D5000 only accept AF-S lenses... would you go for a 35mm f1.8 for portrait?

[Cegonha]

Friends, one flaw (maybe the only one in my perspective!) that my D5000 has is that it only accepts AF-S lenses....

I was going to buy a Nikon prime AF 50mm f1.8, but it will not autofocus in my camera. Than, instead of moving to a 50mm f1.4 AF-S (costing almost twice as the first one!) I though about moving down to a 35mm AF-S f1.8 Nikkor.

Considering my Nikon's factor of 1.5, this would give me a roughly 52mm focal lenght f1.8.

My desire is to use this in indoors family shooting, parties, "poker nights", portraits, etc...

Is the 35mm a good lens for that?

Thanks!!!

[JACOBY]

I've been useing my old nikon glass for my D3000 love them all manual no metering but I'm use to it from my nikon f. took the stock lens that came with the camera off soon as I got it feels cheap to me maybe I'm just use to the older stuff. But I was always a manual buff.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Cegonha

Friends, one flaw (maybe the only one in my perspective!) that my D5000 has is that it only accepts AF-S lenses....

Your D5000 will mount ANY Nikon lens designed for the Nikon SLR F-mount.
What kind of useability you get out of it, however, will vary. In this case, anything that isn't AF-S won't autofocus. Other than that, it works perfectly.

[ffscj3562130]

For portraits I don't think having to manually focus would be a big problem.

[SusanH1970]

I think the 35mm would be a good choice, if you don't want to have to focus manually. I shoot Canon and use a 50mm 1.8 for portraits, but because of the crop factor on my XSi, I find that at times the 50mm is a bit long for indoor use. I've been toying with the idea of getting myself the Canon 35mm f/2.0 simply for the reason that it will allow me to shoot in much closer quarters. Well, that and it's come highly recommended from others who own it for the same reason.

Just my two cents giving you another reason why it's a decent choice.

[kirbinster]

I would not consider a 35mm or 50mm lens to be a portait lens. I would reserve that description for something in the 85mm to 135mm range on a DX camera - but I digress. I have a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 HSM lens that I love. This is a super fast lens, and will autofocus on your body as well (HSM = AF-S).

[TheMoons678]

I am a beginner to DSLR and was worried about having to manually focus my 50mm f/1.8 on my D60. It was surprisingly very easy. Manually focusing my little nephew run around in the yard wasn't very easy, but for still life it was great. Best lens for under $100.

[tokyorush]

People tend to forget that the things were not long ago all manual. I wasn't a photographer in those times, so this is not one of those old school guys talking about how it was not this easy in good ol' times, but my reasoning goes like this: if I can't do something manually, what will I do when automation fail? Like low light situations for example...

So I always use manual flash settings (no TTL, ETTL, iTTL or whatever you call it) and every once in a while focus by hand. Doesn't work everytime, but we are now in digital age, shoot 5 shots and one will be fine if you are shooting with a shallow DOF...or review the shot 100% zoomed on the back of your cam. Shooting manually is actually more fun...

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by tokyorush

People tend to forget that the things were not long ago all manual. I wasn't a photographer in those times, so this is not one of those old school guys talking about how it was not this easy in good ol' times, but my reasoning goes like this: if I can't do something manually, what will I do when automation fail? Like low light situations for example...

So I always use manual flash settings (no TTL, ETTL, iTTL or whatever you call it) and every once in a while focus by hand. Doesn't work everytime, but we are now in digital age, shoot 5 shots and one will be fine if you are shooting with a shallow DOF...or review the shot 100% zoomed on the back of your cam. Shooting manually is actually more fun...

Shooting manually and focusing manually are two different animals.

I shoot in manual, but when photographing kids on the move, focusing manually would be nearly impossible.

[vandergus]

Originally Posted by tokyorush

People tend to forget that the things were not long ago all manual. I wasn't a photographer in those times, so this is not one of those old school guys talking about how it was not this easy in good ol' times, but my reasoning goes like this: if I can't do something manually, what will I do when automation fail? Like low light situations for example...

So I always use manual flash settings (no TTL, ETTL, iTTL or whatever you call it) and every once in a while focus by hand. Doesn't work everytime, but we are now in digital age, shoot 5 shots and one will be fine if you are shooting with a shallow DOF...or review the shot 100% zoomed on the back of your cam. Shooting manually is actually more fun...

Also consider that cameras were designed back then to be used with manual focus lenses. They had special focusing screens along with nice, large, bright viewfinders, making it easy to see when things were in focus. Today's DSLR's are designed to be used with autofocus lenses. They removed focusing aids from the viewfinder to unclutter the view and APS-C cameras have smaller viewfinders as well. You can still use manual focus lenses (I do), it's just not quite as easy.

And for the original poster, I would recommend the 35mm f1.8 AF-S. Great for candid indoor shots.