Nikon 35mm f/1.8 vs Nikon 50mm f/1.8

[LeviMeredith]

35mm - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-35mm-1-8G/dp/B001S2PPT0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457641976&sr=8-1&keywords=nikon+f%2F1.8

50mm - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-2137-Nikkor-Frame-Cameras/dp/B00005LEN4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1457641976&sr=8-3&keywords=nikon+f%2F1.8

 

Which of these lenses is better and why? Also, what is all of the writing on the side of the 50mm?

[ionbasa]

7 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

35mm - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-35mm-1-8G/dp/B001S2PPT0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457641976&sr=8-1&keywords=nikon+f%2F1.8

50mm - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-2137-Nikkor-Frame-Cameras/dp/B00005LEN4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1457641976&sr=8-3&keywords=nikon+f%2F1.8

 

Which of these lenses is better and why? Also, what is all of the writing on the side of the 50mm?

The 50mm doesn't have autofocus, the writing on the side is focal distance for the first ring. The second ring is aperture ring (f/stops).

[ALwin]

The numbers on the side indicate focusing distance, aperture and hyper focal distance.

 

Both lenses are good lenses.  The 50 f/1.8D doesn't have an in-lens AF motor.

[LeviMeredith]

Just now, ALwin said:

The numbers on the side indicate focusing distance, aperture and hyper focal distance.

 

Both lenses are good lenses.

Hyper focal?

[LeviMeredith]

1 minute ago, ionbasa said:

The 50mm doesn't have autofocus, the writing on the side is focal distance for the first ring. The second ring is aperture ring (f/stops).

With the lense that I have now I set the aperature from my camera? If I get the 50mm and change the aperature, will the camera still be able to find out what the aperature is so I can read it while while looking through the viewfinder?

[ALwin]

8 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

Hyper focal?

Hyperfocal distance assist, the 11 and 22 on either side of the thick white line.  The small white dot under the infinity symbol assists with focusing for Infrared photography.

 

[ALwin]

Because the 50 f1.8D lens doesn't have an in-lens AF motor, it requires a camera body that has in in-body AF motor, Nikon D7x00 bodies and higher.  On D3x00 and D5x00 bodies, it becomes a manual focus lens.

[ALwin]

3 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

With the lense that I have now I set the aperature from my camera? If I get the 50mm and change the aperature, will the camera still be able to find out what the aperature is so I can read it while while looking through the viewfinder?

The lens will still transmit aperture info to the camera body.

[SeanAngelo]

20 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

35mm - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-35mm-1-8G/dp/B001S2PPT0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457641976&sr=8-1&keywords=nikon+f%2F1.8

50mm - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-2137-Nikkor-Frame-Cameras/dp/B00005LEN4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1457641976&sr=8-3&keywords=nikon+f%2F1.8

 

Which of these lenses is better and why? Also, what is all of the writing on the side of the 50mm?

35mm cuz its newer and has AF rather than manual.

[ALwin]

The other difference:

 

Nikon 50mm primes are almost always lenses designed for FF bodies, which are still usable with cropped sensor bodies.

 

The 35mm f/1.8G lens in your link is a cropped sensor lens, on a FF body it will cause serious vignetting.

 

Nikon also makes a 50mm f/1.8G lens that will AF with any Nikon DSLR body, as it has the in-lens AF motor:

 

 

f/1.x D lenses are older and retain the manual aperture rings.  The newer G lenses no longer have this ring.  But the 50mm f/1.8D lens is still a sharp lens.

[LeviMeredith]

5 minutes ago, ALwin said:

The other difference:

 

Nikon 50mm primes are almost always lenses designed for FF bodies, which are still usable with cropped sensor bodies.

 

The 35mm f/1.8G lens in your link is a cropped sensor lens, on a FF body it will cause serious vignetting.

Is a D3200 a 'cropped sensor body'?

[ALwin]

3 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

Is a D3200 a 'cropped sensor body'?

The only full frame Nikon bodies currently are the Nikon D6x0, D7x0, D8x0 and D4, D4s, D5 bodies.  Bodies and lenses for Full Frame Nikon are indicated by the letters FX.

 

Every other Nikon camera body, D3x00, D5x00, D7x00 and D500, D300s, D300, etc. are cropped sensor bodies.  Cropped sensor Nikon DSLR bodies and lenses for them are indicated by the letters DX.  They have a crop factor of 1.6

 

Nikon FX lenses work with FX and DX bodies, Nikon DX lenses are mainly designed to be used with DX bodies and while they can work on FX bodies there will be serious vignetting or you need to set the FX camera to DX mode where it will only use a center cropped portion of the larger sensor.

 

Nikon mirrorless cameras are CX, namely the Nikon 1 series of MILC cameras.

[LeviMeredith]

1 minute ago, ALwin said:

The only full frame Nikon bodies currently are the Nikon D6x0, D7x0, D8x0 and D4, D4s, D5 bodies.  Bodies and lenses for Full Frame Nikon are indicated by the letters FX.

 

Every other Nikon camera body, D3x00, D5x00, D7x00 and D500, D300s, D300, etc. are cropped sensor bodies.  Cropped sensor Nikon DSLR bodies and lenses for them are indicated by the letters DX.

 

Nikon mirrorless cameras are CX, namely the Nikon 1 series of MILC cameras.

So either of the lensess will work find for me?

[ALwin]

6 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

So either of the lensess will work find for me?

Yes, but read my previous comments about AF motors in the lens and in the camera body.  All lenses indicated with the letter G behind the aperture (see image below) have an autofocus motor in the lens, and are compatible with all Nikon DSLR bodies.  However, non G lenses usually do not come with the motor in the lens, so for autofocusing it requires that the camera body has the motor inside.  Nikon doesn't include the AF motor in D3x00 and D5x00 bodies.

 

 

 

 

As you can see here in this image of a D3200, it lacks the small turn screw that is driven by the in-body AF motor to turn the lens' focus mechanism.  Compared to the D800 (bottom image).

 

[ALwin]

To be more precise, Nikon AF-S lenses are capable of autofocusing with all Nikon DSLR bodies.

 

https://photographylife.com/nikon-lens-nomenclature

[LeviMeredith]

Just now, ALwin said:

To be more precise, Nikon AF-S lenses are capable of autofocusing with all Nikon DSLR bodies.

 

https://photographylife.com/nikon-lens-nomenclature

I'm OK with manual focusing.

[ALwin]

3 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

I'm OK with manual focusing.

For the D3200 get the 35 f/1.8G, unless you plan to upgrade to a Nikon D7x00, D300s, D500 or a Nikon FX camera in the future.  But even then, I'd get the G version instead of the older D if I plan to upgrade.

 

I have experience with both the lenses you linked in your original post.  Both are sharp high quality lenses.  The only reason I don't have the 35mm lens anymore is because I've switched to all FX with my Nikon gear.

[LeviMeredith]

1 minute ago, ALwin said:

For the D3200 get the 35 f/1.8G, unless you plan to upgrade to a Nikon D7x00, D300s, D500 or a Nikon FX camera in the future.

 

I have experience with both the lenses you linked in your original post.  Both are sharp high quality lenses.

Why do you recommend the 35mm? I use manual focus on my AF lens lot's of the time so I'm fine with that. I also think that 50mm would be a more suitable zoom for me.

[ALwin]

4 minutes ago, LeviMeredith said:

Why do you recommend the 35mm? I use manual focus on my AF lens lot's of the time so I'm fine with that. I also think that 50mm would be a more suitable zoom for me.

There is also a newer 50mm f/1.8G version.  I recommend the G version because even if you are comfortable with manual focusing, sometimes AF helps a lot.  Especially with these fast aperture lenses where the DOF can be very shallow.

[Klerk]

Get the 35mm 1.8g. 35mm is a better lens on crop sensors for general use. 50mm is better for portraits but you might have some issues when you are in a confined area where you can't move back far enough to capture what you want. Also if you are really keen on getting a 50mm get the 1.8g version with autofocus. Yeah sure you are comfortable with using manual focus but you will have a lot of problems getting things in focus on a wide aperture like f1.8 or when you don't have enough time to manually focus.