peejay1

<p>My D700 has the 35mm/f2 attached. Here's a link to a shot I took at an historical re-enactment of Tudor England at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk at Easter. I used a bit of fill-in flash as the light was very directional in the old hall:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rushfan2112/3488601550/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/rushfan2112/3488601550/</a></p>

<p>(I couldn't work out how to insert the photo here - sorry, I'm a bit of a 'Luddite' when it comes to technology).</p>

<p>I also have the 24mm/f2.8, 50mm/f1.8, 85mm/f1.8 and 70-300mm VR.</p>

<p>I've never used Lightroom. I have CS3 Extended and, for the most part, it gathers dust.</p>

<p>NX2 is just excellent for almost every scenario. I'm trying to find things in CS3 which I can't (but actually WANT) to do in NX2 and I'm struggling. Incidentally, I'm not into heavy PP stuff or 'digital art'.</p>

<p>Have a go with the free NX2 trial as there's nothing to lose. There's also a book called 'Nikon Capture NX2: Industrial Strength Production Techniques' by Ben Long - published by Real World. The ISBN is......</p>

<p>ISBN-13: 978-0-321-55359-1</p>

<p>If you go to <a href="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321602534">http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321602534</a> you'll find details. I bought a copy and it's just the best book I've ever owned on PP work.</p>

<p>Best wishes. Paul.</p>

<p>I've got the 35mm/f2 D. I bought it s/hand recently fro Aperture Photographic near the British Museum in London. I'd heard of the 'oil on blades' issue but, s it comes with a 6 month warranty and I've boght other gear from Aperture (great guys) I had no qualms about handing over the money. It's now my 'go anywhere' lens. I love it.</p>

<p>As mentioned earlier, the old film lenses are very much back in vogue as a result of FX sensors (I got mine because I just bought the D700) but I already had the 24mm/f2.8, 50mm/f1.8 and 85mm/f1.8 to go with my F100. Now I have the best of both worlds and my wife has my 'old' D300 with 17-55mm/f2.8 and 70-300 VR.</p>

<p>Hi Josh,</p>

<p>Being not remotely techie by nature, my suggested form of testing simply involves putting the lens on the camera and taking the sort of shots you bought it for - whether that's portraits (for which it's great), landscapes (for which it's exceptional) or travel photography (for which it's really good, if a bit of a lump).</p>

<p>Optically, I've found mine to be absolutely brilliant in every situation. Edge to edge sharpness - even wide open - is as good as I would ever want or need. No major issues with vignetting (which can be quite attractive in the right scenes), colour is perfect, low flare - especially when you fit the hood.</p>

<p>Seriously, you paid a lot of money for this lens and it is seriously good. Unless you feel you absolutely <em>must</em>, I wouldn't waste any time trying to bench-test it to check 'line-pairs per millimetre', pin-cushion and barrell distortion, edge sharpness and all that. Answer this question to yourself. If you were disappointed with any of the results, what would you do? Sell it? Buy an equivalent focal length Sigma? Swap to Canon? Take holy orders?</p>

<p>In 30-odd years experience, I've only been disappointed with one lens (a kit lens which came with a Canon EOS 300v film camera. It was little more than a yoghurt pot with bits of glass and plastic in it). Every other has done the job I bought it for just fine.</p>

<p>I really hope you get as much pure enjoyment out of yours as I got out of mine (my wife now has it on my D300 as I just got a D700 and can't afford - yet - to get the 17-35mm f2.8).</p>

<p>Best regards. Paul.</p>