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Review Summary
2025-06-18T13:58:28
The single best lens I own.
Rosiher S.
2025-01-02T17:58:57
Sharpest lens I've ever used.
Larry C.
2025-01-02T17:57:03
Outstanding lens. I love the 50mm because they have the same angle of view as human eyes do at first glance. I've been shooting for over 50 years and the "nifty 50" is my basic carry lens. Of course I have my specialty lenses also. The z50 1.8 is the sharpest lens I've ever used with no noticeable falloff or aberration. It is a tad bit sharper than the z80 1.8, which is also an outstanding lens. Nikon has produced some of the finest lenses ever with their s series z lenses.
Larry C.
2024-12-31T17:35:41
I really like this lens the quality of the lens is remarkable as are the photographs that I have taken with the lens
STEVEN L.
2024-12-22T07:42:23
Great lens. Quick and responsive with no nonsense. Nothing negative so far. Fits right in with Nikon!
LARRY D.
2024-06-27T18:14:55
Beautifully sharp images with creamy bokeh. I have always been a lover of my 50mm 1.8 with my DSLR so when I upgraded to my Z6ii I knew I wanted the Z50mm 1.8 to go with it. Once again, my nifty fifty is still my favorite.
SIERRA R.
2024-05-06T10:42:20
The reviews on this lens are spot-on when they call it Nikon's best ever 50 mm. For a nifty-fifty, this lens is expensive and bigger than its competition, but the image quality is absolutely worth it. Paired with my Nikon Z7, this is an amazing combination. A little more work to compose at this focal length, but I can get used to it. I will be using this to shoot landscapes as multi-frame panoramas and expect super resolution images.
Richard J.
2023-09-26T12:12:16
If you want to leave one lens on your camera to handle most situations, this 50mm is literally perfect. It's incredibly sharp, very affordable, not heavy, and can be used for portraits, full body, and reasonable scenics. No lens is perfect for everything, but this is the most perfect all-around prime for most situations!
JOHN Z.
2023-07-04T18:32:18
I love taking images that can capture real colors and details, as if I were freezing a real moment in an image and this lens based my desires. I love the reality of the images that he gives.
Kamilo K.
2023-05-23T22:40:31
I'll be honest, I'm far from an expert and for a long time questioned why people spend so much on glass. I write for a motorcycle publication and recently decided to improve my camera system and gear for the various reviews and travel stories I write. I ended up deciding on the Z5 and this lens to do the bulk of my legwork on, and wow - color me impressed! This lens' ability to make it seem as though I know what I'm doing is plainly worth every penny that it costs and perhaps more. An added bonus is that it's durable - something that comes in great handy when your camera and lens are bouncing around on an adventure bike at 80mph across a desert. How do I know you may ask? Well shortly after opening the lens, butter fingers me dropped it on my hardware floors. Tada! Unscathed. Very happy with this purchase.
KENNETH M.
2023-02-24T05:14:32
Extramly Clear and Fast
Richard R.
2022-12-16T03:09:19
I bought this lens 3 weeks ago and since then I'm very pleased. The picture quality is top notch. The only downside is the focusing noise like my power drill when start and stop. This lens supposed to be virtually salient.
Aleksander C.
2022-10-06T08:25:37
Awesome lens!
Tanyka L.
2022-08-09T12:55:09
very good definition
Pablo R.
2022-07-21T08:28:40
50mm is my favorite focal length (at least right now), and this is a nearly perfect nifty-fifty. The image quality is astounding on my Z7 II, even compared to my 50mm f/1.8 G lens I've had for the past 11 years, which was no slouch. The sharpness is excellent, nearly no chromatic aberration to speak of, minimal distortion, and beautiful soft bokeh. Auto-focus is very solid, locking right on, and works very well with IBIS. The build quality is great: weather sealed, metallic, and very simple. The only downside of this lens to me is that it's a little bigger than I'd like, but in the end it is very nearly the same size as the G lens with the FTZ adapter, so it's not unreasonable. Just for street photography where I'm trying to fly under the radar, the little 40mm f/2 Z pancake lens looks enticing, but I wouldn't want to trade the image quality for the size. Highly recommended.
JAMES B.
2022-07-15T10:14:09
We all have to have the Nifty Fifty and although I had it in an F-mount, I wanted a Z-Mount for my Z6. It does what I expected with clearer images.
Frank G.
2022-06-15T09:45:16
Love this lens. Perfect for what I need in an everyday lens. Excellent in low light. Excellent in bright light. So happy. Everyone should have one of these. I?m down to two lenses now: this 50mm prime and a 70-200 f/2.8. It?s all I need (until the next lens of course)
Joel M.
2022-05-22T17:21:38
Beautiful lens. Wonderful build quality. Stellar images and bokeh!
WILLIAM L.
2022-05-18T08:19:49
I generally shoot with zooms but this is a great prime time have!! Sharp as a tack
Ann A.
2022-04-29T09:06:23
Great lens and very clear and focused. I love this lens ability in reduced light situations. Good value.
Richard P.
2022-03-10T07:13:24
Great walking around lens.
DON C.
2022-02-23T14:41:40
Beautiful sharp lens. Beautiful boken!
GEARY L.
2022-02-11T18:00:14
The Nikon Z 50mm 1.8 S-line lens is a must have in your arsenal if you plan on getting a 50mm prime or any prime among short zoom focal lenghts. Beats the S-line 35mm too in sharpness. One of the few lenses I've seen generate pictures with end-end sharpness right from the widest aperture and the rest are all more expensive than this lens. CA, flaring are pretty much non existent. I plan to keep this on my camera as the primary lens going forward.
Leepeng C.
2022-01-30T15:34:16
Great all around lens to keep on your camera! I love my z 70-200 2.8 s, but I needed a more practical everyday lens for travel and family photos. It?s a sturdy, fast nifty fifty that balances well on my z6ii. It?s a great lens to add to your kit. If you need a walk around lens, don?t hesitate; but this lens!
ABIGAIL K.
2022-01-30T15:15:22
Great and versatile prime to keep on my camera! Definitely one of the best ?nifty fifties? for an affordable prime. It can?t beat my z 70-200 s 2.8 for my shoots, but this is great to carry around everyday for trips and for family photos.
Abigail K.
2022-01-26T07:23:57
Amazing lens!! Great for pet photography
Brittany N.
2022-01-23T16:49:35
Excelente calidad de imágen.
ADRIANA C.
2022-01-09T15:25:37
Very happy with this lens. It is crisp edge to edge and takes excellent portraits.
KEVIN G.
2022-01-05T09:42:30
Not too much use yet, but presents excellent images on test patterns. Very light and easy to carry lens with good near focus properties. Not quite a macro, but looks good up close and personal. Should be good portrait and people lens, and I like the big aperture capability.
Richard R.
2021-12-14T07:10:56
Fast and fabulous.
CREEL M.
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Browse our FAQ
Nikon
None
Black
Standard
Nikon Z
FX and DX
Auto Focus
1.32 ft. ( 0.4 m)
50mm
Maximum Angle of View (DX-format) 31½ 30'
Maximum Angle of View (FX-format) 47½00'
N/A
f/1.8
f/16
0.15x
62mm
12 Elements / 9 Groups
9
3 in. (76 mm) x 3.4 in. (86.5 mm)
14.7 oz. (415 g)
None
Amazing Lens
By SkChicago
As a full-time wedding and portrait photographer as well as a cinematographer for the past 12 years, I have been well acquainted with and have owned a number of Nikon lenses. Many of them have been really good. This 50mm 1.8 lens is just mind-blowing good. At 1.8 it is by far the sharpest 50mm I have used from Nikon and handily beats other brands out in terms of flare resistance. The new coatings they are using on these lenses are no joke, the color and light transmission is just superb. I ex...
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Three Things I Love About the Nikkor Z 50mm 1.8S
By Ashwani G.
I've been using the Niikor Z 50mm 1.8S for a few weeks now and have been testing it. Instead of listing the specs-list, here are the top three features of this lens that jumped out the most: 1. Image quality: Strikingly beautiful due to Nikon's color science and exceptionally sharp edge-to-edge thanks to good distortion control, color aberration control, and vignette control. 50mm is a great focal length for street, portrait, landscape photography, and this lens is well-suited for most of t...
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Designed for Nikon’s FX-format mirrorless cameras that feature the new Z-mount, the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens is a powerful and compact prime lens that offers a fixed “normal” field of view at 50mm and a bright maximum aperture of f/1.8. Its natural perspective is ideal for capturing portraits and reducing image distortion, making this handy “Nifty Fifty” variation a must-have in every photographer’s bag. Meanwhile, the wide aperture and its nine rounded blades allow the lens to perform remarkably well in low-light shooting conditions while enabling greater control over depth of field so you can produce images with beautiful, creamy bokeh. To ensure high-quality output, its optical design includes two aspherical and two extra-low dispersion elements for exceptional sharpness and clarity. It also features Nano Crystal and Super Integrated lens coatings to minimize reflections—which typically result in flare and ghosting—and to deliver higher contrast images and greater color accuracy. Shooting is made easy with its swift, noiseless, and precise AF technology, along with full-time manual focusing in both photo and video modes. The lens also comes with a programmable control ring for intuitive adjustment of camera and exposure settings.
I was lucky enough to spend a full week shooting nearly non-stop with the new Nikon mirrorless system. I may have stopped for sleep a bit but, otherwise, I was able to shoot in multiple regions throughout the Yucatan Peninsula and then flew a few hours up north, with our crew, to Guanajuato, Mexico. And then I shot a whole lot more. I was able to put the new system through the paces — shooting in large, rainforest-like sinkholes, in pitch-dark caves, at pink lagoons, above colorful landscapes, and in and above the streets of a large, sprawling city.
My first impression of the new system is pretty straightforward: It’s just extraordinary.
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50mm prime. An icon. Visionary perspective. Versatile focus depth. Capable of delivering striking, decisive images in nearly any light. Ideal for all manner of videos. The definition of a "go to" lens. It should be no surprise that Nikon chose the 50mm to be among the first of a new generation of superb NIKKOR Z Mount lenses. And in doing so, have achieved a 50mm f/1.8 unlike any before it.
Performance that totally defies expectations
Empowered by the Z system's larger mount, shorter flange distance, raw imaging power, and video capabilities, the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S lens will redefine your notion of what a 50mm f/1.8 lens can do.
The sharpness achieved by this 50mm is nothing short of staggering. The Nikon Z Mount delivers even lighting from the center of the frame to the far edges. No need to stop it down—it's equally sharp at f/1.8 as it is at f/2.8.
New levels of aberration control. 2 Extra-low Dispersion (ED) and 2 Aspherical (AS) lens elements plus Nano Crystal Coat for virtually zero flare, ghosting, coma or chromatic, spherical and axial aberration, even at the far edges of the frame.
Powered by an ultra-quiet stepping motor and enhanced by the additional light gathered by the Z Mount, focusing on the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens is fast, silent and accurate. Great for stills; even better for video.
Classic 50mm perspective
This lens can do it all. Iconic portraits. Street scenes. Close-ups of food. Interviews. How-to videos and more. It's brilliant in low-light. Lightweight and portable. Ready for anything.
A 9-blade rounded diaphragm and f/1.8 aperture combine with the larger mount and shorter flange distance to produce a stunning round bokeh—even at short focus distances.
The 50mm perspective is great for interviews, tutorials, product demos, and more. Smooth, quiet AF and aperture drives and an advanced design prevent "breathing" and wobbling.
Draws peak performance from a Z series full frame mirrorless camera's outstanding low light capabilities. Captures point-of-light sources like streetlights with uncanny sharpness and minimal spherical aberration.
Next-generation Z design and optics
Nikon Z series lenses, perfectly matched to Z full frame mirrorless camera bodies, are designed with a sense of consistency that combines reliability and beauty with next-dimension optical performance for freedom in image creation.
Extensively sealed against dust and moisture, especially around all moving parts of the lens barrel. Compact, lightweight and ideally balanced on a Nikon Z full frame mirrorless camera.
The customizable control ring on the Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens can be used for manual focusing (default), aperture control (great for iris transitions during video recording) or exposure compensation.
Uses the Z cameras' superior in-camera image stabilization system for up to 5 stops of pitch, roll, yaw, X and Y shake correction. Additional electronic VR (e-VR) during video capture.
Stepping Motor: NIKKOR Z lenses use a stepping motor for fast, accurate, smooth, quiet autofocus with reduced wobbling. This quiet drive system makes the lenses ideal for use when shooting video.
Aspherical – Extra-low Dispersion Glass Elements: An ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass element that features the characteristics of an Aspheric glass element for a more compact size lens. Like Aspherical lenses, AS-ED lens elements minimize coma and other types of lens aberrations, even when used at the widest aperture by continuously changing the refractive index from the center of the lens. The AS-ED lens elements are optical glass developed by Nikon to obtain optimum correction of chromatic aberrations.
Aspherical Lens: A lens with a curved, non-spherical surface. Used to reduce aberrations and enable a more compact lens size. Aspherical lenses minimize coma and other types of lens aberrations, even when used at the widest aperture. They are particularly useful in correcting distortion in wide-angle lenses and help contribute to a lighter, more compact design by reducing the number of standard (spherical) elements necessary. Aspherical lens elements correct these distortions by continuously changing the refractive index from the center of the lens.
Nano Crystal Coat: An anti-reflective coating developed by Nikon that virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections across a wide range of wavelengths. Nano Crystal Coat solves ghost effects caused by red light and effectively reduces ghost and flare caused by light entering the lens diagonally.
Electromagnetic Diaphragm Mechanism: An electromagnetic diaphragm mechanism in the lens barrel provides highly accurate electronic diaphragm or aperture blade control when using auto exposure during continuous shooting. With conventional D/G type lenses, the diaphragm blades are operated by mechanical linkage levers.
IF Lens: A NIKKOR lens in which only the internal lens group shifts during focusing. Thus, IF NIKKOR lenses do not change in size during AF operation, allowing for compact, lightweight lenses capable of closer focusing distances. These lenses will be designated with the abbreviation IF on the lens barrel.
Fluorine Coat: Photographers need gear that can withstand the elements. Nikon’s fluorine coat effectively repels dust, water droplets, grease or dirt, ensuring easy removal even when they adhere to the lens surface. Nikon’s fluorine coat endures a high frequency of lens surface wiping and its anti-reflective effect also contributes to the capture of clear images.
Super Integrated Coating: Nikon Super Integrated Coating is Nikon's term for its multilayer coating of the optical elements in NIKKOR lenses.
It's no secret that the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens is a game-changer in the world of photography and cinematography. This iconic 50mm prime lens, known for its visionary perspective and versatile focus depth, is capable of delivering striking, decisive images in nearly any light condition. It's an ideal choice for a wide range of video applications, earning its reputation as a "go-to" lens for professionals and enthusiasts alike.
The NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens stands out in Nikon's new generation of NIKKOR Z lenses, boasting features and performance unlike any of its predecessors. Its exceptional sharpness, even at 1.8, sets it apart from other 50mm lenses, making it a favorite among Nikon users. The lens also exhibits superior flare resistance, thanks to the new coatings used by Nikon, ensuring superb color and light transmission for breathtaking image quality.
Moreover, this lens offers pleasant bokeh in most situations, adding a beautiful depth to your images. Despite its powerful performance, it remains reasonably light, making it a pleasure to use in various shooting scenarios. The multi-function ring, although not "clicky", offers versatility in controlling ISO, exposure compensation, or aperture, depending on your shooting needs.
However, it's important to note that the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens is not just about speed. Its f/1.8 aperture is indeed an advantage, but its true strength lies in its overall performance and the stunning image quality it delivers. Whether you're a full-time wedding and portrait photographer, a cinematographer, or simply a photography enthusiast, the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens is a valuable addition to your Nikon Z system.