kbedwardz said:Not trying to poop on the interesting thread, but since when is MSRP "hot"?
i think the value per dollar makes it hot. other lenses like this usually starts at ~400. it won't drop so much in price any time soon, for sure.

I have the 50mm/1.8 and love it, but it's just a little too narrow to take pictures of people in a crowded setting (because you have to move back quite a ways). The 35 would be much nicer for that.

For taking pictures of food at the dinner table, the 50 might be just a bit too narrow, while the 35 would be a bit too wide... I don't know the minimum focal distance for the 35, but my guess is that you couldn't get close enough to fill the frame on the 35.

BTW, on an old thread on the 50mm f/1.8, I uploaded a pic showing how that f/1.8 yields lovely buttery soft backgrounds.

I preordered from Adorama about a month ago and I just got the lens yesterday. I'm surprised that 3rd party stores are selling it for $250...

Great lens, especially for my D40. Super light-weight (about the same as my kit lens) and compact, creamy bokeh, a winner for this price! Highly recommended for DX shooters looking for normal lens on the DX!

Tripp1269 said:jcb193 said:I'm just trying to find a lens that would be good for taking pictures of my girlfriend. Anywhere from 1 foot away to 8 feet away.Second that . . . what lens can I use to get pics of his girlfriend?

He can probably use the lens in this thread...YOU will probably need a Zoom lens with a very large zoom range...at least, that's what I use. Then again, I'm required by law to stay at least 200 feet away

MangoGT said:PharmerNate said:Thanks OP. Just curious as to why someone might get this if these cameras usually ship w/ 18-55mm lenses. Sorry for my naivety, as I am new to the photo game. Thanks.

The discussion of prime vs zoom lens really depends on the individual user. Check out this search:
Link

jcb193 said:What is this lens especially good for?

I like prime lenses for a few reasons. Faster, so I can get sharper photos. Better low light performance. Less that I have to worry about. For me, and I'm really an amateur, I've just had better results with prime lenses. However, most pros use zoom lenses--and extremely well--so like I said above, it depends on the user.

This is an AF-S lens so it works for D40/D60 users.

The link here is not working can you please repost the link for us?

beachcamera now marks up the price to $245. Was in my cart for $199. Bummer. Wait out.

How do you know "this lens is supposedly optically superior to the much more expensive 35mm f/2"?

kbedwardz said:LOL now it really is hot since retailers are marking these up way past MSRP! Geez...I guess the D40/D60 crowd was REALLY waiting for this!

What I like is that this lens is supposedly optically superior to the much more expensive 35mm f/2 which I was considering not too long ago.

Original post updated to reflect lack of availability at MSRP. Call your local camera store, if you can find one.

12345Michael54321 said:jplee3 said:i've found the 18-200mm definitely isn't very sharp.

While no 11:1 zoom is likely to be as sharp as a good prime, an 18-200mm zoom - given proper technique - can yield images that appear extremely sharp on a computer monitor or in small to medium size prints.

No, they probably won't technically be as sharp as a good prime if you examine them at high magnification. But in ordinary, routine, real world situations, most people would be hard pressed to look at three photos and determine which was taken with an 18-200mm zoom, which was taken with a 28-70mm zoom, and which was taken with a 35mm prime (assuming all three were shot at 35mm, at moderate aperture, with proper technique).

The key, of course, is proper technique. Too many people seem to think that the old "1/<focal length>" rule for sharpness is a law of the universe, precise to the 9th decimal place, and enforced by God Himself. (In fact, it's just a rule-of-thumb, not necessarily precise, and will vary considerably depending on all sorts of factors.) Or they use a shutter speed fast enough to eliminate camera shake, but they're photographing a fast moving subject, so the subject's blurred anyway. Or they shoot at a fast enough shutter speed to deal with camera shake and subject movement, but at a sufficiently wide aperture that not everything from foreground to background falls into the zone of sharp focus. Or they do none of this, but make some other mistake.

Additionally, very few lenses are at their best wide open. So while the 18-200mm f/4-5.6 zoom may appear about as sharp as the 50mm f/1.4 prime when both are used at f/11, the same may not be true when they're both used at f/4.5.

But I guarantee you that I could go out with your 18-200mm lens and a 35mm f/1.8 lens and come back with 40 sharp images - half taken with the zoom (at 35mm), and half with the prime. And if these 40 images were displayed on a 22" computer monitor, or in the form of 5x7" prints, you would not be able to figure out which were made with the zoom, and which with the prime. And I know this is so, because similar experiments have been conducted many times - often with the viewers being professional photo editors, respected photographers, and professors of photography - and almost each and every time the viewers couldn't clearly identify which pictures were taken with the great lens, and which with the mediocre lens.

This doesn't mean that all lenses are equal. They're not. But within certain relatively broad limits, in terms of real world viewing, even a bargain basement lens can produce results which will appear razor sharp.

And no, photographing a test chart and examining the results under high magnification does not constitute "real world" viewing.

jplee3, you post some of those unsharp pics you took with an 18-200mm lens, with EXIF data, and I bet in nearly every case it'll turn out that the lack of sharpness is due to poor technique on your part, not due to an unsharp lens. No offense.
--
Michael

Do you know of any place on the web I can learn about taking such Sharp pictures. I have D40x but no Prime Lens. I want to take portraits of my kids and also want to catch them in action. But so far i have been doing a lousy job, please let me know if there is any place that will teach me the basics and some advanced skills.

buydig aka. beachcamera raised the price from 199 to 229 ($30 more).
i hate them, so i ordered from Adorama, can wait till the end of the month no rush no rush