Nikon 35mm 1.8 Review – What Are You Waiting For?

Reviewed by Ben Lee, http://dslrlensesonline.com editor.

The Nikon 35mm 1.8 is a supreme quality, fast and cheap Nikon DX lens that is perfectly suited to hand-held photography in low light.

As a result, it is especially perfect for indoor photography where you would otherwise need the use of a flash. This is a great way to finally rid yourself of the unflattering and intrusive qualities of flash forever while obtaining images that will take your breath away.

Nikon 35mm 1.8 review

This lens is an absolutely no brainer for any Nikon DX user, especially if you don’t already own a fast prime lens. It is just a miracle worker in low light and the price of this lens is almost equal to the cost of a really good filter. Enough said.

The 35mm 1.8 is a particularly useful addition to the lower end DX models like the D40 and D60 and the flawless auto focus system means you can switch to manual focus at any time by simply rotating the focus ring. There is no need to flick any switches.

What I like about this lens is the fact that it is the perfect trade off between size and speed. At f/1.8 it is not too fast that it would require a bigger, bulkier lens. The 35mm is small and nimble.

Conversely, the fixed aperture is not too slow that it would be in direct competition with the kit lenses which generally start at f/3.5 or f/4.0.

It is indeed a nice compromise and you’ll have to agree that this particular lens fills its niche within the market quite well.

(NB: If you are planning on upgrading to full-frame in the future, then please consider the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D which is compatible with full frame bodies – the 35mm 1.8G IS NOT).

What you will like

fast auto focus, the lens will not hunt for focus extremely cheap and high value for money sharp images with minimal defects light weight convenient manual focus override internal mechanism is used for focusing which helps prevent dust and other nasties getting inside the lens the front element does not rotate with focusing

What you won’t like

some corner softness – use f/2.8 as this seems to be the optimum aperture to get the best of both worlds lack of high quality bokeh – backgrounds are often angular and distracting from the main subject disappointing amount of barrel distortion – easily corrected in Photoshop of course but it’s almost as if you shouldn’t have to correct it in the first place

What others are saying about the Nikon 35mm 1.8 DX

Glenn Carpenter from Golden, Colorado praised Nikon for delivering a feature-packed lens for a very affordable price:

Nikon has absolutely nailed it with this lens. A modest sum gets you exactly what you need in a lens, nothing you don’t, and it works beautifully.

It is relatively feature-rich at its price: cheap lenses, even from Nikon, often lack important features – but not here. Unlike other recent DX bargains this lens has Nikon’s M/A focus setting, which allows automatic focus with instant manual over-ride.

This is a simple and intuitive method of combining the ease and accuracy of AF with sometimes-necessary manual control, and Nikon has done users of this lens a great favor by including it, despite the low price…

… What is clear to me in using this lens is that Nikon has put its money in exactly the right places to make this lens a star despite its price. There may be nitpicks here and there, but the optics, the coatings, the engineering, and perhaps most importantly the quality of the focusing system, are exactly what they need to be to allow this lens to make photographs that are the equal of those made by professional zooms costing in the thousands.

Read the rest of this lengthy but awesome review here.

Where can you buy and how much should you pay?

Don’t pay more than $250 for this lens, otherwise it is daylight robbery.

Amazon.com have it for under $200 at the time of writing, so click here to take advantage of this price before they decide to put the price up again.

Please help support the maintenance of this site by using the links above to make any purchases you might be thinking of making. I get a small commission from your purchase but it doesn’t cost you anymore to buy the lens. It is greatly appreciated, thankyou.

Conclusion

It is hard to find a reason not to buy the Nikon 35mm 1.8 - perhaps the only reasons why you wouldn’t buy one are because you own an FX camera or you are highly skeptical that Nikon could produce such a great lens for such a low price.

Skepticism and caution are natural human traits, but please, read the reviews and see how it has surprised and delighted so many photographers before you – you won’t be disappointed and if by some miracle you don’t like it – you can always return it for a refund within the specified time period.

I wish that I would have had something like this available to me when I was just starting out in photography. This lens is going to be ideal for amateurs who have bought the kit lens (often at a higher price than the 35mm 1.8) and were disappointed with the results.

They are going to be in a position to ditch the kit lens and buy something for half the price but for twice the satisfaction.

photo credit pv ks

Related posts:

1. Nikon 70-300mm Review – Discover A Hidden Gem Of A Lens
2. The Nikon 80-400mm – Telephoto Performance Without The Bulk Of A Telephoto Lens
3. Nikon 50mm 1.8 – Read The Review And Get Excited!
4. Nikon 24-70mm – As Close To A Perfect Nikon Lens As You Can Get?
5. Nikon 18-200mm VR II – Can You Really Get The Best Of Both Worlds?

Filed under: Nikon DSLR Lenses

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!