Camera Labs

Thanks Thomas for your excellent work on this review!

Great review! Thank you.

I think this can be a good upgrade for my 18-55 kit lens as a general purpose prime?

Depends on which body you own, for a FX (full frame) body it certainly would, for a cropped body, it's a little too tight IMHO, great for close ups and portraits (75mm equiv.), but for general shooting with a cropped body I'd go for the 35mm F/1.8 instead.

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Nikon D90 | AF-S 18-200 VR II | AF-S 35mm f/1.8 | Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 | SB-600 | Gorillapod + Manfrotto 484RC2

Hummm... I have a D40 body.

Só, I'll reconsider my choice. Maybe I try it before buying...

Thank you for the tip.

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Everton.

Nikon D40 | 18-55mm kit lens.

Hello,
Which of these two lenses would be better for my Nikon D7000? I mostly take pictures of my family (inside or outside my house) and often take pictures of landscapes. This covers 90% of what I do. I still need a zoon lens to cover the rest of the 10%. Most reviews say 50mm 1.8G is better for portraits, etc. but if I am shooting inside my house it could be difficult to step back often. I want to make sure I am not compromising much on quality (sharpness, contrast) by leaning towards 35mm 1.8G.

Apparently, I am not an expert on photography so any input from you all experienced users would be highly appreciated. Thank you.

Vipuldk, welcome to the forums!

Do you already have an 18-55? Surely you can set that to 35mm and 50mm to see what field of view each lens gives you?

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

Thank you jeremy1302.

I sold off my kit lens 18-105mm VR. I think I made a mistake. I bough 18-200 VR II but it had a constant clunking noise so most people I talked to recommended me to return it saying it could be a defective lens. Now I am without any zoom lens. So I still need to get a zoom lens that is sharper The pictures that I took with 18-200 were not sharper than 18-105. I think kit lens was sharper when I looked at my images closely.

Anyway, I heard a lot about having a prime along with these zoom lenses so I want to buy one but I am confused between 35mm and 50mm. So that is why I listed my use cases so people can see what I do with my camera.

Thank you for your quick reply.

Hello vipuldk, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
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As to your question whether a 35/1.8 or a 50/1.8 would be the preferable lens I'd say: Get the 35/1.8! Esp. inside and if you're after capturing more than just a single person the angle of view on a DX-body like your D7000 is likely to be of more use than from the 50/1.8.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thomas,
Thank you so much for your reply. I will get 35mm/1.8G.

I'm either getting this 50mm f/1.8g or the 35mm but can't really decide. I'm mainly using it for a holiday i'm going on. I am leaning towards the 50mm because of the focus window and it having better bokeh. Anyone have any thoughts? thanks

Hello reynolds888, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
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The answer to your question depends depends on what you like to shoot - and the assumption that you have a DX-body, because the 35/1.8G is a DX-lens. So please, give us some insight on your photographic goals.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thomas is right - it depends on your style. I can only give you a couple of perspectives on what I find works.

First, the "focus window" is all but useless (I never look at it). The focus movement is so small that the scale is very compressed - you only have to compare it with (say) a 50mm f1.8 AF-D to see. So I wouldn't worry about that.

I find the more "normal" perspective of the 35 more suited to my style of photography. I have used it much more than my 50 on DX, which I find a bit confining for general use - the 50 being better for portraits, isolating a feature etc. Holiday shots, too, usually benefit from this sort of perspective you get with the 35.

The other thing is that the 35 is very good, in my experience, even from max aperture. But look at Thomas' tests - they're particularly informative.

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HCC
Nikon DSLRs, film cameras from Leica to Linhof

Thanks Thomas, I read it!
Well mostly It will be for holiday and party shots maybe with some landscapes so I think the 35mm is best for me. But I also think I would like to do some portraits.
So i've decided to get the 35mm f/1.8g and the 50mm f/1.8d because I can get it pretty cheap! Thanks very much for the help.

Thanks Thomas for your excellent work on this review!
I like Compare picture it easy to choose.