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View Full Version : Nikon's New DX Standard: The 35mm F1.8

John Lane
02-11-2009, 10:49 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dpreview.com/news/0902/09021002nikoninterview.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.dpreview.com/news/0902/0...oninterview.asp</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"The majority of lens systems have offered 50mm lenses as the most accessible way for new DSLR users to experiment with fast prime lenses (a legacy from 35mm film cameras on which they acted as 'standard' lenses). Yet Nikon has decided that its new offering should be a 50mm equivalent. Ludovic Drean explains why: "The concept was to give a 50mm equivalent lens on the DX format. A lot of people have bought the 50 1.8 because it was all that was available. It may seem rather late for the APS-C system, but we believed that entry-level users wanted a standard lens."</em></p><p><img height="396" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1234381880.usr18286.jpg" style="border: 0;" width="432" /></p><p>The release of a 35mm f1.8 lens is is a smart move by Nikon.&nbsp; It does give the entry-level Nikon DSLRs a standard lens to shoot with.&nbsp; I bought the Canon 35mm f2 just for this reason.&nbsp; I bet they sell a ton of these.&nbsp; Shooting at f1.8 with this lens at close distances can be tricky because very little is in focus.&nbsp; The flip side to that is great bokeh (blur).</p>
Lee Yuan Sheng
02-12-2009, 02:09 AM
Bokeh: Japanese term referring to quality of the of out-of-focus areas.

Depth-of-field: The area of a photo in which it is deemed sharp enough for the intended viewing purpose (4x6" print, 20x30" print, 100% on the monitor, web-output, etc).

Aperture: Among other things, one of the factors controlling the DOF in a photo. Shallow DOF is achieved using a bigger aperture, other things being equal.

With the above defined, it can be thus mentioned that a large aperture lens can bring about shallow depth of field, but the bokeh can still be terrible. Also bokeh is not necessarily uniform; some lenses are worse at certain apertures compared to others. Always test your lenses!