New Nikon 35mm lens for U/W photos?

Greetings all,

I'm looking to get the Aquatica housing ($999 @ B&H) for my D40 and I still haven't decided on a lens. I'm a total beginner, and I was led to this site by a professional U/W photo buddy of mine.

He initially recommended that I get an 20mm lens with the 6" dome, but then I reminded him I need to use an AF-S lens on the D40 (he uses D200's & D300's). AFAIK, Nikon doesn't make an AF-S in 20mm, but Nikon does in their recently released 35mm lens. I asked him about the Nikon 10-24mm AF-S lens, but he said it's easier to learn with a lens of fixed focal length - like 20mm.

The 35mm lens is also reasonable at $199. My buddy said the 35mm would be the equivalent of a 50mm lens U/W, but it should be good because of its low F value of 1.8 and will thereby let in lots of light.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6067...5mm_f_1_8G.html

Anyone have any ideas about this lens for my first? I will be shooting mostly marine mammals, turtles, and fish.

It's a fast lens, but not a macro lens.

Tokina makes an F2.8 35 mm lens that is a macro lens. More usefull UW IMHO.

I cannot imagine why a prime lens is easier to learn. You could just set your 10-24 at 20mm if that was where you wanted to learn. For your goals of marine mammals/turtles/fish, I think your 10-24 idea would work well and a 6" dome seems popular with Aquatica users here based on my reading.

If you check the lenses used by others at this site, you will see many with 12-24 and some with 10-24. Not likely to find many shooting a 35mm prime lens.

I cannot imagine why a prime lens is easier to learn. You could just set your 10-24 at 20mm if that was where you wanted to learn. For your goals of marine mammals/turtles/fish, I think your 10-24 idea would work well and a 6" dome seems popular with Aquatica users here based on my reading.

If you check the lenses used by others at this site, you will see many with 12-24 and some with 10-24. Not likely to find many shooting a 35mm prime lens.

I like that idea. While the 50 mm f/1.8 looks like a super lens, I think it is too long for u/w (FX eq. ~ 75 mm) and will not focus close. In olden times, we have the Nikonos 15, 20, 28, 35 and the useless (IMHO) for u/w 85 mm lenses. The new 10-24 S will give you the 15 to 36 mm equivalent. You will need your dealer’s recommendation for port and gears. Close focus is 24 mm. Is a diopter required? Do master one focal length at a time. This will pay off later. A setting of 13 to 14 mm will give you the 20 mm equivalent.

Another option is macro. Both the new Nikkor 60 and 105 mm lenses are S. I think macro is easier to learn, especially lighting.

Bob

Oops - it's 35 not 50 - still not the best for u/w.