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The Best Nikon Lenses for Beginners Under $700

Chris Gampat
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08/15/2022
3 Mins read
Pauleth Ip The Phoblographer Nikon NIKKOR Z 50mm f1.8 S Product Image 02 of 05

If you’re a Nikon camera owner who is just getting into photography, we want to congratulate you. You’re jumping into a hobby that so any photographers really know and love. It’s brought them tons of mental health benefits, and they’ve also made beautiful photos they’re really proud of. If you want to take things further, you should reach for the best Nikon lenses for beginners. And lucky for you, we’ve rounded them up in this post for Nikon Z camera users. Take a look!

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How We Chose the Best Nikon Lenses for Beginners Under $500

Here’s some insight into our selection of the best Nikon lenses for beginners. 

  • Our Editorial Policies don’t allow us to talk about products we haven’t reviewed. Luckily, we’ve done full reviews of all these lenses and so much more. You can find links to those reviews in the sections below. Further, we’ve also shot all the images in this round up.
  • The best Nikon lenses for beginners are, luckily, all weather-resistant. That’s important to keep in mind for long-term durability.
  • We know some folks really want zoom lenses. But these are the best Nikon lenses for beginners because they can give you the photos that your phone can’t in an organic fashion. Part of that has to do with the depth of field. Another part has to do with resolution.
  • The 40mm f2 won an Editor’s Choice award. In our opinion, this is the single best of the bunch.
  • These lenses can do anything: portraits, landscapes, street photography – you name it.

Nikon Z 40mm f2

Pros

  • Durable – incredibly so!
  • Beautiful image quality
  • I like the colors.
  • Autofocus is great, and it’s solid in the studio.
  • Nice bokeh
  • It’s a 40mm!
  • Bro, it’s $299.99. Like, this is THE IMPULSE BUY lens from Nikon.

Cons

  • Autofocus on the Nikon z6 II is much improved, but still falls behind other brands for stuff like street photography.

In our review, we state:

The Nikon 40mm f2 z isn’t doing anything genuinely innovative per se. However, they’re offering the smallest autofocusing 40mm f2 lens on the market. They’ve added incredible weather sealing despite them being slightly conservative with their own statements on this. Better yet, they’ve done this at a crazy low price point. 40mm lenses have been seeing a rise in popularity, and the Nikon 40mm f2 z is a study in how to do it right.

Buy Now

Nikon Z 50mm f1.8

Pros

  • Robust weather sealing
  • Excellent sharpness
  • Compact and lightweight
  • AF accuracy has improved with firmware updates to Nikon Z bodies

Cons

  • Pricier than existing Nikon F Mount 50mm lenses

In our review, we state:

Thanks to the lens design that features 12 elements in 9 groups with 9 aperture blades, the bokeh produced by the Nikon NIKKOR Z 50mm f1.8 S will likely be pleasing to most photographers. It does a good job separating your subject from the background. As a matter of personal preference, some photographers will subjectively argue that the bokeh produced by this lens lacks character.

Buy Now

Nikon Z 28mm f2.8

Pros

  • Nice image quality
  • Good colors: they remind me of the old Nikon D700’s render on the Nikon z5.
  • Very compact
  • Weather resistant
  • Very affordable

Cons

  • Frustrating autofocus

In our review, we state:

What the Nikon Z 28mm f2.8 lacks in autofocus performance it makes up for with colors. Along with the Nikon 40mm f2 that shares a similar build, this lens has some seriously gorgeous color. It’s also weather resistant. If you can get around the autofocus issues, you’ll find yourself very happy with this lens. And yes, the colors are that awesome; the render reminds me of the old Nikon D700.

Buy Now

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

lenses lenses for beginners nikon nikon 28mm f2.8 nikon 40mm f2 nikon 50mm f1.8 nikon lenses for beginners Nikon Z review under $700
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.