Nikon AF Nikkor 35mm f/2D

This lens is an ideal "normal" lens for a digital SLR camera.

It gives a similar field of view to using a standard 50mm lens with a film SLR camera.

The reason for this is that most DSLR cameras have a sensor that is smaller than the standard 24x36mm area on each exposure in a roll of film. (24x36mm is often referred to as "full-frame")

All Nikon DSLRs (apart from the new D3) use 16x24mm sensors known as "DX" size. These dimensions are 1/1.5 the size of full-frame, so the term "1.5X Crop Factor" is often used.

If you take this 35mm lens and multiply by the 1.5X crop factor then it gives 52.5mm, which is the equivalent field of view this lens gives compared with using film.

DSLRs are often sold with a basic "kit lens", for example an 18-55mm zoom lens.

While being able to zoom is often useful, the downside is that kit lenses are "slow" in terms of the light they transmit, typically f/3.5-f/5.6, meaning a slow shutter speed will be required to shoot in low light.

This 35mm f/2 "prime" lens lets in a lot more light, about 4X as much in fact, so that you can use faster shutter speeds when shooting indoors without flash for example. Someone with the kit lens shooting indoors without flash might have to shoot at 1/15s wheras someone shooting with this prime lens could still shoot at 1/60s and avoid motion blur.

This lens is very compact compared to a zoom lens so is more discreet, which would appeal to street photography enthusiasts.

I use this lens with the HN-3 metal lens hood (about £15) which means I'm less likely to damage the glass at the front of the lens if the camera takes a knock, and the hood helps prevent flare from bright sunlight.

This lens cost about £200 which is equivalent in price to one of the better kit lenses, such as the 18-70mm.

The lens has an aperture ring with settings ranging from f/2 to f/22 to make it backward compatible with manual film cameras, but modern cameras set the aperture via the camera body, so there is a little catch to keep it locked at the f/22 setting so as not to confuse the camera.

The focus ring is not quite as smooth in operation as found on traditional manual focus lenses, as most of the time the lens will likely be used in auto-focus mode, but manual focusing is still easy with this lens.