Trying to find the best lens for your Nikon?
Are you looking for the best compatible lenses for your specific Nikon camera? Or do you want to know what the best Nikon lens is for a type of photography? This is your Nikon Lens Hub to quickly find what you need.
We have you covered for specific Nikon cameras and photography situations. You can either choose lenses we recommend based on your model, or get a broader choice based on your style of photography. Alternatively, we’ve also got a list of best lenses in specific price ranges. As well as the most popular choices among other photographers.
To make it easy use our “5 Star” selection system. Click on the star that fits what you’re looking for and it will take you to what you need.
Improve Your Photography
Selecting the right lens is one of the best ways to improve your photography, maybe even more so than selecting the camera body. Plus, lenses tend to be transferable to multiple camera bodies. So as long as you’re sticking with the Nikon brand your “glass” will usually transfer with a new camera. If you’re a beginner photographer and new to selecting a lens we’ve got some more details included below.
Best Nikon Lenses For:
Best Lenses for Nikon DSLRs:
Lenses for Older Nikon DSLR Cameras:
Best Lenses for Nikon Mirrorless Cameras:
Nikon Lenses Under $500
Nikon Lenses Under $1500
Nikon Lenses Under $3000
Professional Nikon Lenses
How to Pick the Right Camera Lens
If you’re not familiar with what to look for when picking the right camera lens for your camera here are a couple reminders of what you should pay attention to. Right up front let me say that cost is a pretty good indicator of quality. Now this doesn’t mean that you always have to select the most expensive lenses. However, the cheapest ones will tend to give you ‘cheap results’.
Maximum Aperture
This relates to how much light can get through the lens. It’s a bit counter intuitive but the smaller the number, such as f/2.8, means the larger the aperture. In other words, an aperture of f/5.6 would provide less light to your camera’s sensor.
Focal Length Range
Focal length is measured in millimeters (mm). It’s related to the distance from your subject but more so by the angle of view – how much of a scene is captured in your photo – rather than directly to a length to your subject. Nikon has a great article on Understanding Focal Length if you’re looking for more information.
Prime (aka: fixed) or Zoom Lenses
Zoom lenses will give a beginner photographer more flexibility when starting out. The zoom allows you to essentially ‘instantly’ move closer or farther from your subject without having to move from your location. On the other hand, Prime lenses tend to give you better image quality in a smaller and lighter package. However, a Prime lens is also referred to as a “fixed” lens. This means you will be the one moving closer or farther from the subject to get the scene crop you want.
Still have Questions about the Best Lens to Buy?
We feel like these three things are the most important aspects to understand when selecting a lens but there are a lot more features you’ll come across in your lens search. Each one of our guides above go into more depth about why you would or wouldn’t want a particular lens. So be sure to continue your search there.
Our sister site, Smashing Camera, also has a great guide on understanding What the Numbers on Lenses Mean. It breaks down the most important lens features and some of the terms or features you’ll come across. Moreover, it will help you decipher the ‘alphabet soup’ of terms you’ll run across.
After all of this if you’re still unsure of what to buy feel free to reach out to us for our specific recommendations. Just click through to our Buying Advice contact form.
We would also suggest checking out Nikon’s Education articles. Here’s a convenient link to various articles on lens types and how to use lenses in different situations.