The 35mm f1.8 as a portrait lens

After my last post I decided to look through some previous work that I had done to see how the 35mm f1.8 performs as a portrait lens, and I have to say it's not too shabby at all! I would normally recommend a slightly longer focal length for closer portraits because of the problem with a "normal" prime to distort a little when closer in, however, as you can see from the pic below, it can do the job if needed!

The Nikon 35mm f1.8 is an el-cheapo wonder lens designed exclusively for Nikon's DX format cameras and has the same perspective as a non-existent 52mm prime on an FX camera. 52mm is close enough to qualify as a "standard" lens and has all the attributes one would expect from a good prime i.e. it's sharp and fast!

The photo below is the sort of small group or environmental portrait that I would normally recommend the 35mm focal length (on DX) be used for.

Both photos were taken with the excellent Nikon 35mm f1.8DX lens attached to a Nikon D90 and lighting was from a single Nikon SB600 flash shot through an umbrella.