As promised, here’s my Nikon lens roundup. Nikon lenses go by the brand name “Nikkor,” and while there are certainly many other brands to choose from with mounts for Canon and Nikon alike (ie Sigma, Tokina, Zeiss), I’ve personally just stuck with brand name lenses for my cameras. If there is a specific focal length you are looking for, like a 35mm prime, for instance, it’s good to at least read up on what the competition has to offer, because sometimes it can be better depending on your needs. It will give you a relative sense of focus speed, bokeh quality, durability, weather-fastness, size, weight, sharpness or any number of features you might personally find useful. Other brands will usually be more affordable, but they may have a cheaper build quality.

ADVERTISEMENT
My first DSLR was a Nikon D300. At the time I was deciding between the new Nikon D300 and the Canon 5D Mark I, which was relatively “old” by then and was at a comparable price point. Growing up shooting film on an old Minolta SLR, I had always wanted a Nikon because back then, Nikon glass was king. Fast forward twenty years, and now Canon glass is king. Not bad for a photocopier/computer printer company. While I did eventually switch over to Canon because they offered much more in the realm of high end lenses (over the last five years or so Nikon has begun to put out similar professional lenses), I don’t regret the D300. I feel like the ergonomics of Nikon bodies is a cut above Canon, and at the time, Canon did not offer a 18-200mm lens.

So like I said in my previous post, I would skip the camera bundle, buy a body only and get this lens and one prime. In fact, that’s exactly what I did. I shot with this setup for many years and loved it. The Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR II lens is an investment at $847. I feel like in general, Canon lenses are cheaper than their Nikkor counterparts, and in this case the Canon equivalent is $699.

Why do I love primes? Relative to zoom lenses, prime lenses are lighter, can produce crisper images, create more bokeh/background blurring, and are more usable in low light. My prime was a Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF which currently retails for $334. I discovered, after buying my father a D60, that this lens it will not autofocus on some bodies. Some Nikon lenses do not have built in motors, and rely on the motor in the camera body, but some bodies (D40, D60, D3000, D3100 & D5000) don’t have motors either, and rely on the motor in the lens. A lens without a built in motor is designated as “AF,” whereas “AF-S” does have the built in motor.

Lenses have diaphragms made up of “blades” that affect how light passes through the central opening, the aperture. This lens has 7 diaphragm blades, and you could imagine that the more the blades, the more circular the aperture opening would be.  So for this particular lens, it’s pretty obvious from the shape the diaphragm forms why the bokeh looks polygonal at f3.2, but reducing the aperture to f/1.4 will smooth out the shapes.

In 2008 Nikon came out with an updated version of this lens, the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S for $439, which will work on all Nikon DSLR bodies, but the biggest difference for me is 9 rounded diaphragm blades. You can see some bokeh comparisons between several different 50mm lenses here.

There are two f1.8 options in the 50mm line, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S at $217, which features a 7 rounded blade diaphragm, and the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF at $109, which features 7 straight blades, but won’t autofocus on the bodies mentioned above.

What I should have gotten instead of the 50mm prime, was the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S for $197. I mentioned in my Canon lens roundup post that I find 35mm to be a better length for indoor use, but I forgot to mention that if you have two or more kids, it’s even more difficult to use the 50mm indoors and fit both children in the frame, regardless the room size. If you are unsure how an image from fixed 35mm vs a 50mm lens would work with your camera, grab your zoom lens and set it to 35mm and challenge yourself to use it at only that length for a day. Then another day, set it to 50mm. Resist the urge to zoom in and out to frame your subject; use your feet to do the zooming and you can quickly see how practical each focal length would be for you and your family. The 35mm is a lens I could mount to my camera and keep there without ever feeling the need to change it out for everyday use.

Here’s a full list of available Nikon lenses along with specs and price points. If you want to read up on any camera gear you’re considering, check out Ken Rockwell, a self-professed Nikon lover, but he also does Canon reviews, too.

Nikon users, what lenses do you love?