GOOD AND AFFORDABLE LENSES FOr NIKON D7500:
The Nikon D7500 is a versatile camera for the advanced amateur. It shares its modern 20-megapixel sensor and advanced light meter with the more expensive D500. It is also almost as fast, with 8 frames per second, and you can film in 4K with the D7500 if you want. It has a turning and tilting touch-sensitive screen. That is handy for photos from unusual viewpoints, selfies and video. Sharing images is quick and easy with SnapBridge, a special program from Nikon that works via the built-in Bluetooth connection. The D7500 is very versatile and a good camera for almost every conceivable subject, from nature and landscape to sports and portraits. In combination with good lenses, you can take high-quality photos with the D7500.
BEST LENSES FOr Nikon D7500:
The Nikon D7500 is an excellent camera for the more experienced photographer who needs some extra options. Whether you want high-quality video or a fast camera for capturing your children on the sports field or birds in the wild, the D7500 can do it all. Because of the high quality and extensive capabilities, we looked for the D7500 for the best lenses that you can use on the D7500. We did not pay very much to the price. If you want to get the best out of a D7500, then you will have to pay something for that. That doesn’t mean that we advise the biggest, heaviest and most expensive professional lenses. Those do not fit very well on a compact camera like this. Fortunately, there are plenty of high-quality lenses that are nicely balanced on the Nikon D7500. Generally, these are lenses that are specially made for the sensor size of the D7500. With many other brands, they talk about “APS-C” sensors, but Nikon uses the term “DX” for this. A couple of zoom lenses and all fixed focal points are also suitable for the larger full-frame sensors, which is called “FX” by Nikon. We choose them for the D7500 mainly because they offer a very good image quality, but it is also useful if you also have a full-frame camera or are considering purchasing one in the future. What you have to take into account with such a full-frame lens is that the field of view on a DX camera is somewhat smaller than on an FX camera. A 35mm is therefore a documentary lens on FX, but a standard lens on DX. A 50mm standard on FX, is a light telephoto/portrait lens on DX.
HOW HAVE THE BEST LENSES BEEN SELECTED FOR THE NIKON D7500?
The lenses we recommend are all ones that we have reviewed ourselves. In the lens selection for the D7500, we looked at lenses that score well and fit well on the D7500. This means that we have made a selection of lenses with a high image quality, but that we have also considered dimensions and weight. If you want to know which other lenses we have reviewed and how they scored, check out our list of more than 300 reviewed lenses.
Fisheye: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5 E ED
The distinctive fisheye distortion can produce original shots in the hands of an experienced photographer, with which you can distinguish yourself. This fisheye zoom from Nikon is suitable for both FX and DX. On FX, you can also get perfectly circular images in the largest position. That does not work on the smaller DX sensor. On the D7500, it can actually only be used as full-screen fisheye, but that is not bad at all. The image quality is excellent, and in the longest position, the fisheye effect is not that strong. And that can sometimes also be useful.
WIDE-ANGLE ZOOM: Tokina AT-X DX 14-20mm f/2
The Tokina 14-20mm is a wide-angle zoom with an extreme brightness that also remains the same over the whole zoom range. That makes this lens very special. That high brightness offers a lot of possibilities. You can shoot by hand when you have very little light. You can create background blur, which is very unusual for a wide-angle zoom. And it is ideal for filming because you do not use slow shutter speeds when shooting movies. The sharpness is already high at full aperture, and the lens is hardly sensitive to backlighting.
Standard zoom: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-80mm f/2.8-4.0E
This 16-80mm is actually the lens with which a camera like the D7500 should be delivered as standard. However, it is not cheap, although you also get a lot for your money. First of all, the range is beautiful, from reasonably wide-angle to substantial telephoto. The brightness is also very nice, so you can get good background blur with a portrait at 80mm. It not only has the latest nanocoatings, but also an extra fluorcoating on the front lens, making it easy to clean and fix. An important plus for traveling. And the lens has pretty effective image stabilization. The image quality is also very good, and that at a weight of only 480 grams. This lens actually has everything. But if you want the top in image quality and brightness, then there is the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 ART. That lens has a smaller range and no stabilization, more brightness and sharpness that can compete with fixed focal points.
TelePHOTO zoom: Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 ART
What applies for the Sigma 18-35 mm f/1.8 ART described above also applies for these 50-100 mm. The range is fairly limited for a telephoto zoom, but it can compete with fixed focal points at every position. Not only with regard to brightness, but also with regard to image quality. That is extremely good. That high brightness is nice if you have to film in low light and also provides a beautiful bokeh if you use this lens for portraits. And for sports shots, you can keep the shutter speeds very short with f/1.8. It is not the cheapest or lightest telephoto zoom for the D7500, but it is the best.
LONG TELEPHOTO ZOOM: Nikon AF-P Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 E ED VR
When you’re on the road, imagine you’ve been traveling for a month and a half through Southeast Asia, then you often have plenty with you, and a telephoto zoom of a kilo or more is perhaps a bit too much of a good thing. This AF-P Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 E ED VR is then the ideal telephoto lens. It offers a substantial range, enough to capture an orangutan in a tree 30 meters away full-screen, and yet it is light and small enough to always keep on hand. In combination with the D7500, this Nikkor also provides a lot of image quality at a reasonable price.
SUPER-TELEPHOTO ZOOM: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6G E ED VR
Fast DX cameras are ideal for nature photography. You need that speed to capture moving animals, and because you get a slightly smaller field of view with a DX sensor than with an FX sensor, you do not need such super long telephotos as with FX. But this Nikon 200-500 mm is a super-long telephoto zoom. Even on FX cameras, you can get small things in the distance quite a lot closer. On a DX camera like the D7500, you get smaller animals at a reasonable distance still quite big in frame. For a zoom with such a long focal length, this 200-500 mm is still nicely compact and affordable. And yet the image quality is good. This lens is ideal in combination with the D7500 for nature photography.
Superzoom: Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-140 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Superzooms rarely perform really well, and we do not like to advise them for more advanced cameras such as the D7500. But of course there are circumstances when you would rather not want to change lenses too often, and then this Nikon 18-140 is a good choice. For an all-in-one lens, this 18-140mm offers decent image quality, a wide range and a reasonable brightness.
FIXED FOCAL LENGTH
Of course, lenses with a fixed focal length are not as flexible as the more popular zooms. But they also have a lot of pluses. They are usually brighter and qualitatively (much) better than zoom lenses. They are also usually a lot smaller than a zoom lens that comes qualitatively close to a fixed focal point lens.
Standard: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 28mm f/1.8
This lens is actually intended as a wide-angle for FX cameras. On DX cameras, it works as a slightly wide-angle standard lens. On DX cameras, you only use the middle of the image of this lens, and that is the best part. The image quality you get with this 28mm is very high, and the brightness is good. It is also compact, light and quite inexpensive for the quality offered. If you want a slightly longer standard lens, you can also opt for the 35mm f/1.8 from Nikon. That lens scored just a fraction lower, but that is also a very good lens. The largest aperture of f/1.8 allows two stops or four times as much light through as for example the 16-80 mm f/2.8-4.0 standard zoom that we recommend above. This means that you can take better photos in low light and that you get more blur in the background for a nicer bokeh.
Macro: Nikon AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 105 mm f/2.8G IF ED
The Micro-Nikkor 105 mm f/2.8 is a very good macro. And then we are not just talking about excellent image quality, but also about usability. It is already a real telephoto lens on DX cameras, so that even at 1:1, you have a reasonable distance between your lens and your subject. This is not only useful for lighting, but also ensures that your subject, if it can crawl or fly, will take off less quickly.
Bokeh (AND PORTRAIT): Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G
An 85mm on a DX camera like the D7500 is a relatively long focal point for portraits. A 60 or 70mm lens would be slightly better, but Nikon doesn’t make them in this brightness. That long focal length in combination with the high brightness ensures that the background in portrait photographs is beautifully blurred. The bokeh is therefore much better than with most zooms in this range. The sharpness of this lens is very high, and the price is nice for such a beautiful lens.
TelePHOTO: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 E PF ED VR
The Nikon AF-S 300 mm f/4 is a bright telephoto that can be used on both FX and DX cameras. 300mm is widely used on full-frame cameras for indoor sports, but on DX cameras the field of view is a bit too small. On the D7500, this is a beautiful long telephoto for landscape and nature photography or sports photography outside along the line. The image quality is fantastic, and thanks to the relatively low weight, it is also a nice lens to take with you.
