DIY Weather Proofing for your Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | A

It's no secret that the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | A is one of my favorite lenses. It's just a good lens. It's well built, beautifully designed, and most importantly the image quality from the lens is second to none. Click the link for my review of the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | A.

Anyway... This isn't an updated review on the lens, but whenever I see discussions about this lens on camera forums all over the web invariably argument, "well the Nikon/Canon 35mm f/1.4 versions are weather sealed" comes up. I've got a quick and easy solution for that.

With fall and winter coming, the weather tends to get cooler and wetter. So what I have here is a simple do-it-yourself way to weather seal your Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | A. The best part is that it's probably better than Nikon or Canon's factory weather sealing. It also protects against minor impact damage keeping your lens in perfect shape. You can't say that about Nikon or Canon's weather seals.

Let's get down to it. First you need a beer koozie. Or can-cooly, beer sleeve, or can-cooler if you prefer (if you're an Aussie you might know these things as a "stubby holder"). Secondly you need a pair of scissors. That's it.

The great thing about beer koozies is that you can get them for free at just about any event. So weather proofing your $900 Sigma lens won't cost you one red cent! Can't beat that.

Instructions:

1. Take the beer koozie in your hand. It should be folded flat naturally. 
2. Notice the bottom part. Take the scissors and cut that bottom part off. 
3. Slide the koozie over the lens like it was a can of beer. 

That's it! It's really that simple. The neoprene koozie is water resistant and takes the impact of the occasional bump that can often happen to a lens. Just to clarify, this does not make your lens waterproof, but it will protect your lens from splashes and light rain and snow. Of course this works best if you also have a weather sealed camera body. 

So, let's take a look. 

First of all here's the naked Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | A

Here's your beer koozie. I like the Sailor Jerry brand because it has that old school tattoo look. You can choose one that fits your own personality, like a sports team, a company logo, your favorite beer brand, or whatever free koozie that you have on hand!

A typical beer koozie is the perfect length to fit the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | A lens leaving enough room to attach the lens hood. Coincidence or design?!?

Once your beer koozie is on the lens and the lens is attached to the camera, slide it down to help seal the lens mount. 

There you have it. Not only is your lens weather proofed it's also stylish! I had pinstripes added to the lens hood for extra old school hot-rod appeal (guaranteed to add at least 10hp to your camera!)

A few things you should know before putting one of these on your lens. 

1. You will not be able to access the M/AF button on the lens. Don't worry, just about every camera has one on the body. 
2. You won't be able to see the distance scale on the lens. How many people use these on AF lenses? I don't. 
3. Due to the awesome HSM motor the focus ring does not turn when autofocusing so don't worry about the koozie impeding autofocus functions. I've had mine on for two years with no problems!
4. The focus ring is on the front part of the lens. You can still manually focus by firmly gripping the front of the lens and turning the focus ring. At first the koozie will be tight and you will have some resistance, but in time it will loosen up and turn freely. 

*This DIY weather proofing may or may not work with your zoom lenses. I haven't tried it on any of my zooms, but I'm guessing it will be a pain in the butt. This may work well with other prime lenses of similar size. Again, I haven't tried it on any of my other primes because most of them are too small or too big. If your lens doesn't have an HSM, AF-S, USD, PZD, EF-S or some other type of lens motor that doesn't require the focus ring to turn I would not use this.

Edit: After using this koozie on the 35mm for a couple of years it got pretty loose. I removed it and replaced it with a new one. I tried the old one on my Sigma 24-105 f/4 | A and it works brilliantly. 

New and improved full color koozie!

The old loose koozie on the 24-105

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX AF-S lens

FINALLY!

10 years after Nikon introduced their first DSLR with a DX sensor, the D1, Nikon introduces a normal fast prime lens specifically for DX DSLRs. The 35mm focal length is equivalent to about 52mm on a full-frame camera. 50mm is a standard "normal" lens for the 135 format, which Nikon has termed FX for it's DSLR line. Since the inception of 35mm film the 50mm lens was the standard lens that was paired with most cameras since it approximates the same field of view as human eyesite.

When Nikon introduced it's DSLR line in 1999 they used a smaller APS-C sized sensor that was substantially smaller than a frame of 35mm film. This introduced what is known as a crop factor. Since the frame was smaller the field of view that sensor captured was reduced, resulting in the lens acting like a lens of a longer focal length.

For all these years Nikon has continued to manufacture DX cameras yet they have ignored the fact that there was really no option for someone who wanted a fast, "normal", inexpensive prime lens. The closest options were the 28mm f/2.8 (42mm equiv.) or the 35mm f/2. Both of these lenses worked OK, but weren't optimized for digital sensors.

The new 35mm f/1.8 was completely designed for DX cameras and bears no resemblance to the dinosaur 35mm f/2. The DX 35mm is smaller, more compact, and has newer and sharper lens elements that have a completely new design. The new lens also has the AF-S "Silent Wave" motor, which allows for super fast, super quiet focusing. This is also great news for D40/x and D60 users. Finally there's a cheap fast prime lens that can autofocus with these cameras.

No longer are DX camera users stuck with the 50mm f/1.8 as a good affordable prime lens. The 50mm is one of Nikon's most amazing lenses, but on a DX camera it's a short telephoto which makes it great for portraits but a little too long for most typical shooting scenarios.

The 35mm f/1.8G is the perfect light-weight, affordable, fast prime lens for all Nikon DX users from the D40 all the way up to the D300.

Nikon also ensures us that this is just the first of a new crop of lenses. I look for Nikon to unveil a few more gems during PMA this year.

Thanks Nikon, better late than never!