Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsNO IMAGE STABILIZATION; beyond that, depends on your style of photography
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2016
(Wife): Ok, so here's the deal:
Reasons NOT to get this lens:
1) You use your zoom lenses religiously. You cannot do without them for a number of shots that you really want -- as in, there's just no way you can frame the shot better, because you'll have to be on a boardwalk, or because there are people in the way, or you're chasing a toddler around.
2) You NEED image stabilization. I am frustrated by the number of blurry images this thing has produced. It's been so annoying.
3) You hate bokeh. If like me, you're not a wedding photographer and prefer more realistic images, you may actually prefer a wider depth of field most of the time. This is the WRONG lens for that, especially up-close.
4) You have limited time or space to get the right shot. This lens is definitely more finicky. You will be taking more shots -- and not necessarily getting the shot you want or may be used to. You may or may not be happy with the results.
5) You have limited space on your memory card. Yeah, I'm not sure I'd even try close-ups, then, unless you're ok with trying a little experimentation. The closer you are to an object, the shallower the depth of field becomes -- in my experience, way moreso on this one, than with the zoom lenses. What this means -- if you haven't figured it out yet -- is that only a small portion of the object will actually be in focus. I'm sorry, but I can only tolerate so much bokeh. I like my pictures in focus. But like I said, I'm not a wedding photographer. ; )
So then, why would you get this lens?
1) To go a step further from shutterbug to photographer. This lens forces you to be patient, take lots of pictures, and work on learning how to frame well with a 35mm lens.
2) Tripod-based night photography. This lens can sometimes do pretty well at that. (Other times, like for a streak shot, you can just use a regular lens on a tripod with a bulb release. Depends on your subject and the effect you want.)
3) Experimentation with shallower depths of field (used in portrait photography).
Why I bought this lens:
I bought this lens for -- get this -- a kayak bioluminescent tour. Heh.
In most cases, I wouldn't recommend that.
Why? Well, let's see.... DX bodies tend not to be all that well-sealed against the elements, so you could ruin your camera.
This lens doesn't have image stabilization. So, even if you could focus it in the dark -- which autofocus mechanisms have trouble doing -- guess what? The image may come out blurry, anyway. I did learn a trick as time went on, though: the kayaks have glow sticks at each end (green on the stern, red on the bow). Focus on one of those, and hold down the AF lock. (Or then set it to manual and don't touch the focus ring, but you could accidentally move it.) Then you can try shooting something around the same distance as the glow stick you focused on.
I also used this lens to try to capture a summer night rocket launch. You need a tripod for that, especially with this lens. Moreover, though: if you can get a clear view from about the launchpad on up, use a regular lens with a bulb release, hold it down from the time you see it take off, and as long as you successfully pre-focused / appropriately pre-configured your shot, you might just end up with an awesome streak shot, without even needing this lens! I recommend that you stop down first (set up the camera with a low-ish f-stop, I think) and practice the approximate timing with your selected aperture before you try this shot. Otherwise the shot will probably be way overexposed.
You can read more on this online. This is probably a similar concept to traffic streak shots, like what you may have seen in old National Geographic urban night shots, or in urban night sequences in some TV commercials. So anyway, if night photography intrigues you, read up on it, and the types of lenses that work best in each case. You might just be surprised to learn how you can sometimes use smaller-aperture (higher f-stop) lenses for some stunning results.
Images:
If Amazon allows my images to show, I wish to include a close-up of Korean BBQ condiments, demonstrating the shallow depth of field of this lens; two blurred shots of our bioluminescent tour, demonstrating the difficulty in using this lens with no tripod at night; an example in the challenge of framing with this lens, vs. a wider-angle zoom lens being able to get the full cafe seating in the shot; and a night shot, taken wide open (f 1.8), 1/60 sec., ISO 3600. All shots are tripod-free (no tripod), with a B+W 52mm Clear UV Haze filter, and on a D3300 body.
