Reviewed: 35mm AF-S f/1.8G DX Nikkor Lens

In the time since I posted about the unboxing of my 35mm prime lens, Nikon has released a 50mm prime lens, a 40mm macro lens, and announced its first line of EVIL (or micro four-thirds) cameras.

That and I added a new lens to my collection. But more on that another time.

Anyway, I promised to post my impressions, so here are some thoughts, albeit belatedly:

A prime lens is one of those things that are nice to have if you own a DSLR, and when I was shopping around for one for my D40 I was immediately drawn to the 35mm. Since my objective was to have a versatile lens that would effectively turn my camera into a useful point-and-click, I felt the focal range of the 35mm was sufficiently wide to offer enough flexibility in the absence of zoom. Further, with a practically wide open aperture of f/1.8, the lens itself was reputed to take crisp and clear photos. Of course, the 35mm also has the advantage of coming with Nikon's built-in Silent Wave Motor, meaning that it would allow auto-focusing with my D40 (which lacks such a motor).

On all these points, the measures up against expectations. Attached to my D40, the camera becomes a no frills point-and-click that takes great photos. In fact, I find that it's the lens I bring along for very casual photography when I don't want to be bothered with carrying a long lens barrel, and is particularly useful for indoor and night photography (which my kit lenses typically have trouble with). The fact that it's a very fast lens is quite noticeable, too.

I've had to adjust to using it, though. For one thing, the lens has a somewhat shallow depth of field. While this can make for dramatic compositions (i.e. fantastic bokeh), it can prove to be a little unwieldy at times. Other than this, I've noticed that the lens compounds the D40's penchant for capturing overexposed photos. My guess is that this problem can easily be remedied by adjusting the camera's settings. This is something I'm still experimenting with.

But as it stands I'm very happy I made an investment in this 35mm prime lens. Given that it's priced at around US$200, it's a worthwhile lens to acquire, especially for DSLR users just getting started with their own supply and collection of lenses.