Thoughts on 35mm 1.8

[unpopular]

Man. I was just looking at this lens yesterday night.

Looks like the Nikon Gods are trying to tell me to return to them.

 

[greybeard]

I had one.. and gave it to my girlfriend because of the massive purple fringing CA issues. Yes.. it can be fixed in post.. but personally, I don't want a lens with those kinds of issues. For those who aren't as picky as I am, it is a good lens at a good price.

Everything I shoot goes through Light Room, so CA shouldn't be a big issue, I hope.

 

[Derrel]

I had one and sold it, because I got fed up fixing the CA.

It's a consumer grade lens as indicated by the correction, or lack thereof, of it's optical aberrations.

The Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 AF-S G, priced at $1799 or so also has VERY strong longitudinal CA at wide apertures...green on one side of the focus point, purple on the other...so I suppose that it too, is a consumer grade lens???? Oh, same EXACT issue exists with the Canon 85mm f/1.2-L lens as well...MASSIVE longitudinal chromatic aberration from that lens as well...OH, wait...this is actually a COMMON ISSUE with MANY high-speed prime lenses and MOST zooms, and goes away when the lens is stopped down a bit...oh, doggone it!!! And a wide-angle lens that has some distortion? Whaaaaat????

Oh...doggone it...a $199 high-speed Nikkor DX wide has lo-ca when shot nearly wide-open...and an $1800 ultra-high-speed Nikkor 35mm lens ALSO has lo-ca at widest apertures....so both must be consumer grade! Right? And both the 35 1.8 and the 35 1.4 G lenses "shift the image" when that Enable Auto Lens Correction box is checked in Lightroom...and so does my 35mm f/2 AF-D Nikkor! It TOO has distortion! zOMG!!!!!

Dang...I am so,so tired of clicking that Lightroom checkbox to Enable Automatic Lens Correction to automatically remove optical aberrations specific to each individual lens and various apertures, from that lengthy Automatic Lens Corrections list of something like 65 different Nikon lens models...last time I checked, my VR-Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 AF-S zoom ALSO has pretty strong "distortions", which Lightroom automatically corrects...

 

[MK3Brent]

Great lens, buy it... you'll love it.
Slight vignetting on FX sensor, but you hardly notice it.

 

[skinnyboy_74]

Anyone used the 35mm f1.8 on FX (not in DX crop mode)? Love the 35mm focal length and want to add it to the collection so starting to look at my options. I've read about the vignetting on FX, but that it isn't too bad wide open.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I sold my 35mm 1.8, never been so happy to be rid of small amount of glass =)

 

[Heitz]

Mehhhh, I don't know. I agree with everything everyone is saying -- it does suffer from CA, particularly at wide apertures, but for the money, its ok. I had done some comparisons a while back pitting it against the kit lens at 35mm -- did not address CA, but from a sharpness standpoint it was pretty good:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...m-1-8g-vs-18-55-3-5-5-6-lens-comparisons.html

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Mehhhh, I don't know. I agree with everything everyone is saying -- it does suffer from CA, particularly at wide apertures, but for the money, its ok. I had done some comparisons a while back pitting it against the kit lens at 35mm -- did not address CA, but from a sharpness standpoint it was pretty good:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...m-1-8g-vs-18-55-3-5-5-6-lens-comparisons.html

c'mon man look what you're comparing it too!?

 

[Tee]

Sold mine as a package with my D90. I never used it.

 

[Heitz]

Mehhhh, I don't know. I agree with everything everyone is saying -- it does suffer from CA, particularly at wide apertures, but for the money, its ok. I had done some comparisons a while back pitting it against the kit lens at 35mm -- did not address CA, but from a sharpness standpoint it was pretty good:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...m-1-8g-vs-18-55-3-5-5-6-lens-comparisons.html

c'mon man look what you're comparing it too!?

Actually, that damn kit lens is pretty good. I was totally expecting to see it was trash but it was surprisingly good. (build quality sucks, focus speed sucks, etc.) but optically not so bad. Of course, I've since hopped on the FX train so that lens collects dust now...

 

[Sw1tchFX]

The 35mm f/1.8G is actually sharper wide open than the 35mm f/1.4G. Bokeh isn't as nice, but considering it's cheap as chips you can do ALOT worse.

 

[greybeard]

Mehhhh, I don't know. I agree with everything everyone is saying -- it does suffer from CA, particularly at wide apertures, but for the money, its ok. I had done some comparisons a while back pitting it against the kit lens at 35mm -- did not address CA, but from a sharpness standpoint it was pretty good:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...m-1-8g-vs-18-55-3-5-5-6-lens-comparisons.html

c'mon man look what you're comparing it too!?

Actually, that damn kit lens is pretty good. I was totally expecting to see it was trash but it was surprisingly good. (build quality sucks, focus speed sucks, etc.) but optically not so bad. Of course, I've since hopped on the FX train so that lens collects dust now...

I agree, the 18-55 while crappy as far as build quality is surprisingly sharp and well corrected. I like it much better than the 18-105. (jmho)

 

[greybeard]

My 35mm f/1.8 came in today and while I haven't had a chance to really test it yet, so far I like it a lot. 1stly it is really a nice size, not big and heavy nor is it toyish and small. It focuses fast enough for me and it is silent. 2ndly is the BRIGHT view finder. It is so much brighter than the 18-55 f/3.5-5.6. It reminds me of my old SRT 201 with my 50mm f/1.7. I spent 3 years with that combination before I ever got any other lenses for my old Minolta. It will be my only lens I use for the next month or so and I will get a really good feel for what it can do. Hard to beat for $200

 

[greybeard]

Shot about 100 shots with it today, it is the sharpest lens in my bag. Haven't had a problem with CA yet.

 

[MK3Brent]

Anyone used the 35mm f1.8 on FX (not in DX crop mode)? Love the 35mm focal length and want to add it to the collection so starting to look at my options. I've read about the vignetting on FX, but that it isn't too bad wide open.

Not very noticeable at 1.8.
Here is an example. Sorry for the missed focus... They don't pay me to focus, I outsource that.