Need some Nikon lens help

michicks

I bought a D60 kit about 3 months ago with the 18-55mm and 55-200mm VR lenses. I just bought a 70-300mm VR because I wanted a little extra zoom, but now I'm thinking about grabbing a prime lens, I'm thinking about the nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S. I've been asked to take pictures for the children's musical at my church and I feel it would do better than my 18-55mm.

What is the field of view on these prime lenses? Any suggestions would be great, I bought the camera as a hobby but I've had a couple people ask me to take some photos so I'm thinking about giving it a try.

Qarik

michicks wrote:

I bought a D60 kit about 3 months ago with the 18-55mm and 55-200mm VR lenses. I just bought a 70-300mm VR because I wanted a little extra zoom, but now I'm thinking about grabbing a prime lens, I'm thinking about the nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S. I've been asked to take pictures for the children's musical at my church and I feel it would do better than my 18-55mm.

What is the field of view on these prime lenses? Any suggestions would be great, I bought the camera as a hobby but I've had a couple people ask me to take some photos so I'm thinking about giving it a try.

field of view? what does that mean?

cab.in.boston

michicks wrote:

What is the field of view on these prime lenses? Any suggestions would be great, I bought the camera as a hobby but I've had a couple people ask me to take some photos so I'm thinking about giving it a try.

I have the 35 f/1.8 and really like it. I'm assuming you are curious about the depth of field, as you could simulate the field of view just by setting your 18-55 to 35mm and taking some shots without zooming. Here's a pic I took with the 35mm, at f/2.2. The DOF is fairly shallow, as you can see. All in all, we are quite happy with this lens. However, since we got the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, the 35 hasn't been on the camera all that much, but it used to be the lens we used almost exclusively.



This was taken with the same lens, at f/2.5.

michicks

crap I'm new as this stuff, will the 35mm prime lens, and my 18-55mm lens zoomed to 35mm show the same area?

edit, I think Cab in Boston answered it for me

ziggy53

michicks wrote:

I bought a D60 ... I'm thinking about the nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S. I've been asked to take pictures for the children's musical at my church and I feel it would do better than my 18-55mm.

What is the field of view on these prime lenses? ...

A Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX would have a "standard" or "normal" Field-Of-View (FOV) on a Nikon crop 1.5x camera like the D60. It would be a similar FOV to a 50mm lens on a film 35mm format or FF digital SLR.

You can easily review the FOV using your 18-55mm lens set to 35mm focal length.

cab.in.boston

michicks wrote:

crap I'm new as this stuff, will the 35mm prime lens, and my 18-55mm lens zoomed to 35mm show the same area?

Yes, it will show you the same area, however the larger aperture will improve the camera's focus speed, let you shoot in lower light, give you a brighter viewfinder, and allow you to better isolate your subject against the background by using a shallower depth of field (more bokeh). 35mm is pretty close to the "normal" or "standard" focal length for the DX format sensor, just as 50mm is for FX or 35mm film. It's a fairly inexpensive lens, and I think you'll enjoy it.

kris10jo

I also have a Nikon D60 with the same kit lenses. A few months ago, I bought a 50mm 1.4 lens, which hasn't left the body since. I think the prime lens produces a higher quality and much sharper image than the kit lenses, at least in my experience. I love my prime lens! Good luck!