Nikon SLR Cameras

35mm vs 50mm fixed lens?

Alice
Alice

So I'm buying the nikon d7000, with a fixed lens. I just can't decide whether I want the 35 mm or the 50 mm… I'm going to use it as an all around lens until I can buy a tele-zoom. Which one would work better?

Kevin
Kevin

The 35mm. The crop factor will make the 50mm not as ideal for an all around lens than the 35mm, especially with architecture.

fhotoace
fhotoace

Unless you are shooting a lot of portraits, you don't really need the 50 mm lens. The 35 mm "normal" lens is the least used focal length I use.

The whole idea of having a fast lens dates back to when the fastest film we had was Tri-X, 400 ISO and a photographer needed at least one lens that was f/1.8 or faster.

Now with the newest generation dSLR's shooting at ISO's of 1600 and faster with little or NO noise, these lenses have more nostalgic value than any real value when shooting on assignment

The ultra wide angle f/2.8 zoom lenses do the job and at f/2.8, you can have lenses that cover from 14 mm to 400 mm.

Yes, I do have two prime lenses, but both are f/2.8. I have a 60 mm f/2.8 macro and a 300 mm f/2.8 telephoto.

When I put my 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens on my camera, it is fast enough when shooting at 35 mm or 50 mm.

An all around lens is probably going to be some kind of zoom. A lens you can use at different focal lengths so you don't have to move toward or away from your subject to get just the "right" composition.