David William Sargent Jr.
*For the cost* (very important), this lens does everything youd need a cheap, quick 35 f/2 to do. Its build quality and feel are surprisingly nice. The focus ring is satisfyingly tactile - smooth and large enough for my fingers to grasp easily and well, unlike my nikkor D lenses. Its not the widest aperture for a 35, but for less than 100 dollars, you get functionality and value. We use this lens to film vlogs indoors with inexpensive studio lighting and it works well enough for our needs. It is soft at f2 well into the edges and is difficult to nail focus with. The AF is quite slow, but seems accurate enough. I intend to try this lens for astrophotography, but do not have high hopes due to that lack of sharpness at f2, but Ill remain open minded until I test that out. Stopped down to f/2.8 though, clarity and sharpness improve considerably. We shoot our indoor vlogs at f3.2 for that extra depth of field, but wouldnt have an issue going down to 2.8 if needed and the improved sharpness is nice at 3.2. I included two files - one full size image of a tree section unedited at f/2 (1/4000th of a second to rule out motion blur) and a cropped in version of that file to show poor sharpness right in the center of the image. The lens is a nice size. Slightly bigger than my nikkor 50mm, but smaller than my Rokinon 85mm. It works well with my Nikon D500 and when focus is on where you need it, images do look good. It also focuses close enough for near-macro photography, so thats nice. compared to other more expensive 35s out there, this is crap, but those lenses are hundreds and hundreds of dollars more in cost. Thats why I give this a 4/5. Its a great lens to get the feel of a 35mm lens under your belt, but I would not recommend for pro use at all. + Good build Good Value Close Focus - Slow AF Not sharp at f/2