-out for quite some time and I even had to pay almost $20 over the MSRP just to land this elusive lens. When the lens arrived, I was certainly very pleased.
f/1.8 was several stops faster than my f/3.5 kit lens, meaning I was able to shoot at the same shutter at ISO 400 when I'd have to use ISO 3200 with the kit lens! Because of this reason alone, this lens stays on the camera 90% of the time. I take a whole lot of indoors pics of my young son, and am only able to take such pictures after work when it is already dark. Indoors, I only have medium to low levels of light, so this lens certainly helps a bit. Some reviewers complain about the lens being a little soft wide-open. This is true, but I don't think anybody will notice unless you're shooting pictures of test charts and graphs. On prints and on screen, the softness makes a negligible difference. The softness issue is certainly outweighed by being able to take pictures in lower lighting conditions!
The built quality is excellent. The mount is metal (unlike the kit lens) and this lens feels very sturdy. Because it is a fixed focal length lens, it doesn't move at all when focusing. The accepted filters for this lens is also smaller than the kit, with the plus that smaller filters cost a little less than larger ones. I like how the front element glass is small because it's a smaller area for me to get concerned about dirtying it.
Sometimes, it might appear that the lens has some infrequent AF accuracy issues when shot at the widest 1.8 aperture but I am certain this is not due to optics or build quality of the lens, because in 90% of my images, they are extremely sharp even when zoomed in. I must attribute this AF accuracy flaw in cases where you shoot in dim lighting, and the AF accuracy issue greatly decreases when you have anything above poor lighting.
Additionally, if you are considering whether to purchase this 35mm lens or an equivalent 50mm f/1.8 lens, I highly suggest this 35mm lens over the 50mm lens. Because the 35mm lens is the shorter focal length when compared to 50mm, you can get by using slower shutter speeds. Additionally, if anything, I more frequently back away from my subjects indoors with my 35mm lens. With the 50mm lens, I'd have to back up even further! With the DX conversion, 35mm ~48mm in full-frame format, which is basically the golden 50mm standard in the 35mm film days.
At a cost of $200 brand-new with a 5-year Nikon warranty, I highly suggest these lens. This is a bargain!
2010-03-29
By Jacoby Y. Wilson (Westminster, CA United States)
Purchased this lens as a "standard" lens for my D90. Am amazed at the speed and quietness of focus, picture quality, and ease of use. I bought this as a compliment to a 50mm F/1.8D and now thinking that the 50mm is going to be regulated back to the safe. This, a 55-200mm DX VR, and a nice DX Wide Angle Zoom (TBD in my case) will be it for the D90.
4 Stars for construction, even though I think this lens will outlive the camera, it isn't a Nikon "Pro" or Zeiss, or Leica (but for $200 what is?).
2010-03-27
By Nick Tropiano (Havertown, PA United States)
Love photography, lifelong "enthusiast" but I'm not a zoom guy - never was. Zoom lenses have come a long way since aspherical elements were introduced but they have a lot of serious drawbacks that I consider "deal breakers". They're slower (that is, they require more light - especially as you zoom out); big, bulky, and heavy; and - sorry, the best of them are mediocre when measured against primes in terms of resolution and sharpness. Bokeh isn't the greatest if you can get it at all due to their slowness.
Yep, I like my prime lenses. I should say prime "lens" because 90% of all the shooting I have ever done was with a 50mm f1.8 lens on a film camera, usually old rangefinders like the Yashica GSN (well that has a 45mm/1.7 lens, actually, but you get the point...) Do you really need a zoom as the main lens of your camera? No! The late great French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the most well-respected and well-know photographers shot the vast majority of his classic "street" photos with just a 50mm Leica lens on a film rangefinder camera. Zoom with your feet.
So, I'm setting back still using 40+ year old film cameras waiting for some manufacturer to come out with a fast, affordable 35mm lens. Now, there's been some fast 50mm lenses for DSLRs out there but due to the crop factor resulting from the digital sensors being significantly smaller than a 35mm film frame, a 50mm lens on an APS-C sized sensor is really like a 75mm lens on a film camera. 75mm focal length by 35mm film standards is a short telephoto used most often as a "specialty" focal length/lens for portraiture and not the lens I want to use for general day-to-day photography at all. Sorry. No deal.
I never thought a fast 35mm lens that I can afford - needed to give you the equivalent of the ubiquitous standard 50mm lens in the film camera world, would be introduced for DSLRs with APS-C sensors. This is because lenses with a 35mm focal length in the f2 or faster range have always been both rare and expensive (...expensive like $5000 for a Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux and around $700 for the "bargain" Voigtlander Nokton as two examples) in the film world. I imagine making a semi-wide optic wider than 40mm that's this fast a lens is simply more expensive and difficult to produce for whatever optical engineering reasons (though fast 50mm lenses are much, much less expensive and plentiful...). So, I held little hope of there being a fast 35mm lens for DSLRs ever happening and pretty much gave up. So, the only alternative for me was to stuck with film cameras, which I did (happily).
Then I recently stumbled upon this lens perusing the Internets - a 35mm f1.8 Nikon for around $200 for their entry-level range of DSLRs. I read some reviews, found out the lens is worthy of the proud name of Nikon, sold off several of my old film cameras (kept two I will never part with...) used the dough to finance the purchase of a Nikon D5000 along with this lens and entered the digital realm.
The D5000 (which is an absolute gem of a camera by the way...) with this prime on it is really something special. It's a fine performer - especially in light of its price. Bravo Nikon! (And this is why I'm a Nikon guy over a Canon guy... Both make fine productions but Nikon knows photographers, Canon knows "consumers". I might be wrong but my bet is Canon would never come out with such a lens for its consumer line of DSLRs... This is a phographer's lens... ) The only quibble is I wish this lens had was a distance scale. (C'mon, Nikon! How much would it have added to the cost to paint a distance scale on the lens?) Why? So I can set it to an aperture and distance manually for optimal DoF for "shooting from the hip". Other than that? Wow... Great, sharp images even wide open... fast focus, decent build quality, good control of flare, distortion well-controlled. A fine lens, in short. Thanks to Nikon's introduction of this great lens, I've entered the digital realm.
It's fun reading the comments of Nikon DSLR users who have ditched their kit zooms and leave this 35mm lens on their camera as a permanent fixture. Yep, my young friends - that's what the fast 50 was all about in the film days. Betchya your kit zoom collects dust now. I have zero intention of ever buying the kit zoom for my D5000 - you couldn't give me one. (Well, you could but it would either set on a shelf or I'd sell it on the big auction site... ;) The only question I have is, given that the fast 50mm lens has been a staple of film photography since, like, forever... Why did it take until 2009 to give us its digital equivalent for DSLRs? Better late than never though. Props out, once again, to Nikon.
2010-03-27
By R12K (BC Canada)
At $199 plus free shipping, it matches my Nikon D5000 perfectly. Don't forget this an entry level lens with matching price so don't expect more for that.
2010-03-25
By milveteran (CA)
I decided to skip the kit lens and buy this prime with relatively fast 1.8 aperture. Works great with my D5000. Focuses fast enough for me, very light. No problems at all.
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Buy Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras Now
