When I first got my Nikon D5100, one of the first lenses I looked at was the AF-S Nikkor 35mm f1.8G. Shooting primes is a lot of fun and really brings out the creativity in a photographer. Some of the better pictures I’ve taken over the year have been with a prime lens as it makes you think about composition and forces you to get into the shot. The AF-S Nikkor 35mm f1.8G is a small lens and at 200g very lightweight. It can be had for around 200USD and at that price its pretty much irresistible. I ordered the lens from Amazon a few weeks ago and have finally gotten around to start shooting more seriously with it. There are already many reviews out there so I won’t get into the technical details. I’ve just shot a few pictures today around the house and while walking the dog with my wife.
On the D5100’s DX format and APS-C sensor, the crop factor makes the 35mm about 52.5mm. This is neither wide nor long so need to really frame your shot. Wide open at f1.8 though the depth of field is pretty small/shallow. You can see the small focus area at f1.8 in the example image above. While walking the dog I saw a thrown away bottle of Jinro in some tall blades of grass. Shot wide open I cropped in on the focused area below. You can also see that the busy long and thin grass blades pose quite a challenge for the bokeh. Shooting the lens outside, there is absolutely no issues with autofocus. The AF-S is pretty snappy and accurate though not silent.
Admittedly when I have a fast lens, I have a very bad habit of always shooting wide open. I guess its not really a bad habit as there are many out there who love the small depth of field and bokeh. It helps that the Nikkor 35mm f1.8G is pretty sharp even wide open as shown in the pictures above. I’m happy with the lens and its performance and I love its size and cost. There is also a 50mm f1.8G for around the same price that was just released. That lens translates into 75mm with the D5100’s 1.5x crop factor which would make it pretty nice for portraits. In the meantime here are more shots from today with the 35mm.
[nggallery id=266]
Cute dog. What kind is it?