I got my Nikon D90, my first real camera, about 15 years ago. When I say “real” I just mean that the camera could interchange lenses, it was a DSLR, not a point and shoot. The D90 came with a 50mm f/1.8D lens, but the first lens I purchased myself was the DX 35mm f/1.8G.

That lens basically never left my camera until today when I sold it to a young guy named Kevin in the parking lot of a Vons supermarket. What a coincidence that the pre-owned NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.8 S, the new and improved model for mirrorless cameras like my Z 6, would arrive just a few hours after I got home from meeting Kevin. This 35 will be a much different experience since I’m using a camera with a full frame sensor (the D90 was cropped at 1.5).

But it still seemed like a tidy bit of fate that one 35mm f/1.8 lens would leave on the same day the new one arrived. So, I took the new glass for a walk, and have a few samples to share.