What is It?
The Nikon 35mm f/1.7 DX MC is what Nikon calls an MC lens. Right up front we have some definitional bits to address.
In the F-mount lenses, Nikon used the term Micro-NIKKOR to refer to any macro lens. That terminology had some historical and legacy origins and was used for the better part of 50 years. With the Z System, Nikon has for some reason abandoned that naming convention, and now any lens that gets to 1:2 or better magnification is labeled as MC.
So let’s start with the close up performance of this lens. While Nikon claims that the 35mm f/1.7 DX MC produces “life-size equivalent,” this is footnoted and it turns out that this is the same marketing misdirection that Olympus originally started using. Life size should refer to a 1:1 correspondence (1” in real life is rendered as 1” across the image sensor). The 35mm f/1.7 DX MC only makes it to 1:1.5, which technically would be two-thirds sized (1” in real life is rendered as 0.67” across the image sensor).
But there’s a bigger problem here than maximum magnification: the distance from the front of the lens to the subject at maximum magnification is about 2.4” (61mm). That gives you very little room to sneak light between the lens and your ~1.4” subject. You can certainly push this lens into what might be called macro territory, but I think it’s probably more reliable to say that you’ll be able to focus on even modestly small subjects (say 5-6”), but will want a different lens if your goal is true macro on very small subjects.
Do note that at the closest focus distance the optical design is balancing focus extension (moving elements away from the image sensor) with focal length increase. Thus, at the 1:1.5 maximum magnification, the lens is effectively f/3.2 and almost 50mm in focal length. This is normal for macro lenses, as it keeps them from getting too long and extending too close to the subject as you focus closer. The metering system of the Nikon Z cameras understands this aperture reduction and will change exposure accordingly, but if you use Manual exposure, you’ll have to pay attention to what the effective aperture is as you move from normal focus distances to close ones:
- Infinity — f/1.7
- 9 feet (3m) — f/1.8
- 2.3 feet (0.7m) — f/1.9
- 1.3 feet (0.39m) — f/2
- 8” (0.19c) — f/2.5
- 6” (0.16m) — f/3.2
Next on our list to define is focal length. At the distances you’ll usually this lens, it is what most of us would call a “normal” lens. In FX equivalency, the 35mm f/1.7 DX MC is producing the same angle of view as a 52mm lens on an FX camera. There’s no specific or official definition for normal, though one sometimes agreed upon specification is an angle of view that corresponds to the diagonal of the capture area. For DX, that would be 28°, but this lens is producing 44°. Personally, I don’t tend to get into this argument. It’s enough to say that this isn’t a wide angle lens, nor is it a telephoto lens (though it does go a bit telephoto at the closest focus distance).
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the lens design itself.
At 2.9” (72mm) in length, 2.8” (70mm) in diameter, and 7.8 ounches (220g) in weight, the 35mm f/1.7 DX MC is what I call muffin-sized, and it’s a large light muffin, not a heavy one. It feels like a very appropriate size and weight on the DSLR-like DX bodies (Z50, Z50II, maybe Zfc). Build quality includes a metal lens mount, but Nikon doesn’t mention any specific details about weather-sealing.
Surprisingly, the optical formula is fairly simple: 8 elements in 7 groups, with a single aspherical ED element. Sitting in the middle is a 9-blade aperture diaphragm which has a very near circular impact at wider apertures and stays symmetrical for a change as you stop down.
Focus is down to about 6” from the image sensor, but there’s focal length change as you get into the macro range, typical of most macro lenses in order to keep them from extending too far. The 35mm f/1.7 DX MC doesn’t extend the front element, but the internal lens configuration changes the focal length to somewhere close to 50mm at the closest focus distance.
Out front, the lens takes 52mm filters. An HN-43 lens hood is optional and not supplied with the lens.
The 35mm f/1.7 DX MC lens is made in Vietnam, and sells for US$450.
Source of the reviewed lens: purchased
How’s it Handle?
Not much to write about, as this is a pretty simple lens.
There are no buttons or extra controls on the 35mm f/1.7 DX MC, but the very wide focus ring is appreciated, particularly as you start using the lens for close up work. While the lens is a little long in length for a basic prime, on a Z50 that doesn’t feel too pronounced. On a Z30, however, it would feel a bit like a snout on that tiny body. Moreover, the lens does not extend on close focus. Basically, you have a large muffin on the front of your camera.
While there’s no A/M switch on the lens, you can easily override the autofocus system by twisting the focus ring, something you’ll probably do from time to time when you’re using the lens for macro work.
How’s it Perform?
Focusing: For a lens that pushes so far towards true macro, focus is impressively snappy at almost every distance, even close in.
Focus breathing at normal use distances is minimal, but the focal length change as you get into the macro range will show breathing. This begins at somewhere around 9 feet (just under 3m).
Sharpness: Nikon’s published MTF charts show a lens with excellent center sharpness that degrades gracefully and not a lot into the corners. That’s generally true at all apertures, but let me separate it out a little bit. At maximum aperture at distance, the center is very good and this degrades almost linearily to good- in the extreme corners. At f/2 the center reaches excellent and again we degrade linearly to good- in the corners. At f/4, the mid-frame rises some and reaches excellent, though the corners are still down near good-.
Close up, things are better: excellent across the board wide open, with additional improvement up to about f/4.
There’s some coma in the corners, which is probably what is providing the “stronger central, weaker corner” results as you near infinity. The coma seems to resolve itself by f/2.8, but there’s still some residual spherical aberration. I’m specifically referring to the real corners; there’s a wide range of unaffected area through much of the frame.
Linear Distortion: A very minor amount of pincushion distortion (well less than 1%), and auto correction basically removes that.
Vignetting: Surprisingly, vignetting is somewhat lower than expected for most uses, being about 1.5 stops wide open, and by f/2.8 hitting the level I call ignorable. At least for typical distance ranges you’d use the lens at. I’ve seen others say it’s high, but for a fast lens this is quite reasonable, and easily corrected for the most part. Where strong vignetting does show up is at infinity focus. Wide open you’ll see not only very dark corners (~3 stops), but an easy identifiable middle image area that has less darkening (i.e. you’ll see a clear vignetting circle at infinity and f/1.7). Of course, for landscape work you’d typically be stopping down, and by f/4 vignetting at infinity is moderate and the clear circular patten (mostly) gone.
Chromatic Aberration: Lateral CA is well-controlled and not an issue. It does start showing a tiny bit in the extreme corners wide open, but it still measures at less than a pixel in lab testing. I consider that perfectly fine (and easily corrected, should you need to). Longitudinal CA is present up through about f/2.8, though I’d judge it be something you don’t have to worry about.
Flare: Veiled flare resistance is fairly high with this lens, particularly with a lens hood mounted. However, in-frame light sources can and do produce a small colored ghost.
Bokeh: Not a bokeh monster, but surprisingly very nice looking in the near area and just behind the focus plane. I see a bit of busy-ness at distant out-of-focus areas. Bokeh balls have a bright outer edge, and a little pizza-like (as opposed to onion skin) in the middle. Clear cats eye impacts begin to show up about halfway from center to the corners, but this is modest cats eye, not slanted cats eye.
I don’t usually comment about this, but the 35mm f/1.7 DX MC has one of Nikon’s better starburst patterns on light and diffracted light sources that I’ve seen in the Z system lenses they’ve produced. Just be aware that you’ll be at diffraction impacted apertures in order to produce them.
Final Words
If you’re looking for the “normal” lens to put on your DX body, the 35mm f/1.7 DX MC is a clear winner, with two caveats: (1) you don’t have VR stabilization; and (2) you need to purchase the optional lens hood. The first is a bummer, because we have no DX body that can help you with stabilization. The second is necessary to help reduce some of the flare tendencies of the lens.
With those things in mind, the rest is simple: the 35mm f/1.7 DX MC produces excellent and very useful optical results that don’t have any particular big down side you need to be aware of, and it does that even as you get quite close to subjects. Any sharpness falloff into the corners tends to be gradual wide open but is not enough to say the corners are unusable. Just stay away from infinity at f/1.7 to avoid the worst aspect of the lens, considerable vignetting that you won’t like. The reasonably fast aperture gives you some low light capability (or room to bump up the shutter speed), though I’d tend to use this lens at f/2.8 or f/4 whenever possible to maximize the edge-to-edge performance to the top levels it can attain.
Moreover, this large muffin of a lens is right-sized (and weighted) for the smaller DX bodies, making it an easy choice to keep on the camera if you like the normal focal length it produces.
The price is higher than Viltrox’s version (35mm f/1.7), but the macro capability makes this lens very versatile, and it really shines in the 1:1.5 to 1:3 magnification range. So it’s a bit of a two-fer: quite decent “normal” lens, excellent near macro lens. I’m not sure that fully justifies the US$450 price, but I think it’s close enough to still recommend the lens.
Recommended (2026 to present)