Customer Ratings & Reviews

This lens works well as a portrait lens on a cropped sensor camera. It takes a little practice to learn to shoot f1.8 if you start with the kit lens that comes with the camera. If you shoot the 17-55mm kit lens you'll find this 50mm is sharper. This is a great Nikon lens that dates back a long ways over a lot of generations. It's an easy lens to walk around with any time of the day. It's very light weight and comes with a lens hood. You can do low light with ease. The 35mm is also nice too and the only other one you can get at a low price.

I use a D40 and the only available 50mm prime with AF-S was the 1.4g, which I didn't want to spend over $400.00 for, being that I don't use the camera often. Note: The D40 doesnt have a lens motor so if auto focus is needed, then the lens must be an AF-S. The 1.8g takes great all around photos with great DOF. Portrait shots especially, which I get the most compliments for. The only thing that's tricky are small, crowded areas since the lens has no zoom. Also, trying to explain to others that there isn't a zoom and how to use the auto focus. Other than that, I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants something easy to use and to take great shots all at a great price!

This is one of the sharpest lenses in my bag (And also the cheapest). It's sharp, fast and light. Great for portraits, low light shots, or just a walk around lens. You can't beat it for the price, and frankly, it produces better shots than some lenses that cost many times more.

This lens is supposedly compatible with my Nikon D850, but it was very tight and didn’t feel like all other lenses have felt with my D850 and D7000 so I returned it.

This lens compared to my other 85mm has bad green and purple fringing... Beat buy wouldn't let me return or exchange. Pretty upset about it.

I LOVE this lens! I take a lot of portraits and bought this to use in my home studio. After taking the first few shots I fell in love with this lens for the clarity and quality of pictures I was seeing on my display. The speed and aperture are wonderful for using natural light. I found that I didn't need to push my ISO quite as high as I was doing with my stock kit lens, and got better clarity in the images. The only thing I regret is not buying the 35 mm lens instead of the 50 mm. My studio is not very large and I find that I don't have enough room to back up in order to get more of the full length type shots. It's definitely a keeper though, and when I do move to a larger studio, it will surely be my go-to lens!

Very basic lens. Would recommend for casual photography and beginners.

I am very impressed with this lens! I use this with my Nikon D5100 and it takes stunning photos and video. It provides an impressive depth of field while keeping your subject sharp. The autofocus is quick and pretty quiet for the most part. The quality of the lens housing may not be as nice as some of the more pricier lenses but it's definitely not cheap feeling. Overall this lens can't be beat at this price point and I would consider it the best "bang for your buck" lens for Nikon cameras. It's a must have in the camera bag. I can't find a single bad thing to say about it.

50 mm on a DX body gives you a short portrait lens, and on an FX is considered normal. I've tired all four of the current Nikon optical formulas for 50 mm, and two Sigmas as well, and this one is the best of the bunch for most people. The aspheric element means that you can shoot it wide open without worrying about coma flare, it's tack sharp, even on the D7100 or Velvia wide open, the front element is deeply recessed, to prevent flare and focus just snaps to where it needs to be, even on the old CAM900 film bodies. The only reason to jump to another 50 mm lens is the two f/1.4's give you 2/3 of a stop more light, as otherwise the f/1.4G is slower to focus and not as sharp until you stop it down, and when shooting wide open is subject to sagittal coma flare, and the f/1.4D's optical formula is from the 1970's and also needs to be stopped down. Also the older AF-D f/1.8 is cheaper and works on manual focus film cameras, but doesn't AF on the D40, D60, D3x00 or D5x00 bodies. The only drawback is that this lens uses 58 mm filters and caps, which while standard for Canon, are an oddball size for Nikon, only shared with three other modern lenses (the 50 f/1.4G, 35 f/1.8G and 55-300 DX VR). The 52 mm would have been a better choice as that's been the Nikon small lens standard since 1959. A step-down ring does fix this problem, but it's a nuisance nonetheless. The fact that I own no fewer than four 50 mm lenses, and this is the one that goes in my bag when I need a 50 mm optic to shoot with, should tell you a lot about its quality.

I have the older D lens, and I often wonder how I got by without it. The appeal is mainly the lens speed. The majority of shots I've taken with the lens are wide open or close to wide open. It's an excellent lens for portraiture: f1.8 means you'll be able to get shallower DOF that will make your subjects pop... it definitely beats any zoom that's in the market in this regard. Performance may peak at 5.6 or 8 (which is usually the sweet spot for most lenses), but the whole point of picking up a lens such as this is for that large aperture. I can't believe they're more than doubling the price just for changing a letter, especially when all they're doing is removing an aperture ring... that's all G lenses are: D lenses without the ring.

I picked up this lens to compliment my 35mm lens. This lens is very sharp and would be ideally used as a portrait lens for photography. I took some nice shots of some flowers on my D7100 and it is by far the best camera and lens combo I have had. The pictures come out amazing and the bokeh (blurred background) is great. If this is your first prime lens it will take some getting use to but it will definitely help force you to understand your DSLR much more with one of these. Remember that on an FX body, this lens is a 50mm but on a DX body this lens will be approximately like a 75mm due to 1.5x crop sensor. For the price, you can't beat getting this lens especially since it will work on an FX body if you decide to upgrade your camera down the line.

I just took my time to choose between this one and the 35mm 1.8... I got both, this one is great for portraits while the 35 is more versatile. Portraits looks awesome for a budget lens, great bokeh in the background and it really sharp even at 1.8 while the 35mm is not that sharp at the same aperture. I'm using it on a DX camera(D5100).

Tack sharp, beautiful bokeh, very easy to handle. Works like a charm on my D3200.

I purchased this based on a recommendation by a professional photographer friend of mine. For the price point combined with excellent photo quality, exposure performance in many light conditions and quality design, this is an excellent choice for the entry level to intermediate photographer. With the aid of a tripod, you can easily take photos in a "dark restaurant" setting without using a flash. Shooting on cloudy days doesn't hinder the lens' performance. It can even turn out studio portrait level candids if you're using a budget conscious lighting system. If you take individual candids, the lens does a beautiful job of blurring the background behind the subject and giving your composition that professional look! The only real drawback I have with this lens is it's lack of VR technology to cut down on camera shake which would be handy in low light situations. Overall, this is an excellent choice as an alternative to a standard 18-55mm lens. Purchase it, you won't regret it for the price and performance!

Excellent lens! I am an amateur photographer. I've shot with Nikon D50 and D80. I am planning to go FX. Also, this lens is VERY VERY popular! This is an excellent lens for DX as well. For DX camera, this lens will be a 80mm F 1.8 lens (with narrow field of view) Great for portraits! Of course if you take pictures for a living, then you'll probably have the F 1.4 professional version with nano coated glass. But for the rest us who does not have enough money to buy the pro version, this is a great buy.

I LOVE my new lens! Most of the other reviewers have said what I'd want to, but I'll repeat: this lens takes great pictures in low light!! I'm finally able to turn off my flash for indoor shots! I'm an amateur, always learning more and more about my camera's settings, believing that I don't need expensive equipment to take great pictures! This lens is relatively inexpensive and works perfectly on my D40. I was trying to decide between another zoom lens, the 35mm, or this 50mm. I'm glad I went with the 50mm. I love close-up shots, but the 50mm allows me to back up and not invade someone's personal space (over the 35mm)! And, having such a wide aperture range, this lens is giving me both sharp group shots and clear portraits with a very pleasing bokeh. I love it! I love it! A lens worth having in your arsenal!

This lens isn't just a bargain lens, it's extremely sharp and has great contrast. The 50mm focal length is very useful on a full frame camera, I use it as a lightweight all-purpose lens. This lens coupled with something like a D750 and it's great high ISO noise reduction will give you great low light performance.

I love this lens. i maily use this to take portaits. i love the boke and sharpness that makes you look like a real pro photographer

I had to return my first piece due to it being having a very tight twist to get it mounted. Unlike my other lenses, this lens would mount, but with lot of pressure. I had to return it fearing that it would damage my camera. Have no issues with this second piece. Took a few shots inside and it seems to do what its supposed to. I love the 1.8 aperture which produces this nice bokeh. Even though this is meant more for portrait purposes, I am planning to take some outdoor shots soon hoping it won't disappoint me.

We had our first child a little over a year ago. After taking over 3,000 pictures with our iPhones, my wife and I decided to get a "real" camera that we could grow with. Picked up the D3200 with the two kit lenses, and after plenty of research and reviews, sprung for this 50mm. We absolutely love it! Trying to take candid "in the moment" pictures of our daughter works very well with this lens because it's so FAST! The kit lenses can't keep up with her moving around so much. We've already taken another 2,000 pictures with the camera for her birthday party and Christmas. We've probably only used the kit lenses for 100 of those shots. I've been playing around taking "creative" pictures of Christmas lights and what not and it gives you that really nice blurred background that everyone talks about - we love it!