D3 & 35mm f2 AF

Just wondering if anyone has tried the D3 with a 35mm f2AFd? It would be an

ideal system for my style of doco work (if the D3 was D200/300 size :-)). I've

tried the 24mm f2.8AFD with the D200 for this but have found the 24 not to be

as sharp as I would like.

 

Thanks for any responses.

Until you test the 'film designed for' AF 35mm f2D lens on the D3, it is a good question. The 'DX' type lenses were designed for use on digital SLR bodies....only Nikon knows for sure which film lenses are going to be "super" to use on the latest DSLR, i.e., D3, body.

On the Nikkor 35mm/2, they looked mighty sharp to me ...

 

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1021&thread=25884636

Hi Arthur. Thank you for that, i seem to have missed it when i looked there.

It's hard for me to believe the 35mm f2 would by noticably sharper than the 24 f2.8, which is one of Nikon's classic designs.

Thanks Arthur I hadn't seen that link on dpreview.

In my experience, the 35 is quite a bit sharper than the 24. I believe the 28 design is close

to the 24.

 

I'd be surprised if the 35 wasn't excellent on the D3, looking forward to actual user

experience.

Gerald, DX lenses were designed for DX cameras, which the D3 is not a member of.

 

Most "film" lenses which are not extreme wide angles should work fine on the D3.

>In my experience, the 35 is quite a bit sharper than the 24.

 

Yes, the images of the 35/2 images in the above link looked good but to say that it is better than the 24mm/2.8 is quite a stretch. The 3 sources I gathered this info are the late Galen Rowell, the Nikon release MTF and my own experience. In short, the Nikkor 24mm/2.8 is one of the sharpest wa primes that Nikon produced, the 35mm/2 is no where close to the 24mm/2.8.

Arthur, I should clarify.

 

Both lens are excellent in the center and inner zones, in fact, the 24 may be better than

the 35. Whenever I think of lens sharpness, I think of the outer zones, especially the

corners. In that area, the 35 is the better lens, IMHO. However, considering the wider

angle of view of the 24, it's not quite and apples to apples comparison.

 

To say the 35 is no where close to the 24 is also a bit of a stretch.

There were quite a few unfavorable remarks about the Nikkor 24/2.8 lens in the passed, but you believe what you want...

 

The 24 mm is better at angle of view range from 84 degrees down to 64 on FX format, and leaves the 35 lens out of competition, where 35 stops producing any usable image.

The D3 has a lpmm resolution that is lower than that of the D70, so results on a D200 should not be applicable to a D3. On a D3, a lower resolution than on a D200 is sufficient for a sharp image, but the corner performance becomes much more critical.

 

In practice, the wider you go on a SLR, the more quality compromises you get. Can't have everything.

The 24/2.8 is a nice lens on film but it might not be useable on a D3, depending on what you expect of the corners. The 35mm focal length should work better since it's not as extreme a wide.

 

On a DX camera the 35/2 is definitely much better aperture-for-aperture than the 24/2.8. I wouldn't be surprised to find the same true for D3, although the 35mm may need to be stopped down a bit on that camera. When reading Nikon's MTF curves you need to realize that they're for max aperture only. Not comparble since the 35 is an f/2 while the 24 is an f/2.8. At f/2.8 the graph for the 35 would already be quite a bit better.

Thanks everyone. I have tries the 24mm AFD on the D200 as well as the 24mm AIS & for some reason the AIS was sharper. Even though they are meant to be the samr optical construction.

 

I wasn't happy with the sharpness of the 24mm AFD. Maybe i got a bad sample, I don't know. I'm not biased against the 24mm because it, & the 35mm f2, were my favourite lenses on film.

 

I have tried the 35mm f2AIS on the D200 and it was definately sharper than the 24mm AFD.

 

The only problem is that I prefer the 35mm (film equivalent) field of view. I have been using the 20mm AF, but in FOV it's not quite the 24 or the 35mm!!

 

I settled on the 12-24mm zoom in the end & use it mostly at the 24mm end. But I'd LOVE a remodelled 24mm f2.8AFS. It, and a d300 would be a brilliant combination for my work.