Small.

My sample (actually it's my wife's lens)is not really sharp wide open and it won't stop down at all because of grease on the aperture blades. I had it cleaned at $120 6 months ago and now when I was going to try it, the problem was back again.

I hear some people like this lens but our sample is a pain.

Customer Service

Well I guess the guy who cleaned the lens did an OK job, but that doesn't help me and there is only a 3 month warranty on the cleaning job. I can't keep on paying $120 every 3 months to keep this lens clean.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor AF-S 17-35 - wonderful lens. Minolta rokkor 28/2.8 - sharp lens, no problems.

Very sharp, fast lens, light & cheap.

none

If you need a light and fast lens with brillant quality for slide photography - the 35/2.0 is a good choice!

Customer Service

never needed.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor AF 24 and 28/2.8, various zooms in the 28/35-70/2.8 range

great available light lense, no problems with the optical quality, nice and light and it fights perfectly into a standardized lense set up (if your like me then your might have 2 types of lenses you use, with me I stick to 52mm little lenses, or 77mm bigger lenses, with an obscure lense or two here and there)

weakness....umm, maybe that it's platic so people tend to trust it less. oooh wait, people often over look the 35mm focal length for more fancy zooms like 28-70's and such, but if you find you want a slight wide angle that you can use for available light or even portraiture this lense is a good one to consider. but zooms will obviously take the spot light over this focal length.

great lense that will obviousl be over looked for cheaper zooms. but or those that give this lense a chance I doubt they'd be disappointed unless they keep looking to what they don't have. if you get this lense then don't sit around complaining that it isn't wide enough or it isn't convienent enough. this kinda lense is for a more experienced shooter that just kinda picks up the camera and see the photo first, without having to fddle back and forth between zoom lengths and slower apertures. sort of a bac to the basicskinda lense really. but a great one at that.

Customer Service

none.

Similar Products Used:

manual focus nikon 35mm F2 (brilliant lense) manual focus nikon 35mm F1.4 (amazing lense with speed and it's only a 52mm mount! so why is canons 35mm f1.4 a 72mm hideous monster? usm probably...) and the nikon 35-70 f2.8 AF. (again a great lense, I just didn't like the reverse push pull design)

Optically excellent fast moderate wideangle

Aperture failed.

The aperture lever spring broke and I didn't notice it until the lens was outside the warranty period. A $100 repair. The lens had had very light use before this happened so it was a build problem. Great lens now but check your apeture is closing down properly, given the other posting with a similar problem.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Variou Nkion lenses

compact, fast, light, sharp

aperture blades covered with oil prevents accurate exposure

All the sharpness and beautiful color won't do you any good if your lens won't stop down because of oil contamination on the blades. This is the second time for me with this lens (2 separate lenses)and I know of several others. Don't buy this piece of garbage. Nikon should be ashamed to sell a product like the 35mm f2.

Customer Service

We'll see

Similar Products Used:

Canon 35mm f2
Sigma 28-80
Nikon 35-70

Optically superb, quick AF, nice manual focus feel for an AF lens. Outer shell well made, and though plastic, quite solid.

Non-IF focus sucks in dust. More importantly, the aperture blades clog with oil and render the lens useless for all but wide open shooting.

If it weren't for those crummy blades... mine died on me overseas working on my senior thesis and needless to say I wasn't a happy Nikon customer. The lens is optically a gem within the Nikon system and if they could only build it properly- with all the complaints of this same failure, it's a disgrace they haven't done anything. As good as the lens COULD be, I can't recommend it solely for it's unreliability.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 50/1.8, 28-70, Contax 45

Great resolution and contrast. Compact size and usable focal length.

Aperture blades stuck! Prevents lens from stopping down and negates DOF preview button. Took lens in person to Nikon's customer service - wanted to charge me $175 to fix!!! I complained about the price for such a small problem (I'd be better off buying one new). At that, the tech person went back into the manager's office to inquire, and came back with a $75 estimate. This charade sounds suspiciously similar to a car dealership tactic . . . . .

Performance-wise, I am extremely happy with this lens. However, imagine my surprise when I found numerous other users on this list citing the same problem. At this point, Nikon should chalk this problem off as a defect and repair it for free. It's obvious this glitch is pretty unique to this lens in particular.

Customer Service

Responsive, but expensive. See weaknesses above.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 24mm f/2,8, 60mm Micro, 85 f/1.8, 80-200 f/2.8, 28-70 f/3.5-4.5. NEVER had the sticky, oily aperture blades problem with any of these, and many have seen more use than the 35mm.

Sharp, Light, compact, great color and contrast. Honestly it's a nikkor prime what more do you want?

None really, I have the non-D version and so far have been lucky enough to not have any of the oil problems!

Bottom line, for non-critical work I have the Tamron 28-200 super 2. Works well enough for my customers...but for me I use primes. 35mm F/2 is perfect for any number of things, and the sharpness, contrast and color is great through the range. I use it without regaurd to f/stop and always get a quality product.

Customer Service

As an NPS member this is a non issue. Quick, reliable, and resonable.

Similar Products Used:

Most of Nikon's consumer and pro zooms in the 28/35-70/105 range.

I am rating the non-D version.
Sharp, can focus down to 9 inch from the object (I dream my 50/f1.8AF can do this too).

No CRC (but images are still very pleasing for near-far shootings). I didn't see any problem with the aperture blades.

The none-D version seems to be the winner in this focal length. A very verstile lens, sharp, contrasty. I use it almost for everything. I gave 4 stars for the value because a new 50/f1.8AF sells for under $100. A great lens!

Customer Service

None.

Similar Products Used:

All Nikon:
28/f2AI'd, 50/f1.8AF, 75-150/f3.5E, 300/f4AF EDIF.

Ideal all-around focal length for landscapes, leaves less "footprint" (noticeable "look" due to focal length) than wider lenses. Can be handheld very well at 1/30 sec. Sharpness adequate. Compact.

I thought I was alone with the oil-on-aperture-blades problem 'til I read these reviews. My problem started early in a roll on a long backpacking trip, and it ruined several rolls, as I didn't catch it until I saw the negs. Then I saw the thick lube on the blades that keeps the lens from stopping down. The lens had already been repaired once for this problem when I bought it.

Since I use this lens on a manual focus body anyway, I will try to find a deal on a used 35mm f1.4 Nikkor, which I probably should have held out for originally. I am surprised Nikon would let such a recurrant problem develop. Evidently, this is a design flaw.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 35mm 2.8