nikon lens question

R

robbailey

Active member
Downsizing so I can buy some more camera equipment. I have both the 35mm 1.8 and the 50mm 1.8 My thoughts are to keep the 35 and sell the 50 since the 35 seems more versatile. Curious what others opinions are. Im pretty much strictly video and very rarely take a photo.

If you had to keep one or the other which would you choose?
 
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I'd keep the 35mm. Are your lenses G series? I use a 50mm 1.8 D, which sells for about $80 used. If you can swing it, keep both.
 
For APS-C, I've continually found 28mm to be the sweet spot for normal. (And luckily, the 28mm 2.8 AIS is one of Nikon's great primes & very affordable.... the Zeiss 28 is nice as well...)

For compositions where I'd normally use a 60 or 65 on FF - for sort of "compressed normal", 35mm usually works well, but 28 seems to really work great on APS-C when you want a natural sense of perspective and camera motion that doesn't seem too distorted.
 
I own the 28mm AIS as well. It's an amazing lens, i especially love that it focuses so close, almost macro like. I'm using it on a DX camera, so i get about 43mm, which is a nice field of view. My only gripe with this lens is that the distortion is the same as you would shoot with a 28mm lens, so when you get very close to a face for example the appearance is rarely flattering. Sometimes i want to go from a portrait to a wide view in the same take, and when up close i find it way too distorted. What are my choices for this problem on a DX camera? I don't need it to be very wide and i understand that i'll still get distortions, but i'd love them to be less.
 
Facial distortion is more dependent on the distance from the camera to the face rather than on the focal length of the lens. The rule of thumb is to stay at least 5 feet away from your subject to avoid distortion. So on a DX camera, I would recommend at least a 50mm lens. 85mm if you want to be completely distortion free. These lenses will allow you to stay at least 5 feet away and still fill the frame with the subject's head and shoulders.
 
I would not sell the 50mm. The resale value is just stupid low. The benefit for wide open portraiture however is well worth while.
 
Keep the Nikkor lenses unless you can sell at a premium. If you're looking at Cine Primes check prices between Rokinon, Bower and Samyang. They're all 'virtually' the same, all made in Korea in the same plant. Rokinon seems to be the 'premium' brand out of the three as far as price goes. The results are excellent. I loved the look of my Nikkor AIS primes, however, the functionality was a serious pain. The Cine Primes are already geared for follow focus, declicked aperture and smooth focus pull. The FP isn't industry standard (Ziess, Cook, RED and so forth have something like a 270 degree pull), but all of it is easier to use than straight up Nikkor. Also, remember that the Nikkor lenses are designed for stills. The Rokinon/Bower/Samyang are designed for modern digital cinema UHD.
 
Keep 'em. I can tell you how glad I am that I did for situations when I need to fly the camera. Lightweight and 1.8 opening. I am liking my collection of 1.8G lenses. I wish they'd make a Plastic 70-200 VR lens.
 
zodd42 said:
Also, remember that the Nikkor lenses are designed for stills. The Rokinon/Bower/Samyang are designed for modern digital cinema UHD.
Click to expand...

I've never seen anything to support that - the Rokinons were all designed as still lenses, many of the designs have been around for some time. They have short focus pulls and a good deal of breathing. You can declick and add a permanent focus ring to most any still lens, just as Rokinon does - it doesn't make 'em cinema glass. (Not knocking the product, but every one I've tried is basically a still lens).
 
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