Nikon NIKKOR Z 50 mm f1.8 S Mirrorless Camera Lens JMA001DA

Nikon's long awaited 85/1.8 prime for the Z-series is finally shipping and I'm happy to report it's been worth the wait. Design and build are as expected based on the existing f/1.8 series primes, which is to say relatively light and compact in a decent, if unremarkable, composite casing. AF is fast and accurate and the lens balances very nicely on my Z7. Image quality, as hoped, excels. The lens is tack sharp wide open right across frame. On testing, I can detect a very slight bump in sharpness at f/2.8 in the extreme corners on a planar subject (brick wall). But this is only detectable by making painstaking comparisons at the pixel level. You would never notice it in real world shooting. Simply choose your aperture, focus on any part of the frame at any distance and prepare to be amazed. It's all here. Biting (but not clinical) sharpness from wide open. Exquisite detail at the plane of focus. Beautiful creamy background blur. Smooth transitions. And exceptional colour purity, which is probably down to the remarkable lack of colour fringing, even on out-of-focus highlights. It all adds up to 'that look' which only the best short telephoto lenses have: that beguiling combination of sharp details and glowing highlights against a soft wash of colour, all balanced in perfect harmony. The lens is just as well behaved on stopping down. Depth of field simply increases, untroubled as far as I can tell by any significant focus shift or field curvature, just as you expect and just as you want. No unpleasant surprises. Complaints? If pushed, I would say it doesn't focus quite as close I would like but, in fairness, that's true of every 85mm prime I've ever used. It's just how it is. Some will say it should have been f/1.4. Not me. Not when it's half the size and weight of those 'hero' lenses. Not when the rendering is this good. I pair mine with the equally exceptional 14-30/4 zoom, which on my Z7 makes for a fantastic two lens kit for travel and backpacking. Highly recommended.

I will say up front, I don't normally shoot primes. But I decided to invest in some for my Z6 as the kit lens at f4 limited some shots I wanted.Right out of the box it looks and feels like all the other S lenses. Not too heavy, quality construction, everything you could hope for. But it's the image quality that stunned me. For 15+ years I've carried a Nikon DSLR and a zoom lens, for many years a 24-70/2.8 lens. I've always bought primes but never used them much at all. These S lens are different, I've pretty much completely switched to using primes!The sharpness, speed, and quietness are talked about a lot. Obviously all stellar but there is a very difficult to describe image feel to the S primes. Yup they're 'only' f1.8 lenses, but having used 1.4 f mount lenses I'm not missing anything at all. You can shoot these S primes wide open at 1.8 all day and the quality is stunning.I recently traded in my 24-70/4s kit lens for the f2.8s version. But I'm still finding I prefer to shoot with the prime lenses. The 35mm being one of the 3 I pretty much carry everywhere now. If you have a Z6/7 get yourself some of the primes, they're definitely worth it.

This lens is amazing. That is it. Done.Super sharp.Very lightweight.It's a pleasure to use.

This lens is capable of amazing results. As it is a fast lens, the bokeh is very buttery and the subject will be razor sharp. Learn to use the lens, and you will be able to reap the amazing reward's. Be patient and the results will be astonishing

If you're relatively new to photography, you may wonder why anyone would choose to pay ~£500 for a prime (ie. fixed focal length) lens. Why not pay a little extra and get a 24-70mm zoom? For many situations the 24-70mm is an ideal walk-about lens, but the 50mm f1.8S is a beautifully fast lens. 'Fast' means that it has a maximum aperture of f1.8, which means it lets lots of light in, and so not only can you use faster shutter speeds (to avoid blurring caused by motion of your subject), but especially with modern digital cameras (high ISOs) you can take surprisingly good photographs in low light levels with no flash. (Nikon's first 24-70mm zoom in the Z-mount has a maximum aperture of f4.) Generally speaking, the lower the f-number of a lens, the higher the quality of the lens; though it sometimes means the lens is larger and heavier.The Nikon Z6 does not have a built-in flash (because it would compromise the weather sealing of the camera), so I was expecting to have to buy a flash to go with it; but the 50mm f1.8S is so fast, that combined with the high ISO sensitivity of the Z6, I have decided that I simply don't need a flash. The photos I've taken indoors with the Z6 and this lens, look significantly better than those I was getting with other cameras and a flash.Oh, and I love the manual focus ring. It feels so smooth and comfortable to use.

Perfect match for the Nikon ZF

Have a Z9 and the 24-70 2.8 - heavy! The 50 is refreshingly small and light - feels well made, not much on the lens functionality wise - compared to the more expensive lenses.

It is absolutely the best z mount lens you can get at that price. Extremely sharp , Bokeh is very good , light transmission of F1.4 lens on a DSLR although it is rated at F1.8 , extremely versatile focal length and light weight. The size of the lens matches very well the size of the Z cameras. In summary, A must have lens.