Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Nikkor 50mm F/1.8 AF lens is a good lens for night photography or low light picture taking. But make sure that your camera can use it in auto mode, if not you will have to use it in manual only. My advise would be to buy a lens that is fully automatic, that way the camera does all the work and you can enjoy just snapping the pictures.

Highly recommended, I took my hobby to the next level thanks to this lens

great lens, only it can be focused manually, not auto

Feel very solid, nice material used. Image quality is 8 out of 10.

This lens is as described. It is functional and works as described

Bought for my son who is doing photography as a hobby.

This is an awesome lens especially for portraits. Must have.

Great focus for camera usage. Does exactly as intended

This lens wasn't the correct one for my Nikon Camera. It lost some of the autofocus ability. I had to return it for a much more expensive one.

This lens only worked in manual mode on my camera, but it took good pictures, I just needed a lens with auto focus

Wasn’t quite what the wife expected but she still used it.

This is a great lens to add to your collection. I am photographer on a budget but does not want to compromise on quality. My first "real" customer was for a senior who grad was coming up. Parents did not buy senior pictures and decided to hire me. My first picture was a head shot. My subject had awesome eyes and caught every detail with this lense. I am still trying to get use to always manuel focus, but nothing different when I use to have my Cannon AE-1 Program. So it can be a bit old school with manual focus, but you can easily adjust. Light weight compared to your longer glass lenses. In turn, because it is light your center of gravity when you hold your camera becomes easier. I have not yet been able to experiment down to f1.8 for night shots, but I have been getting great shots even as low as f2.0. So if you can't afford f1.4 glass, get this 1.8...save your money.

This lens wasn't compatible with my camera. I have a Nikon D3400. I had to get the other version of this lens. It is one of my favorites!

I picked up this lens as an alternative to the 1.4 lens that cost almost twice as much. I am not disappointed. For the price you can't beat the performance. The only downside which many have already stated is this is manual focus only on the newer Nikons. This is not a problem if you are using the lens for stationary shots (portraits, macro, etc.) Most Nikons have a built-in indicator in the viewfinder that tells you if you are focused (little green dot lights up) on the focus point that you have chosen. I use that as a base and then if I decide to vary from there I can but so far it's been prettty dang accurate. The lens takes great pics in lowlight (of course) and the pictures I've snapped so far have been sharp and look great. I have no regrets whatsoever in purchasing this lens. If you have the money buy the model that focuses automatically and get the extra .4 on the f-stop. Otherwise pick this up and enjoy the goodness!

This lens is an exceptional value. It's a very light, sharp and cheap prime (no zoom, except with your feet# lens which should be in most Nikonian's bags. Unless you have a beginner camera like a D40, D60, D3000-3300 or D5000-5500 #as of 10/8/15) since you'd have to manually focus the lens. If you like manual focus photography, not a deal breaker. Otherwise, get the AF-S version for about $100 more. 1-3 star reviews on here of from children who didn't read their product manuals, the item description, or any camera-review website for that matter stating clearly that beginner Nikon cameras don't autofocus with this lens. If you want to be spoon-fed and then cry about one of the best value lenses made by any camera company, maybe stick with fisher-price brand cameras?

Did not like lack of auto focus. And got charged a restocking fee when I returned it

Was disappointed that there is a limited selection at Alaska stores. Returned item because it was not a Macro lens.

This lens produces sharp pictures and great color and contrast. And for its price (which seems to climb recently), it is worth more than 5 stars rating. I initially get this lens for low light action and sport photography (as this lens is famous for being one of the fastest lens together with its brother 50mm f/1.4), but I also found out that this lens is also perfect for portrait and other general purposes (macro, etc). This is definitely a very versatile lens. As much as I want to encourage everyone to buy this lens right away, let me mention some of the limitation that you would see (which I think will be helpful to go over before deciding to buy this lens) First, being a prime lens, you will need to move your feet a lot to compose your picture. If you are used to zoom lens, don't underestimate this limitation. It takes me a while to get used to it, and sometime I still find people looking at me wondering why I am moving forward and backwards. the good news is that most of the time, they don't think I'm weird, but they are actually wondering if I'm a professional photographer. Secondly, the focal range of 50mm, which is considered the normal lens and great for portrait lens. but on a DSLR (which I assume most of you use nowadays), this lens become a 75mm equivalent which is in the border of a short tele lens. I actually like the 75mm equivalent though I often have to move backwards when taking picture of a group of people. Third, in some situation the autofocus might not able to focus (which is common for many other lens too). It is hard for the autofocus to lock when aiming at a wall that is one color (usually black or white), or on a clear sky (day or night). This kind of makes sense to me actually. IN these situations the AF assist light doesn't help either so you can opt for manual focus or set the focus to infinity when you can't find focus lock on scenic/landscape or sky photography. So far I don't have many problems with the autofocus. Sharpness increases as you stop down to f/2.2 or f/2.5. I actually use f/1.8 most of the time and the results are still nice. Personally, I'd rather use f/1.8 aperture settings than stopped down (e.g to f/2.8) and compensate with higher ISO setting which often gives me grainy picture. But if your object is not moving (static) then it is better to stop down to f/2.8 or more. If you are wondering whether you should get a fast lens or a lens with VR, here's my take: VR does help a lot (and produce better/sharper picture than equivalent faster lens without VR) if the object is static. If the object is moving (sports/action) then VR feature doesn't really help and fast lens (like this lens) will be a far better solution. Using tripod (and a remote) will substitute for the need of VR feature. In general I would recommend getting a fast lens with VR feature (and usually it is expensive) such as the 70-200 f/2.8 VR, but if one can only get for one or the other, then find out what do you want to use the lens for and then use the guideline mentioned here. Here are the summary of pros and cons for this Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF lens. Pros: + Very fast (f/1.8) + Very sharp pictures (especially when stopped down to f/2.2, f/2.5 or more.) + Great for sport/action photography + Great for indoor and low light situation + Great for portrait + Bokeh is almost as good as many expensive Nikon tele-lens + Fast autofocus + Good for wedding photography (or no-flash event). However, if this is your main objective then you might want to get the 50mm f/1.4 version or 28-70mm f/2.8 lens) + 75mm equivalent which can be considered a short tele lens (I actually like the fact that it's 75mm equivalent vs 50mm in DSLR. if you need more zoom, you can get the Nikon 85mm f/1.8, or the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR) + Inexpensive Cons: - Being prime lens, you need to move your feet a lot to adjust/compose - Autofocus issue on some situations (read detail above) - Plasticy build - Autofocus is not the most silent but very reasonable - 75mm equivalent with 1.5x multiplier on DSLR (many people find this is an odd range for normal lens) Bottom line: This lens is so versatile (and inexpensive) that I think everyone should own in addition to all the lenses that they already have. Being a very fast lens, it enables me to take pictures in low light (sport/action photography) that I otherwise wouldn't be able to do.

Dollar 4 dollar best return on investment. Note this lens requires a motor driven focus mechanism in the camera. I have gotten most of my once in a lifetime shots with this lens. For portraits where I need a little "breathing room" or those times I want a lens that does not attract attention I sport this. Walking around at night I can do handheld shots at 1/30 w/out issues. This lens really shines! See Ken Rockwell's gleaming review; "googL it". If you read this far just get it! On any Nikon body w/out an internal focus motor (i.e. a D40, D3000 or D5000) get the 35mm f/1.8 instead. It rocks too! Don't forget a 52mm UV protector as cheap insurance. Iv'e had my lens for 4 years now and it is always my go to lens!

If you're a photography fan this is a lens you should seriously consider buying. Even though nowadays everyone BEWARE: It won't auto-focus if your camera doesn't have it's own focusing motor. AF will not be supported by D40 and D60, D3100, D3000, D3100, D5000 cameras. REMEMBER you will have to lock the aperture ring at 22 in order for AF to work properly. IN THE BOX: - Lens - 52mm Nikon Lens Cap - Plastic back cover It doesn't come with the Nikon rear lens cap (LF-4) or with a bag/casing of any kind. The rear cap, if anyone is interested, can be found easily for around $5. EXPERIENCE: So far, so good. Remember that if you have a camera with a DX format sensor, this lens will "behave" as a 75mm mounted on a Full Frame sensor body. The results of pictures are very good, hard to beat -considering the price, of course-. It is a really sharp lens, especially from 2.0 up, and you will be amazed by the results. It also shows very little distortion, even less if mounted on a DX sensor body, since the crop factor will cut the corners, which is where distortion is more obvious. Same thing goes for vignetting, noticeable at 1.8 or 2.0, slight at 3.2, and totally gone at 4.0. Also less visible in DX sensor bodies. Even with a filter on it. AF is quick and accurate, didn't have any trouble with it so far. I would totally recommend this lens to anyone who asked me. LENS CONSTRUCTION / MATERIALS -> 3.5 / 5.0 OPTICS AND IMAGE QUALITY -> 4.5 / 5.0 SPECS (AF, SPEED, ACCURACY…) -> 4.0 / 5.0 PRICE / VALUE -> 5.0 / 5.0