Help on Nikon's prime lenses?

What is the difference between Nikkor 35mm f1.8G and Nikkor 50mm f1.8G?

All i know is they are prime lenses for portraits and the widest aperture they can go up to is 1.8.

What does that 35mm and 50mm mean?

35mm is a wider-angle lens than the 50mm. Look at the link I've pasted, it shows the difference.

35mm is not a good focal length for portraits - 50mm is much better for this. The 35mm is still a nice lens, but would lend itself more to everyday use.

It the focal length of the lens - this tells you how much you can get in the frame at a certain distance.

The 35mm is NOT a good portrait lens as it's slightly wide angle & you'll get distortion, especially close up. You need to go 50mm + in focal length for portraiture.

35mm and 50mm are the focal lengths of the respective lenses.

On a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR (Nikon D600, D800, D4) a 35mm lens is considered a modest wide angle and a 50mm lens is considered a "normal" lens because its angle of view approximates that of the human eye.

On a crop sensor Nikon DSLR (D3200, D5200, D7100) the 35mm lens will have the equivalent angle of view of a 52.5mm lens on a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR and thus is considered a "normal" lens for a crop sensor camera. You'd use it when you wanted to capture a scene close to how you actually saw it with your own eyes.

On a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR a focal length of between 85mm to 105mm has long been considered an ideal focal length for portraits. On a crop sensor DSLR a 50mm lens will have the equivalent angle of view of a 75mm lens on a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR and is thus considered an acceptable portrait lens on a crop sensor camera.

Since both lenses have a maximum aperture of f1.8 either of them is very useful in low-light situations where you don't want to - or can't - use flash. This fast aperture allows you to use a lower ISO in low-light and still achieve a fast shutter speed because f1.8 is 2 stops faster than f3.5

Hypothetical example: Suppose using ISO 1600 and f3.5 allows you a shutter speed of 1/125 sec. Use either of the f1.8 lenses at f1.8 and you can lower your ISO to 400 and still have a 1/125 sec.shutter speed.

35mm and 50mm are the focal lengths of the lens. As a general rule, on a full frame camera 35mm is a wide angle lens and a 50mm lens is considered a "normal" lens, as this is the same angle of view as your eyes.

However, the 35mm lens if a "DX" lens made for crop frame cameras meaning that it is actually equivalent to a 52mm lens, as even on a full frame camera you would need to use it in DX mode or you would have very heavy vignetting (a dark band on the outside) as the lens image does not cover the whole sensor.

The 50mm lens is a FX lens so it works as a 50mm lens on a full frame camera, but on a DX sensor camera it will work as 75mm lens, very close to the 85mm lens preferred by many professionals for portraits.

Thus you will find that on a crop sensor camera the 50mm is a far better for portraits, the 35mm lens ok but nowhere near as good as the 50mm lens. The 50mm lens is an ok lens for portraits on a full frame camera, but not really a goodfocal length for portraits. The 35mm lens is not meant for full frame cameras and is severely handicapped on them, basically being the same as the 50mm lens, but at a reduced resolution!

A 35mm lens is not a good portrait lens - it's far too wide for that. The 50mm lens would be fine as a portrait lens on a camera with a cropped sensor, but not so useful on a full frame camera for portraits.

Understanding Focal length: http://www.expertphotography.com/understand-focal-length-4-easy-steps/