New Lens Collection - Nikkor 35mm AF-D f/2

     My lens collection have got another upgrade with the addition of the Nikkor 35mm AF-D f/2. The 35mm f/2 is a great fast wide angle lens for the full frame (FX) camera body. But equipped on a cropped sensor (DX) camera body, it is transformed to a fast normal lens (with a 1.5x crop factor, the focal length become 52mm).

     Already in my collection, the Nikkor 50mm AF-D f/1.8 which is supposed to be the fast normal lens. But when equipped on my D90 (DX body) it becomes a little telephoto side (with a 1.5x crop factor, the focal length become 75mm). At times I find it a little hard to frame my pictures as the magnification is rather big at 75mm and the minimum focus distance of 45cm it adds to the difficulty to compose up close. However it makes a great portrait lens at 75mm, no doubt about it.

     The 35mm f/2 has a great close up feature with minimum focus distance of 25mm! Taking pictures up close sure is convenient. At wide open f/2, the sharpness is remarkable (at center, corners seems to be a bit soft according to various reviews) and the bokeh produced is marvelous. It has a compact size of 65×44.5 mm, just slightly bigger and longer than my 50mm f/1.8. Makes a great set up for a casual day photography and attracts less attention compared with big zoom lens. Of course it is a full frame lens and a AF-D lens hence it will be compatible with any FX body and film SLR in future. Ngek ngek...


Some shots of the 35mm AF-D f/2 took in my room yesterday.
Set up: D90 with 50mm f/1.8 at 1/60sec f/2.8 ISO200 Nissin Di622 fired from upper right at 1/32 power.


Set up: D90 with 50mm f/1.8 at 1/200sec f/5.6 ISO200 2 x Nissin Di622 fired from lower left and right at 1/32 power.

 Sample test picture with the 35mm AF-D f/2:

Portrait of our villa's new cat.
D90 35mm f/2 at 1/100sec f/2 ISO200