Prime Lenses

[goletitout]

Hello Guys !

I´d like to have some advice concerning prime lenses. At the moment I´m waiting for my recently ordered Nikon D50; so far I´ve only had Canon P&S cams , now I´ve decided to change to the Nikon camp :).

The cam will be featuring the Sigma 3.5-5.6 18-50mm lens. This one isn´t so hot, am I right ? (Please tell me if it´s better than I think).

So I´ve also ordered the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AF-D, to have a well priced (I´m on a budget) prime lens with good optical quality for the beginning.

My problem ist as follows : the 50mm turns out to be 75mm lens because of the 1.5 crop factor. And I think sometimes I´ll need a bit of a wider lens.
My research has led me to nearly buying the 35mm 2.0 AF-D lens to complement the 50mm. But now I´ve seen that the 28mm 2.8 AF-D lens (the 1.4 is too expensive for me) costs much less than the 35 2.0 lens, and it´s a bit slower but also a bit wider (42mm with the crop factor). I´ve found a whole lot of positive reviews of the 35 2.0 AF-D, in this forum here, on dpreview, and on fredmiranda.com. On the other hand, I haven´t found many reviews about the 28 2.8 AF-D lens...it´s obviously not that popular in comparison with the 35mm. That´s why I ask myself how good the 28mm 2.8 AF-D really is. What do you think about it ?
Will it be softer at its largest aperture (2.8) than the 35mm at its widest (2.0) ? A bit of low light work should be possible for me.

Thanks in advance for your advice,
Cheers
Tilo

[coldrain]

Why don't you get the Sigma f2.8 18-50mm EX DC instead of that one? It would do a lot better over the whole range, and you do not have to get a prime while you are not exactly sure what you want.

That Sigma 3.5-5.6 is really not a good idea.

[goletitout]

And what about that focusing issues with the Sigma 18-50 2.8 ? Especially in dark environments ?And what about this Sigma compared with the Nikkor 18-70 3.5-4.5 ?
But the 50mm 1.8 AF-D was a good idea to order, wasn´t it ?

The 28mm (42mm) would be a nice focal length I think. But IF I buy prime lenses and give up the flexibility of zoom lenses, those primes should give me better results than th zooms.

[coldrain]

It is not bad with focussing on a Nikon body... This sigma is much better than the 18-70 nikkor "kit" lens ofthe D70s. It is on par with the much more expensive af-s dx f2.8 17-55mm g if-ed optically...

And yes, that 1.8 50mm is a very good idea.

[D70FAN]

And what about that focusing issues with the Sigma 18-50 2.8 ? Especially in dark environments ?And what about this Sigma compared with the Nikkor 18-70 3.5-4.5 ?
But the 50mm 1.8 AF-D was a good idea to order, wasn´t it ?

The 28mm (42mm) would be a nice focal length I think. But IF I buy prime lenses and give up the flexibility of zoom lenses, those primes should give me better results than th zooms.

Lowlight focusing only seems to be a problem on Canon due to the pre-flash type AF assist. Your D50 should work fine with the 18-50 f2.8.

[GuyB]

I bought the 28mm f2.8 for my D50 and have been shooting with it exclusively for the last 6 weeks. Very pleased in short. The 42mm focal length works out really well as an all purpose not-too-short not-too-long lens.

The only drawback for me is the SLIGHT barrel distortion. I take a lot of straight on semi-architectural pix where the slightest barrel distortion is very apparent. For this reason, I'm thinking of also getting the 35mm f/2, trading the improved distortion for the slight narrowness.

A more positive review of the 28mm f2.8:

http://www.olegnovikov.com/technical/28mmf28d/28mmf28d.shtml

And some more info you've probably already found:

http://www.photozone.de/active/survey/querylenstxt.jsp?filter=%22brand='Nikkor'%20OR%20b rand='Sigma%20AF'%20OR%20brand='Tamron%20AF'%20or% 20brand='Tokina%20AF'%20or%20brand='Vivitar%20AF'% 22