Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX

Nikon AF-S 35mm f/1.8G DX Performance

This lens puts in an excellent optical performance at every aperture. Sharpness is already very good in the centre at maximum aperture and the quality towards the edges is fairly good.

Stopping the lens down improves sharpness across the frame, with peak quality being achieved between f/4 and f/5.6. Here the sharpness in the centre is outstanding and the quality towards the edges is excellent.

Resolution at 35mm	How to read our graphs
	The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on an Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are also well controlled, hovering just under one pixel in width towards the edges at most apertures. This level of fringing should pose few issues, even in large print sizes or harsh crops from the edges of the frame.

Chromatic Aberrations at 35mm

How to read our charts

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on an Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is very well controlled, especially for a wide aperture lens. At f/1.8 the corners are only 0.41 stops darker than the image centre and illumination is visually uniform at f/2.8.

Distortion is stronger than I would expect from a fixed focal length lens. Imatest detected 2.4% barrel distortion, which will become apparent in images with straight lines towards the edges of the frame. Luckily the distortion pattern is uniform, so this should be easy enough to correct in image editing software afterwards.

Flare is kept well under control, even when shooting into strong light sources like the sun. Contrast holds up well under these conditions too. A circular lens hood is supplied with the lens which does an excellent job of protecting the lens from extraneous light that may cause flare.

Out of focus areas are smoothly rendered at maximum aperture - ISO200, 1/2000, f/1.8, 35mm	The near focus distance of 30cm allows frame filling shots - ISO200, 1/400, f/11, 35mm
Contrast holds up well when shooting into the light - ISO200, 1/640, f/2.5, 35mm	Images have excellent sharpness from edge to edge when the lens is stopped down - ISO400, 1/100, f/8, 35mm
ISO200, 1/1250, f/8, 35mm	ISO200, 1/250, f/2.8, 35mm
ISO200, 1/200, f/8, 35mm	ISO200, 1/640, f/8, 35mm

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