NikonAF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLR Cameras, 2183, Black

This is a very very sharp prime lens with autofocus. It takes pictures so clear and pleasing that the kit lens generally can't come close to this quality. This lens is good for low lights as well. It is NOT A ZOOM lens...for people who are looking to get this as their main lens. This is perhaps the sharpest nikkor lense you can get for general purpose indoor use. Get an external flash and the results will be even better.IS THIS FOR PORTRAITS?Yes and no. Good for full or half body portraits but not good for head shots on DX cameras. This is good for general purpose photography. I have tried portraits with this lens and while there is no problem that people notice at first, anybody can see the difference when shown a portrait or a head shot taken with a 105 or 135 mm. See, the thing is that in portrait pictures, you do not want too much depth. If you want to take a head shot with this lens, you have to stand so close to the subject that the tip of the nose and ears both can't be in focus at the same time. There is also a subtle distortion of facial feature when you are so close to the subject. Of course you can stand a bit further and crop your picture later but it is not ideal. On the other hand, if you want to take a portrait snap of half or full body, this is a good lens for that.My tests show that for portraits, you need a combination of focal lengths ranging from 70 mm to 105mm(DX format cameras such as nikon d5100). If you have a full format camera, you will shoot best portraits using lenses ranging from 85 to 135mm or so. No professional photographer will use this as their main portrait lens. So, if you want to shoot portraits, get a different lens as well. The best general purpose travel or outdoors lens is 18-200 mm f3.5 nikkor but that is at least $900 new.The bokeh on this lens is very very good as well and this is what makes things stand out. I showed a picture of my daughter taken at f1.8 in bright light outdoors to her and he reaction was that "it looks like a photo from a movie". That is what excellent bokeh means to people who just look at pictures but don't know what bokeh is. Even to them, bokeh makes portraits pleasing. Your kit lens will generally not provide this kind of bokeh, in fact it won't even come close.Auto focus is fast. The lens is quite small and will be no problem to carry around. videos with this are also very good. On my Nikon d 5100, the videos are affected badly due to the auto focus noise and speed if the subject is moving or you pan the camera. The auto focus is fast but not fast enough for videos.If you are a serious photographer, then you should have at least one prime lense suitable for your main purpose. I am not a professional but I still have this and a Rokinon 85 mm 1.4f. I will eventually get the 18-200 zoom but for now, I am happy with my prime lenses. People are stunned at the quality of pictures that this lens can take. For people who have mostly used point and shoot cameras, this will blow their mind. I also use an external flash and it makes things look even better.For hobbyists looking to setup a home studio, a strobe light setup will help immensely. For those looking to shoot models, this is not the best lens. Get a longer and fast telephoto for that. If you are just trying a DSLR for the time, and will mostly shoot in good light, get the kit lens or another zoom of your choice and you will be happy. Sometimes, knowing less about photo equipment is a blessing as it is very easy to know so much that you will find it hard to afford the expensive gear you read about. Great photos can still be taken with kit lenses. Limit equipment research to a reasonable level and focus more on the pictures. It is much more fun to take pictures than to worry about that 400 mm f1.8 that most can't afford and quite frankly don't need.

If there was a sixth star to give, this thing would get it. Positively THE best thing I have bought since purchasing the camera. Had I known the difference this would make when I started, I would have just bought a camera body and forgone the kit lenses altogether. This thing is a game changer! Why? Where do I start?!?! Short version: This lens drastically outperforms the kit lenses in every respect. Longer version: The auto focus servo is nearly silent on this thing. It's light, compact, and BRIGHT! The additional light this thing takes in compared to the kit lenses makes autofocus DRAMATICALLY faster and more effective. Focus, even in low light and at low ISO, is achieved almost instantly. Images are tack sharp and the control this thing gives you to of depth of field allows you to draw the viewer's eye not just on your subject, but to whatever specific part of your subject you choose. The lens allows me to shoot at much lower ISO's. I can't imagine having to go above 400 with it which is amazing considering the fact that with the same camera, I have rarely been able to shoot below 400 before unless I was outside in bright light with the kit lenses. I shot with this one all afternoon long yesterday at 100 with no issues. The additional light dramatically improves shutter speed as well, so if you shoot handheld like I do, it means getting shots you wouldn't have been stable enough to get before. It's a 10 out of 10 in every respect. I never write reviews but had to for this one. The seller is quick too. The item showed up much faster than I expected and in good condition. Very...VERY....happy. Almost giddy. Get one. You'll see what I mean. Happy shooting!

I imagine for most people, this will be either the 2nd or 3rd lens they buy (counting the kit lens, if you got one). For me, this was my 3rd lens. The first were the kit 18-55mm Nikon VR lens and the 55-200mm telephoto Nikon non-VR lens. Both of those lenses are very good, and very versatile, but in terms of image quality they can't even remotely touch this one.First things first, it's a prime lens, meaning no zoom. Kind of obvious, but should at least be mentioned for those newer to the hobby. However, that doesn't mean that it can't take pictures from far away, on the contrary, it can take some stunning pictures from a distance, it will just be that you can't zoom in closer on things at a distance. It's actually very good at landscapes, especially late evening sunsets and night time skylines, for instance.Additionally, this lens is so sharp, that you can crop a LOT. Meaning that you can effectively get zoom after the fact by cropping your picture in photo editing software, and the image will still look very good, as long as you nailed your focus in the original picture (obviously the more you crop, the more you notice things being out of focus).Secondly, it doesn't have vibration reduction. However, this is a fast lens, which negates most of the need for VR in the first place. What photo nerds mean by a 'fast lens' that is that it lets in a lot of light, meaning that the shutter can open and close very quickly and still properly expose the image, meaning that blur, both from camera shake and moving subjects are DRASTICALLY minimized. It also thus better at 'freezing' moving objects, that would blur in a slower lens. The only time where VR would be a welcome addition is possibly extremely low light photography, but even then you should be fine without it. To be honest, I'm almost glad it's not on there, because I often forget to turn VR off when I don't need it, and VR does run your battery down faster.Now that those two caveats are out of the way, on to the strengths:This will enable photos that you just can't take with the kit lens. Especially if you're interested in concert photography (or any other form of photography that involves low light, but also movement). In most instances, this lens just takes better looking pictures than the kit lens. But in low light concert photography it will actually take pictures that a slower lens just can't take without extreme blur (or using the flash, which both kills the atmosphere and often times isn't allowed). For instance, a lead singer who moves his head back and forth some on a dimly lit stage. With the kit lens his head will just be a blur, which is sometimes a cool effect, but sometimes it just looks blurry. With this lens, you can get a nice crisp image if you want, or adjust your aperture, or your shutter speed and get the motion blur as well, if you want it. It's nice to have both options.The bokeh. Bokeh is a photography term that essentially just means 'blurry background'. This is what really makes portraits 'pop' as the subject's face can really be set apart from the background. It's also good when you have a busy background that would otherwise be distracting, even if you're not shooting portraits. Just go into aperture priority mode and set this baby to f1.8, get relatively close (a few feet) to your subject and fire away. Your portraits will take on that dreamy professional look. The closer you are to your subject, the more extreme the bokeh effect is (which is why this lens can effectively take landscape shots, because the effect is diminished greatly when you're shooting from a large distance).More control over your depth of field. This is basically the same strength as the previous point, but just more widely considered. With the kit lens, at any given focal length, your f/stop options are going to be pretty limited. Meaning you're basically stuck with the depth of field you have. However, with this lens, you basically always have from f1.8 to f22. This gives you extreme control over how deep your field is (essentially how large the range of 'in focus' is, and how gradually images fade from in focus to out of focus). You can create that nice blurred background we talked about above, or you can have an identifiable background as well. This is especially useful when shooting dogs, for instance, because sometimes (like when they're in profile) you want a very shallow depth of field, to give good bokeh and sharpness, while others you want a little more depth of field (like if they're looking straight forward at you and you want to keep the tip of their nose all the way to their ears in focus. Being able to control your depth of field is really the first step (of many) into going from a snapshot shooter with a nice camera to an actual photographer.Light weight, short length. doesn't seem like a big deal into you lug a heavy 15-300 zoom lens around on your neck all day long. It's also short, which is surprisingly helpful in a crowded environment, like a concert.While this lens is obviously not quite as versatile as a kit or telephoto lens, the images you get will blow you away. Yes, you will have to move around more to get the shot you want and/or crop more. But that's not much of a price to pay for drastically improved image quality. Since I've bought this lens, the 18-55 mm lens rarely comes out of the bag. I still use other lenses, but this is the default go to lens. The one that stays attached when the camera is in my bag, so that if I need to pull it out and snap off a shot in a hurry, this is the one that will be taking it.

Comprei pro meu pai que é fotógrafo. A imagem muito nítida, produto de qualidade, vale a pena a compra.

Funciona a la perfección, una gran apertura del diafragma, muy buen precio.

Great lens

I gave 1 star for "image stabilization" as this lens does not have that feature. TBH you don't need it on a lens like this. If your pictures are blurry, you need to look at your camera technique!So what's good about it?The picture quality from this lens is comparable to much more expensive lenses. It is significantly better than most kit lenses that come with DX nikon cameras. It has very low distortion and has a field of view comparable to what you see, so perfect for reportage, travel, landscapes etc.It's also really fast - i.e. it goes down to f1.8 which means you can shoot with a lower ISO and still have a good shutter speed in lower lighting. It also means you can shoot really professional looking portraits with a lovely blurry background or beautiful bokeh if you have christmas lights or such like about 20 feet or more behind the subject. The final comment is that this lens is very small and light, and is now my preferred 'default' lens if i'm out and about with the camera without a specific shot in mind. Being a prime lens, you can't zoom in or out, so you need to position yourself to get the best shot, and that encourages more creative photography I think. Great little lens for the money!

Voulant s'entraîner avec objectif fixe pour portrait et prise en faible luminosité c'est un bon achat au vu de son prix.