Looking for a prime lens that will approximate the excellent 50mm focal length on your DX Nikon?
Check out the brand new Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8 G lens. This 35mm lens is equivalent to a focal length of 52.5mm in FX (full frame) formats. Other features include a Silent Wave Motor, an aspherical lens, a metal mount, and Nikon’s nice seven-blade rounded diaphragm for creating nice bokeh.
You can buy it from Amazon and if you use that link, I’ll get a kick-back.
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Jeff White
09 February 2009 at 11:48 am
Damn. I just bought the 30mm f2. Wish I had of known this was coming, I might have waited. Oh well, the 30mm is a really nice lens in its own right.
Brett Pappas
09 February 2009 at 1:35 pm
I think you are confused about DX versus FX. This lens is 35mm on a DX sensor (hence the name). If you put it on an FX body it would not be 52.5mm - it would be 23mm since the DX has a crop factor of 1.5.
This lens is not meant for FX sensors as you would lose pixels, it is meant for cheaper bodies like the D40 and D60 which need AF-S lenses since most of the older primes don’t have the built in auto focus.
Dan Benjamin
09 February 2009 at 3:31 pm
Brett,
Actually, I’m recommending the lens for owners of Nikon DX-format cameras, looking for the 50mm lens experience, which this lens would provide to them.
From Nikon’s page (linked above):
“DX-format, normal single-focal-length lens with 35mm focal length (picture angle is equivalent to a focal length of 52.5mm in FX and 35mm formats) “
Hope that makes sense.
Markus Arike
09 February 2009 at 8:09 pm
Actually, everything Dan wrote is correct. This lens is meant to approximate a 50 1.8 for owners of DX format cameras, like my D200. It’s nice to use my 70-200 and have it seem as a 100-300 2.8, but a lens like my 50 1.8 becomes like a short portrait lens on a DX format SLR. Kind of a drag.
Regarding Brett’s comments, DX lenses are always marked with their focal length before the crop factor, so if it were actually 23mm, it would be marked as such.
Great find Dan. It’s about time for Nikon to start upgrading their shorter primes, other than the Micro lenses.
Mark
10 February 2009 at 3:13 am
Cheers Dan. Recently bought a D90 and whilst the 50mm 1.8 is lovely I think this is exactly what I’ve been unconsciously seeking.
Hopefully it won’t take too long to reach the UK :(
chuck
10 February 2009 at 11:01 pm
I often see confusion about the meaning of DX. All it means is that the image circle produced by the lens is just large enough for a DX sensor but too small for an FX sensor or 35mm film.
The DX designation has absolutely nothing to do with focal length. A 35mm FX lens and a 35mm DX lens will both give you the same angle of view on a DX camera. On a FX camera, both lenses will give you the same image in the center, but the DX lens will have severe vignetting because its image circle isn’t big enough to cover the entire FX sensor. Of course, this is assuming the FX camera isn’t in DX crop mode - in which case it would behave exactly like a DX camera.
Matt
11 February 2009 at 11:13 pm
Nikons’ press release states March as the release date for this one; and claims a marked improvement in image quality over the (already very good) 35mm f/2.
I’ll be interested to see if the difference is as large as they’re claiming it to be.
andrew
23 February 2009 at 12:23 pm
@brett - i believe he was saying it’s the equivalent, not that that’s what it would be if you used it with a full frame sensor.
35mm on DX ~= 50mm on a FX
mike
05 March 2009 at 10:20 am
hi all.. this should be a perfect fit for the dx bodies… the only downside is if you are looking to upgrade to a fx camera soon, this lense will not be advisable use for the d700’s and above…
as far as dx vs fx sensor.. here’s a site directly from nikon for more informative detail.
http://support.nikontech.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2596/kw/dx/r_id/166