ABJanes Loc: Jersey Boy now Virginia

You may want to rent both for a test drive or borrow from a friend or photo club member. I have the 50MM f1.8 and have enjoyed it for portraiture shots of our grandchildren. They both can be tricky if you try to fill the frame at a wide aperture & short distance due to the shallow depth of field. I have appreciated an iPhone App called Simple Depth of Field, which can be seen on the web or iTunes. Very helpful for DoF planning. Backlit shots can be challenging if you are shooting wide open. I use mine at f2.8-4.0 (sweet spot for sharpness).

CO

Tamron introduced a 35mm f/1.8 and a 45mm f/1.8 lens in September 2015 that have vibration compensation. That's another option. It really helps when you can't use a tripod.

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

I have both the Nikor 35mm and the 50mm f1.8 lenses. For indoor and walk around the 35mm is terrific. For portraits, the 50mm is beautiful. I find that on my D5100, the 50mm is sharper but they are both sharp lenses.

dandi Loc: near Seattle, WA

With no particular subject its hard to recommend. I have both: to photograph my grand kids I use 50mm, for vacation I take 35mm.
Check nikon for refurbished to save some $$.
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Store/Refurbished-Cameras.page#!/tag:8ps:Lenses

JonThin

Dave
Thanks for your reply. I haven't done the blur background yet but like that option.
Since you have both, which one do you use more?
On the kit lens, how do you tell a 35 or 50 setting?

Jon

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

The kit lens(18mm-55mm) will give you the field of view that the prime lenses will but the prime lenses are much faster and sharper. Bokeh is hard to achieve with the kit lens but easy with the 50mm prime at large aperture.

Jackdoor Loc: Huddersfield, Yorkshire.

If it's too wide, you can crop. If it's too long, you're stuffed! All else being equal, go for the 35mm.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

If I am the Dave you are asking. As the post above said you get blur by opening the aperture wide open and have the subject stand away from the background. This puts the background out of focus. You can do this with a kit lens but the background has to be far away so it is out of focus.

I use the two primes for low light which is indoor shots mostly in the dressing rooms at weddings. I like the 50 the best but sometimes the rooms are small and I need the wider field of view of the 35. If you have small rooms in your house you may want to consider this.

The lens lengths are on top of the lens on my 18 to 55 the 35 is marked but the 50 is not so to get 50 I need to put it between the 45 and 55 markings. If your zoom is different focal lengths you should be able to figure it out.

Since I am old a started photography with a prime lens I think there is a lot to learn using a prime lens. You have to move around to frame the picture. I think you learn a lot from this. That and the low light ability makes one of these lenses a great lens to have in your bag. - Dave

CO

UHH members have given great information already. If you want to start blurring the background also look into the quality of its bokeh. The Nikon 85mm f/1.4 lens is an excellent lens for portraits and the engineers made sure that it has great bokeh. Nikon made 105mm and 135mm DC (defocus control) lenses. You can control the spherical aberration which changes the state of defocus. Someone in my camera club let me use theirs for a while and it really works. Here's a good article and a review of Nikon's 135mm DC lens.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2008/12/lens-test-nikon-135mm-f2d-af-dc-nikkor

rbfanman

On the D3300, a 35mm IS a 50mm...well...a 52.5mm, field of view wise. The 50mm will give a 75mm field of view. So, the 35mm will be more versatile in more situations / locations. When shooting landscapes in the country, it won't matter so much. In the city, doing street photos, the 35mm will let you squeeze more image into each shot. Once it (the extra image) is there, you can keep it as is, or crop it out in editing. If it isn't there, to begin with-as the 50mm lens' 75mm filed of view did not go wide enough to get it-you can not crop it IN during editing. I have a 35mm prime for my D3300, but don't bother with a 50mm. The 50mm's 75mm field of view will be better for portraits. So....it all depends upon how you will use the lens...what you will be shooting with it.