35 f1.8

dekeyboy

dekeyboy

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I have noticed over the past month or so there have been a lot of Nikon 35 f1.8 for sale, and most of them are in excellent condition. Have people made a mistake in buying them, or do they not do what they wanted them to do? What is the main subject you would use one for?
 
It's a brilliant lens and I've no idea why anyone would sell it unless they had to. It's the perfect Walkabout prime on a crop and even works on full frame with some vignette control.

I use it on my D700 for small groups and indoors wide open shooting. It is razor sharp wide open and anyone who knows me will vouch for how demanding I am on a lens.
 
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I have this lens and its fantastic -The only reason I would sell mine, if my shooting style changed and needed the funds for another lens.
 
I sold mine because I went full frame and the vignetting was just too much for me. It was an awesome lens, dead sharp wide open and fast accurate focusing.
 
I have one which I use with my D5100 and I love it. Definitely my favourite lens at the moment.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Same as. Great lens, just no longer useful to me.
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I've kept mine on my D700 simply because the f2 isn't as sharp, but it is limited with the vignette. Saying that I can pp it out up to f5.6
 
Ed Sutton said:
True. But couldn't live with the vignetting on FX. Each to their own. If there was an FX version I'd have one straight away. :)
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Agreed. :)
 
I have mine and use it most of the time, especially due to its size for a walk about lens.
 
my favourite lens in my bag, i try to use it whenever possible. so sharp, so useful focal length.

it's probably THE go-to prime lens for DX shooters, i think people sell it probably because this is their first prime purchase and then noticed they really prefer flexibility of zoom?
 
Shame I didn't see the used ones before I bought mine, always nice to save a bit of cash. I love mine, great for indoor shots of the wee 'un.
 
ive got a 35m on my canon - great lens BUT if you are to close to someone you get a lot of 'barrel' on there face making there eyes look to close together and a 'round face' its a good effect if your going for it but means you cant really use the lens for head shots only... its great for a 3/4 shot of someone or a group - perhaps this is the reason ?
 
tomkbucks said:
ive got a 35m on my canon - great lens BUT if you are to close to someone you get a lot of 'barrel' on there face making there eyes look to close together and a 'round face' its a good effect if your going for it but means you cant really use the lens for head shots only... its great for a 3/4 shot of someone or a group - perhaps this is the reason ?
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That has what has put me off getting one as it would be used to take head and shoulder shots which would prove to be a bad idea with the 35mm.
 
i played with 50mm f/1.4G it's a great portrait lens. f/1.8G will be good enough though.

35mm is more street photography lens.
 
the benefit of a 35mm though is its a stunning length for a 'one stop shop' lens, but you just cant push it in someones face... ive got a 35mm F1.4 and its the one lens i use all the time - infact im a little bit in love with it....
 
tomkbucks said:
the benefit of a 35mm though is its a stunning length for a 'one stop shop' lens, but you just cant push it in someones face... ive got a 35mm F1.4 and its the one lens i use all the time - infact im a little bit in love with it....
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Yes 100% agree. The 35mm f1.4 is my favourite lens ever. There is so much you can do with it, cropped sensor or full frame, it's a seriously versatile lens to own.
 
i should point out though for 'landscape' i find it poor... but anything with a person in looks awsum
 
I find my 35 f/1.8 is absolutely fantastic, I have stopped using my zoom and only my 70-200 + my 35 :)
 
Thanks for the replies guys, a bit of a mixed bag of reasons for keeping or selling.
 
This time last year, they very rarely appeared in the for sale section ... just when I was looking at getting one.

Then, I finally bit the bullet and bought one brand new and suddenly there's a constant flow of them.

Meh!
 
Could it be that more people are upgrading to full frame and ditching this lens for an FX equivalent? 50mm 1.4 perhaps??
 
I want to love mine (mostly because more experienced people say I should), but I don't. I use it indoors, and that's it really... even then, the DOF at 1.8 means I throw away more than I keep. Outdoors I'd trade the flexibility of my 18-105 for the sharpness of the 35 any day of the week. Maybe as I improve I'll change my mind, but at the moment it's not getting the use I thought it would.
 
Unless I change system, I wont be selling mine.
Paid £150 new from Jessops 6 months back, and it's an amazing little lens.
Reason I got it was for fairly close, indoor, natural light photos of my youngest daughter when she was born, and it stays on my camera a lot.

Took my best photos with it, and really cant see it beaten for the price - I know 50mm 1.8 is cheaper but i sold that as the manual focus on D3000 (at the time) was a pain for my elder daughter, more difficult than I thought :) (That lens was also superb, think I paid about 70 quid for it!)

Also, cant say the distortion is an issue (or noticable) for me, you must be at macro distances for it to be an issue :) Most of mine are taken at just a few feet away and it's perfect, great contrast/colours.
 
Nick, what's your technique?
I use single point and recompose and it works most of the time (I accept a few bin jobs, but not that much/more than any other lens)
Always mean to spend more time looking into back button, but I just dont seem to get on with it as much (i will try again though)
 
SnappyHappy said:
Also, cant say the distortion is an issue (or noticable) for me, you must be at macro distances for it to be an issue :) Most of mine are taken at just a few feet away and it's perfect, great contrast/colours.
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Is that right?
 
distortion isn't very noticeable in every day shots.

but shoot a brick wall, then turn on distortion correction in LR and watch the lines become 100% straight, you'll see how much distortion this lens have.
 
SnappyHappy said:
Nick, what's your technique?
I use single point and recompose and it works most of the time.
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I use single point more often than not, almost always when using the 35, I don't usually lock focus though. It just seems to me that the more forgiving nature and flexibility of my zooms wins me over at the moment. Just need more practice I guess. :bang:
 
Yeah it can be tricky at say 1.8 especially with kids :) at f1.8 the 'bin rate' will increase, but when you nail it.... :)
Great for when they are sleeping though :)
 
I see people saying the 35mm is no good for head and shoulder shots. Is that correct?
 
Far from it, i use it most of the time for the kids around the house....
 
Sold mine a few years ago to fund another lens. Biggest mistake I ever made, rushed to get another ASAP.

I concede I find it hard to justify a 35,50 and 85mm but do not want to give any of them up. I have been traveling for 8 months with the 50 and love it as much as the other two.
 
samems said:
I see people saying the 35mm is no good for head and shoulder shots. Is that correct?
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Look at it this way. If you're shooting family snaps etc them it's fine if you get everything lined up correctly. If you're shooting professional portraits it's far from fine.

Most people don't even notice the distortion until you show them some comparisom shots and then they really notice.
 
....but to be fair its not a pro lens, its £150 new (just saying)
Maybe some people are talking about FF bodies as well (?), but for my needs its hard to beat on crop. 50 was too long for me and sits towards a 'neither' slot for crops (all just my opinion, remember this whole thing is very subjective)
 
I would put a few samples up but i'm on iphone and always cock it up.... :)
The majority 95% in my gallery were taken with it (i'm no pro! Just showing you the distortion is ok for my needs)
 
Mine is a sigma 1.4 which was 400 quid on a 60d it really is my fav lens but I would not do a tight face / shoulders as you do get noticeable distortion, for everything else though it's just the best lens!
 
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