Introduction
The Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.8G had been released in 2014 as cheaper alternative to the more expensive and heavier Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G from 2010. The 35mm 1.4G was a rather weak entry in Nikon’s AF-S prime lineup. Is this 35mm 1.8G actually the better lens? Let’s try to find out in this review.
Sample Images
You can find many of the sample images in full resolution here.
Contents
Specifications / Version History
Released in 2014, this was actually Nikon’s first (and last) 35mm f/1.8 fullframe lens for the F-mount. It has the following specifications:
-
- Diameter: 72 mm
- Field of view: 63° (diagonally)
- Length: 72 mm
- Weight: 302g (without hood, without caps)
- Filter Diameter: 58 mm
- Number of Aperture Blades: 7 (rounded)
- Elements/Groups: 11/8
- Close Focusing Distance: 0.25 m
- Maximum Magnification: 1:3.9 (measured)
- Mount: Nikon F
buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.de | ebay.com | ebay.de | B&H (affiliate links) for $477 (new) or starting at $300 (used)
Handling/Build quality
The outer casing seems to be mostly made from high quality polycarbonate which is also true for the filter thread. There is a rubber gasket to be found at the bayonet.
The focus ring features a mechanical coupling to the helicoid (no focus by wire) and it takes about 90° from the minimum focus distance (0.25 m) to infinity.
The resistance is okay, definitely not as nice as a real manual lens or some of Sigma’s better AF lenses.
Many Nikon AF-S G-lenses show some slack when changing the direction of rotation on the focus ring and this 35mm 1.8G is also one of those, setting precise focus manually is not a great joy with this lens.
A plasticky bayonet type lens hood it also part of the package. It can be mounted reversed for transport.
This Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.8G is part of Nikon’s more affordable f/1.8 lineup together with the 20mm 1.8G, 24mm 1.8G, 28mm 1.8G, 50mm 1.8G and 85mm 1.8G. Unlike the 20mm, 24mm and 28mm it neither features nano coating nor that flashy gold ring.
This is a “G” lens – which means it doesn’t feature an aperture ring – so you need an adapter with built-in aperture control to be able to change the aperture value when using this lens on an E-mount camera like I did here. With the Monster LA-FE1 and LA-FE2 adapters also the autofocus will work on Sony cameras.
If you are a Z-mount user this lens also works flawlessly on the FTZ adapters.
AF performance
I tested the AF with the Monster LA-FE1/2 adapters on Sony E-mount cameras. Here the AF worked surprisingly well – much better than I would have expected – but then I am also not shooting sports or fast moving animals/humans and I don’t think the lens could keep up with that, as these AF-S f/1.8 primes are generally not very fast focusing lenses.
Via the FTZ adapters on a Nikon Z-mount camera it works just as well as on an F-mount camera, but it is still a rather slow focusing lens.
Vignetting
light falloff
| f/1.8 | 2.5 EV |
| f/2.8 | 1.6 EV |
| f/4.0 | 1.0 EV |
| f/5.6 - f/16 | 0.8 EV |
In this category lenses designed for (D)SLRs actually have a potential benefit over those designed for rangefinder/mirrorless cameras: the long back focus distance can lead to light rays coming from the rear element hitting the sensor at less acute angles.
These values look about average for a compact 35mm 1.8 lens designed for (D)SLRs. The Sony 35mm 1.8 FE shows similar vignetting figures at f/1.8, but noticeably higher ones stopped down. The latest Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S shows similar – slightly lower – values.
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
optical vignetting
Fast lenses usually show a noticeable amount of optical vignetting. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.
Also the optical vignetting amount looks average for a 35mm 1.8 lens. The latest Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S might do slightly better, but hard to tell without a direct comparison.
The optical design features one aspherical element, but I can only hardly see onion ring structures here.
Sharpness
MTF-Graphs
According to Nikon’s MTF graphs the slower f/1.8 lens promises a better performance at infinity, pretty much everywhere in the frame. Let’s see how these graphs translate into reality in the next sections.
Most MTF-Graphs show calculated values that do not take into account manufacturing tolerances and sample variation. Furthermore they are usually calculated for infinity, so in the field and shooting at different distances a noticeable variation may be visible.
Focus Shift
With some lenses on stopping down the focal plane shifts to the front or back, which can be an issue when using thie lens on (D)SLRS. Here I do not see any focus shift.
infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)
The MTF graphs didn’t lie, this 35mm 1.8G does look better at infinity than the Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G. It has a less pronounced midzone dip and the corners also look better at wider apertures. Peak across frame performance is reached around f/5.6 for both though.
The Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S is actually one of the weaker Z-mount S series lenses in this category as it also needs f/5.6 for best across frame performance.
The best fast 35mm lenses I have used so far are the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art – which looks better at f/1.2 than this lens does at any aperture – or the Sony FE 35mm 1.4 GM. Both lenses are way more expensive and also much heavier though.
portrait distance (1.0 m, 42mp Sony A7III)
For portraiture it isn’t so important how flat the field is, it is more interesting to see what the sharpness is like when focused at different parts of the frame to take field curvature out of the equation.
This is what I did here, I refocused for every shot and aperture to get the best possible result at different locations in the frame (center, inner midframe and outer midframe).
Focus distance was roughly 1.0 m and the circle of the dollar bill is more or less the size of a human eye.
f/1.8 <————> f/2.8
In this category the faster and more expensive Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G showed a bit of a lackluster performance. This Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.8G actually does show a better, but still not a great performance here. The Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S looks way better here as do lenses like the Sony FE 35mm 1.4 GM or the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN.
close (0.25 m, 1:4.3, 42mp Sony A7rII)
This Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.8G does focus close and offers a useful 1:4.3 magnification. At its maximum aperture it is a bit soft, stopping down to f/2.8 improves the performance considerably.
Flare resistance
As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.
I tried hard to make this lens show some unwanted artefacts, but as you can see I did not manage to do that.
I found this Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.8G to be a very good performer in this category, way better than the Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G and similar to the latest Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S.
Coma
This is a category where the three wide AF-S f/1.8 primes all show a very similar performance with similarly sized artefacts at their maximum aperture. Here this 35mm 1.8G might look a bit better at f/1.8 than the 35mm 1.4G at f/1.4, but neither looks great and from f/2.8 there is only very little difference between these two.
This is a category where the Samyang lenses usually fare well and this is also the case for their AF 24mm 1.8 FE, which corrects this aberration almost perfectly from f/1.8, same is true for the Nikon Z 24mm 1.8 S as well.
Distortion
The Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.8G shows some wavy barrel distortion. A correction profile – which is doing a good job – is available e.g. in Lightroom. If you are using this lens via the FTZ adapter the profile will automatically be applied in Lightroom and cannot be turned off.
Bokeh
As usual we will have a look how the lens performs at different distances and in different scenarios.
The short minimum focus distance of 0.25 m definitely helps creating a thin DoF here. Thanks to the floating elements design sharpness and contrast are also very good at these distances. Nikon really seems to have perfected this Close-Range-Correction (CRC), as all the fast AF-S wide angle lenses I tried are really good at this. Especially at f/1.8 the bokeh is more of the nervous type though.
As you can see from the samples above, structured elements in the background lead to very busy bokeh, this is is especially noticeable with foliage, but also the defocused buildings show a lot of double edged structures.
After having used both, the AF-S 35mm 1.4G and this AF-S 35mm 1.8G, I have been long thinking which one’s bokeh rendering I prefer.
The f/1.4 obviously is a bit faster, which is a benefit, but it also has stronger bokeh fringing than the f/1.8. I do think the f/1.4 creates slightly less nervous out of focus areas though. Neither is really great.
Sunstars
Also here very similar to the Nikon AF-S 28mm 1.8G and Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.8G: stopping down to f/16 is a good idea if you are after distinct sunstars.
If you want to learn more about this topic have a look at this article.
Chromatic aberration
lateral
When it comes to lateral CA there are actually huge differences between Nikon’s various AF-S f/1.4 to f/1.8 primes. While the Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G corrected this aberration very well, here we see noticeable CA. Luckily these are easily corrected in post by just one click.
longitudinal
The Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G does not feature any ED elements whereas this 35mm 1.8G does. That coupled with this lens being a bit slower gave me a little hope that longitudinal CA are better corrected here. Well, that isn’t exactly the case. Also here we see trong green and magenta outlining at f/1.8, which is still noticeable at f/2.8 and mostly gone by f/4.0.
Purple fringing also doesn’t look good at f/1.8 – still slightly better than the Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G at f/1.4 to f/2.0 though.
Interestingly also the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S shows noticeable loCA, from that lens I would have expected better.
Conclusion
good
|
average
|
not good
|
While the wider f/1.8 AF-S primes (20mm 1.8G, 24mm 1.8G and 28mm 1.8G) are all actually good to very good lenses, this 35mm 1.8G falls a bit behind. The optical performance is generally fine (and better than that of the Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G), but the bokeh is definitely not what I would like to see in a 35mm lens. Because it is so nervous, I found it often distracts from the actual subject.
Where it actually shines is at closer distances. Performance here is very good and also the bokeh is very nice, so if you mainly find yourself taking pictures of small things (hint: see the cat pictures), this lens does get the job done well.
Still, while Nikon’s manual focus 35mm 1.4 lens was well regarded at its time, I don’t think 35mm lenses are generally Nikon’s strong suit and I see why many people went with the Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art instead back in the day.
buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.de | ebay.com | ebay.de | B&H (affiliate links) for $477 (new) or starting at $300 (used)
Alternatives
You can find a lot of potential alternatives in our Guide to 35mm fullframe lenses for E-mount. I will still mention some of the more obvious alternatives here.
Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.4G (F-mount):
This is one of the weakest lenses in Nikon’s AF-S f/1.4 lineup. If it has to be an F-mount lens made by Nikon I would therefore rather get this f/1.8 lens.
buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $1.699 (new) or $550+ (used)
Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art (EF/F/E-mount):
This was a bit of a revelation when it was released. These days this is an affordable fast 35mm option but a bit on the bulky side if you are using a mirrorless camera. In the F-mount world I would pick it over Nikon’s 35mm offerings for sure.
buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $750 (new) or $480+ (used)
Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S (Z-mount):
This is Nikon’s latest 35mm 1.8 lens. Despite being part of the higher end S series lenses this one does leave a bit to be desired and does not perform on the same level as most of the other S series lenses. Still, a better performer than this older Nikon AF-S 35mm 1.8G.
buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $696 (new)
Sony FE 35mm 1.8 (E-mount):
In the Sony world this is also a bit of a lower end 35mm lens despite its comparably high price. I find it a bit hard to recommend, better have a look at our 35mm E-mount Guide first before pulling the trigger on this one.
buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $748 (new)
Sample Images
You can find many of the sample images in full resolution here.
Further Reading
- All Nikon Lens Reviews
- Guide to 35mm E-mount lenses
- Comparison: Six different 35mm lenses
- Review: Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN
- How to: Taking environmental Portraits
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I agree, Nikon does have some difficulties with 35mm lenses. Before I purchased the Tamron 35 f/1.4, I used the 35 f/2D, which is now installed on the F80. You know, I liked all the G versions less than the D version, but they were also bigger, heavier, and significantly more expensive.
Optical performance of the new 35/1.2 S looks great so not sure your judgement is valid now.
A huge 35mm 1.2 for 3000 bucks where it is debatable if it is any better than Sigma’s or Viltrox’ 35mm 1.2 lenses may not exactly be seen as a masterpiece by many.
If I were a connoisseur of 35mm lenses, then in the good old days, I might have chosen Canon, and in the era of mirrorless cameras, I would undoubtedly have preferred Sony. However, lenses such as are much more important to me now.:
Z50 f/1.8S
Z85 f/1.8S
Z24-70 f/4S
Z24-200
Z28-400
Z35 f/1.4
Z50 f2.8
They are examples of the ideal ratio of optical characteristics, weight, size and price. Although many of them are not the best at something, and often do not have the highest light intensity or sharpness, their qualities are still impressive.
And about the Z35 f/1.2. I have a Z35 f/1.4 and I’m not ready to pay 3,000 bucks for a lens weighing more than a kilogram and most people won’t see the difference in the picture. And if I really need 35 f/1.2, I’ll buy a Viltrax 35 f1.2. It costs less than 1000 bucks)
The most depressing list of alternatives I’ve ever seen here. We are doomed! 8()
Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 FE Lab and Sigma 35mm f1.2
They are not mentioned in the Guide?
But they are your new and old king…
Yes heavy lenses
Sigma is there, Viltrox will be added in the next update.
Excuse me, You are right!
The camera is still very good