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THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY

Quick Guide
Written by Kevin Landwer-Johan
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 I love my 35mm lens more than any other lens I’ve A 35mm lens has a horizontal field of view of 54.4°
owned or used. It’s attached to my camera most of on a camera with a full-frame sensor. On cameras
the time. with crop sensors, to capture the same field of view
the lens focal length will be shorter. For example, on
I want to share this love with you and tell you why I a micro four-thirds camera to capture a horizontal
prefer using my 35mm f/1.4 lens whenever I can. I field of view of 54.4°, you would need a 17mm lens.
hope this guide will inspire you to think about how On an APS-C camera, you’d need to use a 22mm
you use your lenses and, more so, to consider how lens to capture an equivalent field of view.
well you know the lenses you use. I hope it will help
you understand how you can develop a feel for each Recommended Reading: If you’d like to
lens and the style of images you create with them. master camera settings to create gorgeous,
creamy, blurry backgrounds, grab a copy of
Photzy’s premium guide: Beautiful Background
Blur.

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 3

 35MM IS A ‘MUST HAVE’ LENS

It may not be a bird photographer’s lens, or

one that many sports photographers could
make much use of, but it certainly suits my
style. The 35mm lens is super versatile. For
the types of photography I like, this lens
has certain characteristics that allow me
to use it frequently. My photos are mostly
travel and documentary style, with lots of
portraits.

For most of my years taking photos, I’ve

had a 35mm lens in my bag. For a time,
when I was using zoom lenses, one of them
would include a 35mm focal length. But
mostly I’ve used a 35mm prime. Much of
the time it was a 35mm f/2.

The first camera I bought came with a

50mm f/1.4 lens. I loved that lens, mainly
Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan
for the wide aperture. I continued to use it
My original Nikkormat and 50mm f/1.4 lens.
for 27 years until it would no longer focus
properly. At first, I thought my eyes were
failing, then realized it was the lens! I took
it to be repaired and my trustworthy repair
guy intimated that the lens was past its
prime and I’d be better off with a new lens.
Now it sits on a shelf, still attached to the
camera it came with.

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 I had a dilemma: to replace my 50mm
lens with another 50mm lens or go for
a 35mm f/1.4. This would give me the
combination of a wide aperture and a
wider angle of view. There were two main
things that factored into my decision-
making: price and bokeh. I loved the
bokeh of my 50mm and wanted to be
sure the 35mm was going to provide
the same feel in my photos. I also knew
the price tag on a 35mm f/1.4 would
be considerably steeper than that on a
50mm.

I checked the B&H Photo and Video

website. The images from the 35mm f/1.4
looked stunning. The price was also rather
handsome. At around $1600 US it was
seriously more expensive than what I’d
be able to pick up a second-hand 50mm
lens for locally. I got my calculator out,
Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan
thinking about how I’d used my 50mm
lens for so long.

Key Lesson: Even if I only got

10 years of use from the 35mm lens,
it worked out at less than $0.50 per
day. I bought it. It was one of the
best camera gear-related purchases
that I’ve ever made.

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 5

 WHY I PREFER 35MM OVER 50MM

The field of view of a 35mm lens on a full-frame With my 35mm I find it easier to include a little
camera is a little wider than what we see naturally, more background with my subject. I love taking
not including our peripheral vision. This means environmental portraits and find the 35mm focal
photos taken with this lens can tend to look more length is often perfect for this type of photo. In tight
natural. There’s an added comfort and connectivity spaces, where you may not be able to back up far
because the photos appear more natural, say, than enough to capture your subject with a 50mm, the
ones taken with a longer or wider lens. 35mm comes in handy. It’s wide enough without
being too wide.
Even though a 50mm lens is considered a standard
lens, its field of view is actually slightly narrower
than how we see life. Wider lenses will distort an Key Lesson: The slightly wider field of view,
image, especially elements close to the edges of a in my opinion, only has advantages over a
composition. Longer lenses compress distances and 50mm prime. With a 35mm focal length lens on
make elements appear closer together than they are. your camera, you can do everything with it that
you can with a 50mm and more.

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 Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 7

 MY CHOICE OF SUBJECTS
WITH A 35MM LENS

I take a lot of street, travel, and

portrait photos. Often the portraits are
environmental, so my 35mm lens is
perfect for them. I also find it’s great for
landscapes, cityscapes, and seascapes (on
the rare occasions I get to take photos at
a beach).

STREET AND DOCUMENTARY

PHOTOGRAPHY WITH A 35MM

A small camera and lens are the

combination that street photographers
often prefer. My 35mm f/1.4 is not the
most compact lens. My Nikon D800 is
certainly not a small camera. I’m used to
this gear and am comfortable using it. I
find that it makes the world of difference
when I’m taking street photos.
Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan I don’t often try to hide my camera.
With a 35mm lens I can capture the atmosphere of a place by backing up and making a wide composition. I can also come in closer Instead, I move about and watch for when
and capture medium and close-ups. By doing this I can build a story with a good variety of angles all with one focal length.
opportunities arise. I make both candid
and non-candid photos with my 35mm.

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 8

 The same applies to my documentary
photography work. I can capture a good
range of images to create an interesting
photo essay about the people and places
I am photographing.

I’ve always found that carrying less gear

helps me connect more easily with people
in remote places. Often, they will be
unfamiliar with what I do, and the less
alien I can appear, the more readily I am
accepted. This helps me come away with
more natural photographs.

Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan

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 PORTRAITS WITH A 35MM

There’s a level of intimacy working with a 35mm lens and

getting in close. I find that even with a 50mm, the relationship
is different. With a 35mm you can be close enough to compose
an environmental portrait and have a conversation at a normal
distance. With a shorter or longer focal length, you’d need to be
closer or further back to compose your picture. You’re then not in a
natural place to have a conversation.

Key Lesson: From this distance, you’re also able to show

your subject their picture on your camera’s monitor. When
they react, if you’re quick, you can turn your camera back
around and take some more photos without having to move
further back. With a longer lens, you’d be too close to them.

Recommended Reading: If you’d like to master camera

settings to create gorgeous, creamy, blurry backgrounds, grab
a copy of Photzy’s premium guide: Beautiful Background Blur.

Environmental portraits with a 35mm lens work well. Again, you

can be close enough to your subject to comfortably communicate
and manage to capture their surroundings. You are also close
enough to arrange items in your composition or remove them if
they are distracting. With a 35mm lens you can capture the scene
without the distortion that you would get with a 24mm or wider
lens.

Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 10

 LANDSCAPES, CITYSCAPES, AND
SEASCAPES WITH A 35MM

These subjects often lend themselves to

a wide focal length. Much of the time,
35mm is more than sufficient. The natural
field of view creates a more real-looking
perspective.

Trees or buildings at the edges of your

frame are not likely to distort unless
you’re very close to them looking up.
The elements within your frame will not
appear so spread out as they will with a
wider lens. This natural view you capture
with a 35mm lens is easier for people to
view as their brains are not challenged by
distortion.

When you do want a wider look to your

photo, compose with cropping in mind.
Make a landscape, cityscape, or seascape
Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan with space above and below. Then crop
the foreground and sky to give the photo
more of a panoramic look. This mimics
our peripheral vision nicely without the
distortion of a wider lens.

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 11

 Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 12

 CONCLUSION

Renowned photography Robert Capa

famously said, “If your pictures aren’t
good enough, you aren’t close enough.”
Capa was a war photographer, but I heed
his encouragement to get closer when I
am taking photos. With my 35mm lens
on my full-frame camera, I can get close
enough. If I’m not, I only have myself to
blame.

For any lens you want to explore with and

get a feel for, put it on your camera and
don’t take it off for the next one thousand
photos you take. This practice builds your
experience of the characteristics of the
lens. I find this more so with prime lenses
than zoom lenses. Push yourself to use it
for every type of photo and composition
you can. This will also help you ‘see’ as a
Photograph by Kevin Landwer-Johan
photographer in new ways.

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 13

 Self-Check Quiz:

1) What is the field of view of a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera?

2) Name two photography genres not so well suited to a 35mm lens.

3) What focal length lens is considered standard?

4) What style of portraiture is a 35mm lens well suited to?

5) Does using a 35mm lens for environmental portraits make it easier or more difficult to have a conversation with the person you
are photographing?

6) What can you do to take a landscape photo created with a 35mm lens look more panoramic?

THE 35MM LENS - MY FAVORITE LENS AND WHY // © PHOTZY.COM 14

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understand the basics. photography back. everything you can imagine.

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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Congratulations! You’ve completed
this Photzy guide!

If you’ve found this photography tutorial

helpful, you may be interested in this Photzy
premium guide on how to master your
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backgrounds: Beautiful Background Blur.

Kevin is a New Zealand professional photographer living in the

north of Thailand since 2002. During his career he has worked
in editorial, documentary, and commercial photography. He
now also teaches photography workshops and writes books
and articles. You can read his blog here. He runs photography
workshops based at his home in rural northern Thailand. IF YOU’D LIKE TO CONTINUE
LEARNING AND IMPROVING
YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY PLEASE
VISIT PHOTZY.COM