Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S reviews roundup: Should you buy it?
Released in 2018, the Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S is a lens designed for Nikon’s Full frame mirroless cameras, with a constant aperture of f/1.8 and a focal range useful for portraits or street photography.
Specs:
- Mount: Nikon Z mount
- Optical stabilization: No
- Weather sealed: Yes
- Weight: 415g (14.7oz)
- Min. aperture: f/1.8
- Max. aperture: f/16
- Minimum focus distance: 0,40m
- Filter size: 62mm
- Fast 50mm prime for Z Mirrorless cameras
- Uncanny f/1.8 performance, extreme sharpness and virtually zero distortion
- New ultra-quiet stepping motor for silent focusing
What do the critics think of the Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S?
Overall, the Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S is a pleasant to use prime lens for the new Nikon full frame mirrorless camera system. It’s solid, quite versatile and can be used for everything, from portrait to landscape and urban photography, it provides an excellent sharpness and accurate colors, it focuses fast, and it’s a serious value for the price.
The only real downside that come up most often is that it’s quite large and heavy for a 50mm lens.
Most reviews like…
- Good construction
- Excellent optical quality
- Incredibly sharp at all apertures
- Weather-sealed design
Most reviews don’t like…
- Large and heavy for this type of lens
- Bokeh is nice but not incredible
- Some vignette at f/1.8 and barrel distortion
- Autofocus not completely silent
- No optical stabilization
For more infos about the positive and negatives sides of the Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S, check out the selection of reviews below:
Websites Reviews
Dpreview.com – 93% Gold Award (‘The Nikon Z 50mm F1.8 S is a powerful standard lens for the Z system, offering outstanding sharpness and full-aperture performance. There are better 50mm lenses on the market for portraiture, but none that are sharper or so well-corrected for coma and longitudinal chromatic aberration when shot wide open.’)
Digitalcameraworld.com – ★★★★★ (‘Nikon’s new Z-mount has paved the way for lenses that set new benchmarks for optical quality. In focal length terms the Z 50mm f/1.8 S prime may be ‘standard’, however in every other respect this lens is anything but.’)
Digitaltrends.com – 8/10 (‘The Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8S delivers excellent sharpness, minimal distortion and solid performance. The lens pairs well with the Nikon Z6 and Z7 as a “nifty fifty,” even if it’s not as cheap as such a lens usually is. The lens is also significantly larger than the F-Mount 50mm, but also has a size consistent with the Z 35mm. Even at $600, it will be a desirable lens for many photographers thanks to its performance and ability to create a shallow depth of field.’)
Pcmag.com – 4.5/5 (‘[…] if you’re in the market for a 50mm for the Z, the 50mm f/1.8 S delivers fantastic results at a price that is more midrange than high-end. It’s not perfect; I would have liked to see Nikon include fluorine protection, and the control ring is currently something I’m not happy with in any Z lens. Even with those gripes, the Z 50mm is a lovely lens, and our Editors’ Choice.‘)
Photographyblog.com – ★★★★★ Essential (‘The Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S is something of a no-brainer if you don’t have a 50mm lens for your new Nikon Z6/Z7 camera, and well worth considering even if you do already have a 50mm DSLR lens. […] In terms of image quality, the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S is incredibly sharp throughout the aperture range, with similar performance in both the centre of the image and at the edges.’)
Photographylife.com – 4.8/5 Gold Award (‘If you shoot with the Nikon Z system and you want a 50mm lens, this is the best one available at the moment – including adapted lenses. Reviewers often seek “some bad to balance the good” to avoid calling any lens perfect. But that just doesn’t apply here. If it fits the focal length and aperture you need, I recommend it without reservation.’)
Amazon users reviews
- Fast 50mm prime for Z Mirrorless cameras
- Uncanny f/1.8 performance, extreme sharpness and virtually zero distortion
- New ultra-quiet stepping motor for silent focusing