Lens Extraordinaire

The newly designed wide-angle prime lens from the house of Nikon is a S-Line (Performance) full frame lens with a superfast f/1.2 aperture.

- By Rohinton Mehta

The lens is touted to offer dreamy bokeh and precise autofocus for photos and videos. The lens is basically designed for environmental portraits and pro-video production but can be used for landscapes, documentary and studio photography. Just for the record, Nikon offers three 35mm lenses for its Z-mount -- Z 35mm f/1.2 S, Z 35mm f/1.4, and 35mm f/1.8 S.

Design & Build Quality

Overall, the lens construction appears very good; the outer body uses engineering plastic which is very strong. The lens mount is made of metal. The view through the lens is super bright (it's a f/1.2 lens!). Filter diameter is 82mm and the lens is made in Thailand.

Key Features

The first thing you are likely to notice is the lens size and weight. Generally, 35mm lenses are compact and lightweight. But not this one. It's huge and weighs 1060g. Why so heavy? Being an f/1.2 lens, the front elements are quite large - which adds to the weight of the lens. The lens is weather-sealed; focussing is internal - hence the lens does not extend during focussing.

Aperture blades are controlled using an electromagnetic diaphragm mechanism - this offers very accurate control of the iris blades.

The lens construction uses 17 elements in 15 groups that include 3 x ED, 1 x aspherical ED, 3 x aspherical elements, and elements with meso-amorphous, Nano Crystal and ARNEO coats. This full frame (FX) lens offers an angle of view of 63°; 44° when used as a DX lens.