What is a 35mm lens good for?

[Keith]

I use a 35mm exclusively on my D700 for shooting gallery openings. I can get as close to people as I need to without a problem because that's my job at these gigs ... I don't think I would be quite as comfortable in an open candid environment because you really are on top of someone with this focal length if they are your target and you're trying to fill the frame with them. It also has the width to allow me to take in the atmosphere of the gallery when I need to.

I used to be a strictly 50mm shooter but the combination of the D700, the beautiful Zeiss Distagon and the compressed environment of the gallery has changed that!

 

[dave lackey]

Dave

Do you even know what you don't like?

Is the angle of view too wide compared to where you are used to standing?

Or do you feel the perspective is unnatural?

One of the characteristics of someone getting old is steadfast opinions about the things they do not like and will not change for anything. I, on the other hand, am open to different things to consider. Once considered, I may or may not like them. The fact that I have not used a 35mm prime as the "only" lens is not because I do not "like" it, it has more to do with 40 years of training. The 50mm pov is how I naturally view things when I throw the camera to my eye and look through the VF. I don't even have to think.

I have always excluded what I don't want in a frame. I am used to closer details. I am accustomed to a large motif in the frame. I am used to abstracts, etc.

The perspective is not unnatural but it is uncomfortable because it INCLUDES what I have always EXCLUDED from the frame. This will take a lot of work to retrain how I see the world around me when I am carrying a camera. :angel:

 

[enasniearth]

35 focal length

35 focal length

For myself the 35 is not quite wide enough .
The28 is about right .
The 50 is good for traveling , and low light .