Last week I picked up this old lens that was up for sale on the internet. I was after a little extra "fun" lens to add to my camera bag for quite a while. I just couldn't decide on what lens to get. Also, I was not planning on spending a large amount of money for just a "fun" lens. Sure, I have a wishlist of lenses that I one day would love to call mine (the AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED for example) but that would put me back between €1000/1600, and I just can't afford that right now.
So I was looking around, and found this super cheap Nikkor 35-70mm F3.3-4.5 (got it for €25)
And I just had my first little test shots with it on my Nikon D7000. Nothing spectacular, just quick snapshots to get a feel for the lens and see how it holds up despite being quite an old lens. Let's be honest here, its not going to be super fast, super sharp, and for that matter not super impressive. Not useful in quite some situations as well as you can imagine. Why? think about chromatic aberration, its a bit soft here and there... if you need the images you produce to be as sharp as they can be, don't use this lens.
But, all in all its a nice little lens to have. Its super light, its relatively strong in low light due to the f3.3. It does a decent job on bokeh and with my D7000 its auto focusing perfectly fine. And all of this for just €25, you feel me? Can't go wrong. It is probably coming along in my bag whenever I am outside, exploring and enjoying the outdoors. For some casual snaps here and there. Here's a really quick snapshot I took with the lens just after I picked it up.
The photographs of the lens itself were taken with my D7000 and my trusty Nikkor 50mm F1.8.
Thanks for reading, see you next time!
- Arjan Wilmsen