Almost two years ago when our Ang Mo bud Matt visited us, he brought along his 35mm f1.8 prime. I blogged after borrowing his lens for a bit to take pictures of our then 9 month old Hannah, and the optical results were really impressive! This is the only lens I know of where Ling didn’t need convincing for her to endorse its purchase.=)
I’ve kept that lens at the back of my mind since then, but kept putting off a purchase. At that point already in 2010, I was uncertain if I wasn’t going to make the jump to full-frame, and the lens works largely for cropped sensor bodies. Then the micro-4/3s standard came along and I stopped acquiring Nikon lenses altogether, and started selling away some of my relatively unused ones; three in fact last year (my 20 year old Nikon 70-200mm f4-5.6, the macro Sigma AF 150mm f/2.8 APO EX HSM, and ultra wide-angle Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM).
Something struck me though while shooting most of the last 8 months using the amazing Lumix 20mm f1.7 on the E-PL2; and it was how much fun it is to shoot with prime lenses! You work harder with your feet, think harder and faster about composition, and become more adept at understanding the intricacies of f-stops.
After picking up the D7000 (I’m gradually adjusting myself to it and learning to live with its limitations) and concluding that I’m going to stay with cropped sensor bodies for at least a long while more, I decided to pick up the 35mm f1.8. Yeah, two years after getting introduced to it, but better late than never! So, made a trip downtown this morning, and pick it up at USD256. Relatively more pricey when compared to overseas prices – Amazon sells it for ~S$260 – but still about the lowest I can find here in Singapore.
Here’s a quick shot of a festive plant on our coffee table at f3.5:
And below, a 100% cropped portion about right center of the original picture:
Very sharp at a few stops above maximum aperture, and certainly as good as the many reviews online have noted. Many pictures of Hannah @ 35mm to come soon.=)
Awesome, buddy! The 35mm f1.8 is often my go-to lens, which is remarkable because it’s far cheaper than most everything I otherwise use. As you said, prime lenses force you to constantly be critical of composition in a way zoom lenses do not.
I wish Nikon produced DX wide-angle primes. . . .