Nikon Prime advice

mant01

mant01

Suspended / Banned
Messages
849
Name
John
Edit My Images
No
Im looking to pick up a prime lens for my nikon. Ive been looking at a 35mm 1.8, 40mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.8g and Im finding it hard to decide which to go for. Im wanting the sharpest and best for general use, like street photography, portraits, pets etc just a bit of everything.
So which would you go with if you could only choose one?
 
mant01 said:
Im looking to pick up a prime lens for my nikon. Ive been looking at a 35mm 1.8, 40mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.8g and Im finding it hard to decide which to go for. Im wanting the sharpest and best for general use, like street photography, portraits, pets etc just a bit of everything.
So which would you go with if you could only choose one?
Click to expand...

Would recommend the 35mm for street photography... Give a focal range of 50mm which is the general focal length people use for film or fx cameras. The 50mm 1.8 would be 75mm, more for portraits rather than street
 
Mmm, well my preferred "general" focal length is 35mm on full frame so that's 24mm on a DX body - your only option would be the 24mm f/2.8 which is good but maybe a little slow at f/2.8 and you may consider it a little old considering how much it costs, probably not as sharp as the lenses you mention either.

To be honest, the 35mm f/1.8 is such a good (and cheap) lens I would just get one of those - I think you'll you'll find 50mm a little restrictive for general use.

Oh, and don't worry about getting "THE sharpest" - all of the lenses mentioned are PLENTY sharp enough and there's no point in having a sharp lens if you can't frame the shot how you want.
 
Might be a good idea to set your zoom lens to each of the focal lengths and shoot on each and then see which length u prefer. Or have a look at your exif data to see what focal length u tend to shoot at the most.

I did both tests and ended up getting the 50mm 1.8G, i found that was what worked best for me as a short tele, but everyones different :)
 
Have you considered Zeiss? The 100mm Macro is a cracking street lens & he 50/1.4 is also a superb lens. If you are happy with manual focussing either would be ideal.
 
I have the 50mm f1.8G and it is a superb lens, taken hundreds of pics of the pups, and in about 3 or 4 days hopefully I'll be taking hundreds of our new baby.
Well recommend the lens.
 
What focal length do you find you use most with the lens(es) you have now?:shrug:
 
I found the 50mm 1.4 on a DX too cropped for most situations but after upgrading to FF it's now a dream of a lens. 35mm is near to make no difference 50mm equivalent so I would possible pick that but bare in mind if you go for the Nikon DX version it won't work on FF, well with very heavy vignetting.
 
I would go for the 35mm too. Its said to be sharper wide open than the others as well. As someone has mentioned 24mm on a crop is a nice focal distance for street but its only f2.8 so just as well use a tamron 17-50 or something.
 
Last edited:
The 35mm is brilliant, the focal length is much more versatile than 50mm I found.
 
Ive read that on the 35mm theres alot of problems with chromatic aberrations, is this really a problem with this lens?
 
mant01 said:
Ive read that on the 35mm theres alot of problems with chromatic aberrations, is this really a problem with this lens?
Click to expand...

Mmmm no problems with the lens
 
I have the 35mm f1.8 for my d3100 and its brilliantly sharp. At around £110 used, its a bargain
 
another vote for the 35mm, i got one for christmas and i honestly don't know why i didn't get one the day i bought my first Nikon more than 2 years ago. I pretty much like everything about it and its already given me some lovely shots. I've had the 50mm 1.8D for about 18 months, and whilst i do like it, it doesn't seem to me to have the same je ne sais quoi about it.

I can't speak first hand about the 40mm, but you didn't mention macro in your original post. If thats something you would like to try then perhaps the smaller aperture is worth the addition of macro ability?
 
Thanks again for the advice. Im going to pick up a 35mm today :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top