After reading the article from Ryan Brenizer on using the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX lens on a full frame camera body I decided to give it a shot. The lens is under $200 and smaller than the 50mm f/1.4. The wide view is similar to my old 24mm f/2 lens (when used on full frame of course)
Ken Rockwell also shared his tests of the lens which you can check out on his website.
I leave my camera set at FX mode all the time because I rarely use DX lenses on it. So I didn’t need to adjust any settings to enable FX mode snice it was already on. Otherwise, if your camera is set to automatically switch between DX and FX mode, go to your menu settings and change it manually.
So this is my example of the lens shot at f/1.8 on my Nikon D700.
before Photoshop's lens correctionafter Photoshop's lens correction
Final Thoughts
Very sharp, pretty fast focus and nice vingetting. After the lens correction you would never know it is a DX lens. So if you are in need of a prime lens that is wider than the 50mm for FX then I recommend giving the 35mm f/1.8 DX lens a shot.
I though if you put on a DX lens on the FX body you got knocked down to 6meg automatically. Are you saying you can use the 35 1.8 DX lens in FX mode and get full 12 meg pics by forcing the camera into FX mode only. I have the Nikon d700 and have all FX lenses but the 35 1.8 DX lens may be a good addition if the picture quality is good and you do not get automatically jammed to 6 meg.
I have the Nikon 35 f/1:8 DX lens and use it with a D7200 DX Camera and thought it would be equal to a 52.5mm but I see now that is a big mistake or is it.
Z-Blocker
1 Sep 2010Hi,
What settings did you use to correct this lens?
scottwyden
1 Sep 2010I used the built-in Lightroom Lens Correction
Tgrubbs
16 Nov 2010I though if you put on a DX lens on the FX body you got knocked down to 6meg automatically. Are you saying you can use the 35 1.8 DX lens in FX mode and get full 12 meg pics by forcing the camera into FX mode only. I have the Nikon d700 and have all FX lenses but the 35 1.8 DX lens may be a good addition if the picture quality is good and you do not get automatically jammed to 6 meg.
scottwyden
17 Nov 2010yes you can keep the camera on fx even with dx lenses. it is in the menu :)
Gservo
28 Feb 2011Thats pretty awesome, with my D90 the 35mm is the only dx lens I own, knowing it will work well with an fx makes me smile
Scott
28 Feb 2011It will start to vignette as you close the aperture but otherwise it’s a pretty solid lens even on FX.
Geservo
24 Jul 2011I am now wondering how the new Nikon 40mm dx lens would work on a full frame
Scott
24 Jul 2011Good question. Would be cool to see.
ian angeles
9 Aug 2012I’ve been using this dx lens with a full frame camera since I bought it. absolutely sharp!
I thought there will be bad vignetting but I was surprised it is not really bad, infact most of the time i don’t use lens correction anymore.
Lotty
4 Dec 2015Hi Guys,
I’m trying to learn something heren- what is that lens correction about? What is it, how does it work?
Thanks :)
Scott
7 Dec 2015Hi Lotty,
Here is a great article on that.
Ulrich
27 Oct 2017I have the Nikon 35 f/1:8 DX lens and use it with a D7200 DX Camera and thought it would be equal to a 52.5mm but I see now that is a big mistake or is it.
Scott
30 Oct 2017The DX lens is meant for a DX camera, so it’s not a mistake.
Dan Flint
15 Feb 2018Curious, did you have the hood or filter on when shooting wide open? Does that effect the vignette at all?
Scott
15 Feb 2018I don’t use lens hoods on my prime lenses. But no, I did not have a hood on here.