Yesterday, after my visit to the Capitol, I decided to go to the U.S. Botanical Garden (which is right next to the Capitol) for some flower shots using my Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G lens.
I was looking for some crisp in-focus subjects and pleasant bokeh in the background. The in-focus part is okay, but the out-of-focus background isn’t that brilliant. Against a bright background, it works well (like in the shot below). But in lower light conditions, it isn’t that great (see the shot above). You don’t see those cool circles of light dancing in the far background when using this lens.
For this kind of shot, and portraits, the 50mm f/1.4D outperforms the 35mm by far. But that doesn’t mean the 35mm f/1.8G is crap. Quite the opposite. It is a great walk-around lens, perfect for those days when you want to carry little weight — a D40 with a 35mm f/1.8G weighs next to nothing! I’ll probably carry only the 35mm and the ultra-wide in Paris in the next weeks.
So, yeah… although I think it could have been better, I still recommend this lens.
The gallery for the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G DX lens is available on Flickr.