Good, All-Purpose Zoom Lens
Written: Jul 16 '02 (Updated Jul 16 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good, General purpose lens
Cons: Kinda heavy, Slow Auto-focus
The Bottom Line: The 35-135 zoom f/3.5 is Nikon's version of the all-purpose zoom with focal lengths in 35, 50, 105, and 135mm. Good optics, but a bit big for its type.
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| soothsayer's Full Review: Sigma 135-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 APO for Nikon |
The beauty of using a zoom lens is the flexibility it affords you. You can shoot wide-angle group portraits and scenic shots, to telephoto and candid photography. The 35-135mm zoom lets you do all that freeing you from the worry of not having the right lens for the right shot.
Introduced in 1984, this lens covers all of the most popular focal lengths, 35mm, 50mm, 105mm, and 135mm. Some may view the lens as not wide ranging enough. Oddly it seems there are those who feel this lens should also go down to 24mm, and those who feel it should go up all the way to 200mm. Well, there are many well-made lenses tailored for such finicky users, this lens was not meant to go to such extremes.
The optics for this lens is sharp especially from f/8 and smaller. Sharpness, however, is reduced if shot wide open at f/3.5. As with most zooms, and their complex optics, flaring can be a problem, so using a lens hood is highly recommended.
One of the good things about this lens is its relative speed, at f/3.5, but its speed comes at a cost, along with all other things, in terms of size. This lens is a bit heavy, and big. The auto focusing is also a bit slow. If this lens did range to extreme focal lengths as some wanted, the weight, dimensions, and cost would skyrocket, and no one would buy it.
The minimum focus for this lens is 1.5 meters (5 feet), and 0.3 meters (1 feet) in macro mode. The macro mode (when the lens is set at f/3.5) lets you take a close-up shot of stuff with 1:1 size ratio. The lens takes 62mm filters.
There are many zoom lenses with this focal range on the market right now. The optics on them (according to reviews I’ve read) sound pretty good, and the price seem reasonable. However, if you want the Nikon name, and the quality, then by all means, get this lens.
Overall, the 35-135mm is a good general-purpose lens. It is made for people, especially travelers, who want to keep just one lens on their camera.
Note: the Epinions product intro/description for this lens is inaccurate.
Recommended:
Yes
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