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Nikkor AF 35mm f/2.0 D (DX) - Review / Lab Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Nikon / Nikkor (APS-C)
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Page 1 of 2
Review by Markus Stamm, published June 2011
Introduction
35 mm lenses have seen some sort of revival in the digital age, because for users of cameras with APS-C sensors these lenses offered almost the same picture angle as a 50mm lens on film cameras and thus were chosen by many as their normal primes.
One of these popular lenses in the Nikon community is the Nikkor AF-D 35/2.0. Even though there are now dedicated 35mm DX primes available, the lens on paper is still attractive for those who shoot with cameras of both sensor sizes (DX and FX).
In this review, we'll have a look at how this somewhat aged design (introduced in 1995) performs on our current DX test camera, the Nikon D7000.
The build quality of the lens is very good and in line with most moderately priced Nikkors. The outer barrel is made of polycarbonate combined with a metal mount. The small rubberized focus ring is very smooth and only marginally damped, but rotates during AF operation.
Typical for lenses with a linear extension system the whole inner tube moves during focusing thus extending the lens when focusing towards closer focus distances.
The lens has no internal AF motor and relies on a slotted drive screw operated by the camera, so AF is not available on the motorless entry-level Nikon DSLRs. As a result of the screw drive, AF operation will generate a moderate degree of noise. The front element does not rotate so using a polarizer is no problem.
| Specifications |
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| Equiv. focal length | 52.5 mm (full format equivalent) |
| Equiv. aperture | f/3 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field) |
| Optical construction | 6 elements in 5 groups |
| Number of aperture blades | 7 |
| min. focus distance | 0.25 m (max. magnification ratio 1:4.2) |
| Dimensions | 65 x 45 mm |
| Weight | 205 g |
| Filter size | 52 mm (non-rotating) |
| Hood | Nikon HN-3 (optional), barrel shaped (screw-in) |
| Other features | Lens provides distance (D) information to the camera |
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