8 Best Nikon lens for portraits and wedding photography: (2024 Guide & Reviews)

Last Updated on January 22, 2024 by Sharon Advik

Today, we discuss the best Nikon lens for portraits and wedding photography.

What is the best lens?

What should you buy, what’s the cost, and what are the results of the images?

Right now, this question.

What are the best lens, the best lenses for me? I see it every single day.

I’ll give you my input and suggest my favorite 6 best Nikon lenses for portraits and wedding photography.

It will be what works for me; it might also work for you.

Let’s drive in:

Which is the best Nikon lens for portraits and wedding photography?

Here are my recommended top 8 best Nikon lens for portraits and wedding photography:-

Sigma 85mm F1.4: (Best Portrait lens for wedding photography Nikon)

This is now my favorite lens ever that I have used.

We’ve been shooting with this because they’ve been for weddings and other portrait shoots.

My wife is the other photographer, and she has been the one who has used this the most and has been shooting with it.

Overall, this lens is one of the bigger lenses you will find.

It is heavy, so don’t consider this a space-saving prime for your bag.

This is going to be a little bit larger and heavier as well.

I like this huge focus ring because it is rubberized and ed, so why don’t you focus manually?

It serves as a pretty excellent grip.

It makes it easy to hold and balance away on your left hand, and I find it’s almost easier to use and even a heavier lens.

This thing is golden regarding sharpness at F 1.4; I have no issues using it wide open.

Always as you stop up, it does get a tiny bit sharper with a little less vignetting,

This smart bokeh looks excellent in contrast colors; everything is fantastic, so this seems perfect.

So overall, the Sigma 85 millimeter 1.4 is just one of the sweetest lenses I have used and one of the lenses I’ll be using for this in the future.

I mean, everything about this thing is pretty much excellent.

This will be the way to go if you want something a little sharper.

It will work perfectly, so it takes some of that fear from the third-party glass.

I highly recommend some cool stuff, so I hope you like this.

Sigma 18-35mm F1.8: (Best lens for wedding photography Nikon 7500)

The Sigma 18 to 35 millimeter 1.8 lens has been my favorite lens.

I have used it on almost all of my work since the start of 2018 and by now.

I’m convinced this lens is one of the best, if not the best, and most convenient filmmaking and crop sensor cameras.

The image quality is fantastic, as with every lens from the Sigma art series.

The lens is incredibly sharp, even wide open, and with a fast aperture.

You can achieve a beautiful cinematic look with the 1.8 aperture, which is helpful for low-light situations where most crop sensor cameras are poorly compared.

But with a fast lens like this, you’re welcome.

Also, the focal length of 18 to 35 is convenient for many shooting situations.

Since you have 18 millimeters, which gives you a wider view without bending your image too much, and 35 millimeters to produce decent Tele shots.

The build quality is excellent since the lens is made entirely of metal.

It is excellent and sturdy, and you can be sure this gear will last, with the rubber-coated zoom and focus swing running super smooth.

The lens is easy to hold and operate, especially since it comes in at around 800 grams; the extra weight makes it even more comfortable to film with him.

If you want to go lightweight, you should think of this.

The only downside to this Lens is that the focus is quite noisy compared to other lenses.

It is not extremely loud, and you get used to it.

But if you, for instance, use a shotgun mic on your camera, the mic will pick up the sound coming through the lens; this is something you should keep in mind.

Other than that, the lens is fantastic, in my opinion, and since I got it, I haven’t used any different lenses, and Sigma 18 to 35 serves all men.

Suppose you want a high-quality lens with a fast aperture and fantastic image quality.

I highly recommend checking out this one.

Nikon 105mm 1.4: (Best Focal length for wedding photography Nikon)

This is a preview of the Nikon 105-millimeter F 1.4 lens.

What is this lens really for?

Well, of course, at 1.4, you’re going to be able to blow out the background tremendously, but this is an incredible focal length for portraits at 105 millimeters.

Getting that distance to compress the background and even having the 1.4 will be helpful.

Don’t forget that just because you have 1.4 doesn’t mean you have to shoot at it; if you’re shooting at F2 or F2.2, you will see how sharp this lens is.

So this is a specialty lens; this isn’t the lens you buy right off the rip unless you are flat-out a portrait photographer and want prime lenses.

If you are a wedding photographer, a portrait photographer, or anybody who does anything where you need to isolate the subject and have time to do it even though it’s an EYF, 105 1.4 will come in handy.

Now, it weighs about a little over two pounds, and it says under 1000 grams.

I love the 105 focal lengths; remember, it’s a specialty lens. 

Nikon 35mm 1.8: (Best lens for wedding photography Nikon D5300)

This is a 35-prime lens.

The lenses are entirely plastic, but you won’t feel it as a cheap lens.

The body finish and texture are perfect, giving the lens a premium look.

The lens feels very light in hand.

This lens has 8 elements in 6 groups and includes an aspherical element.

This lens has 7 rounded blade apertures, which gives nice background gloves.

It has a high-quality metal mount and an F 1.8 aperture, useful for low-light photography.

The manual focus is also built very well. It’s not too loose or tight, and it’s very comfortable to focus on using this manual.

The front element of the lens does not rotate while focusing.

So, using different filters on these lenses designed for the Dx camera is beneficial.

You can also use it on FX cameras, but you will get some barrel distortion and netting at the edges of the images.

I have been using this lens for the past few months. The image quality is excellent, and the images are super sharp.

The lens’s optical quality is excellent, and this beautiful, creamy background benefits portraits in the widest opening.

It is a 35 mm lens, and due to the 1.5 x crop factor of the smaller sensors, it becomes approximately 52.5 ml standard lens for DX cameras.

The autofocusing speed on this lens is good but not as good as its competitors.

Even though this lens has a silent motor, it produces squeaky noises while focusing, which is very annoying while shooting videos.

This is the only complaint that I have with this lens.

I use this lens for wedding photography because it’s light, easy to use, and comfortable to carry.

The images produced by this lens are excellent at this price point.

So, it’s a must-have lens for every beginner.

Nikon 24-120mm F4: (Best Zoom lens for wedding photography Nikon)

Is a Nikon lens 24 to 120 good for weddings?

I love that one; it’s probably my favorite standard zoom lens for the Nikon full-frame line.

The 24 to 120 F4 is a stellar lens, an outstanding performer.

It’s less expensive; I think it’s better value for the money.

I prefer the extra reach because the f4 on all the new Nikon full-frame DSLRs is excellent.

After all, the ISO is fantastic, has been around for a while, and has the highest performance.

So, you’re asking, Is it a good lens for weddings?

Yeah, it is my go-to lens for weddings.

It would be wonderful doing an entire wedding with a 24 to 120; I would be fine shooting at 24-120 for the whole wedding.

I would use some flash and bounce flash in situations where I needed it, and I could shoot an entire wedding quite comfortably with just the 24 to 120.

So, yeah, the short answer is, yeah, I think it’s great for weddings.

Nikon 24-70mm F2.8: (Best Dslr lens for wedding photography Nikon)

This is an EF mount lens, and it is fantastic.

It’s out of production, but it doesn’t matter.

It’s still great. It’s still a great lens, even in 2021 and beyond.

This lens is designed for F mount, Nikon DSLRs, and 24 on the wide end, which is plenty wide; I have an ultra-wide lens, but I use this lens way more.

This focal length is more useful in most situations.

This lens can be used for landscape photography, sports, and portraits.

You’ll see wedding photographers using this focal length and this speed F 2.8 very regularly.

It’s a tremendous win, and you must have this focal length.

If you’re going to have a zoom lens, you want one covering this range in your bag for sure.

One of the main reasons I bought this lens is live music photography, and sometimes, if you’re in a bar, listening to a rock band play.

It’s a rough environment where people are drinking and pumping you and all this kind of stuff.

Well, this lens hood is excellent. It’s plastic but thick and sticks out a long way.

So, it has protected my lens when I know I get banged around.

This will protect you.

So let’s look; it’s interesting how it zooms this at 50 millimeters.

It’s the smallest size that it goes if you go towards 24.

The lens gets longer to return to 50, it gets smaller, and then as you turn towards 70.

It gets slightly more significant, so the lens is like a piston.

When you go through the zoom range, it’s the smallest when you store it at 50 millimeters.

Great lens; I recommend you get one, especially now because they’re so inexpensive, and it works so well with the FTZ adapter.

I’ve always been delighted with the way this lens works.

The way it focuses, it’s super-fast autofocus fast it doesn’t miss.

It’s excellent and doesn’t miss the FTZ adapter on your Z series camera.

So, in 2021 and beyond, I think this lens still has value and will have value for years.

Sigma 17-50mm F2.8: (Best lens for wedding photography Nikon D7200)

I will give three reasons why I love this lens and recommend it to anyone asking what their first lens should be.

The first reason is this lens’s affordability, which is very low if you buy a brand-new one.

That is a huge save and a massive bang for your buck when you look at everything you can do with this lens.

The second reason why I love this lens is the versatility that it comes with.

It is a 17-50 millimeter lens, which equals about a 25 to 75-millimeter focal length, which is very helpful when shooting about anything.

I’ve never had any issues with this lens because of its versatility. It’s been super helpful.

I’ve shot weddings, events, street photography, landscape photography, portraits, YouTube, and vlogging.

And because of its focal length, it’s been super simple to drop on a gimbal, zoom in, and zoom out, and the gimbal has been able to adapt right to it.

There’s no need to remove the camera, set it up again, and put it back on the gimbal; it’s been pretty helpful.

Regardless of being a 17-50, it’s just enough for the gimbal to rebalance itself and allow you to keep shooting without taking the camera on.

Alright, reason number three for this lens is the 2.8 aperture that it comes with.

2.8 zoomed in and out; that is so helpful when trying to get that extra burst of light into your shot to get that great exposure.

Especially if you don’t have a tripod and you’re doing everything handheld, 2.8 becomes handy, which you don’t get with all the starter lenses out there.

A stabilization is built within the lens to help your shots and videos come out a bit smoother.

It’s not the best out there, but it makes a difference when shooting at a slower shutter speed.

And you’re out there filming, and it can help you out just that tad bit, just enough to help out the shots.

Now, one thing that I do have to complain about this lens is that when I am shooting for YouTube, I have my mic on the camera.

I get that noise from the lens when it’s trying to focus.

That’s one thing that gets me annoyed, but it doesn’t necessarily destroy the footage.

Again, I recommend this if you are starting and need one lens to do it on; this will be the lens.

Nikon 85mm F1.8G: (Best portrait lens for Nikon D750)

It’s an excellent portrait lens.

The 85-millimeter 1.8 G lens was announced in 2011; it has a 67-millimeter filter thread.

The aperture ranges from F1.8 to F16.

It does have an FS motor, so when you are focusing, it will be pretty quiet.

So, one of the good things I like about this 85-millimeter 1.8 G lens is the quality of the pictures you get from it.

Another good thing about this lens is that I like the autofocus.

The autofocus is pretty good.

It’s not super fast, but you’d be surprised to find out how fast it is once you use it.

One of the bad things I didn’t like about this lens is that it’s not bad.

It’s just a personal preference, but it doesn’t have VR, so be wary.

Another bad thing that’s easy to fix is that it’s not bad for me but for some people.

Because it does produce some vignetting on a bright day, but you can always fix that when you post-process it or edit it.

I cannot say too many bad things about this lens; for those on a budget for 85, I would recommend this 85.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. It’s perfect for 85 1.8, especially for the price range.

It is a perfect lens.

I mean, I love using this lens for portraits; I love the bulky, and I love the colors.

I do love how sharp it is if you’re not pixel-peeping.

You can use this on the older Nikon D40s, the Nikon 2000 series, the Nikon D5000 series, the Nikon D7000 series, and so on.

This lens will work on almost every Nikon DSLR and Nikon SLR.

I recommend the 85-millimeter 1.8 G because it’s an excellent budget portrait lens.

I know you’re looking for the cheapest for some people, but I’m not going to lie; this is probably one of the best lenses I’ve spent my money on.

I fell in love with it just because it was autofocus, and it’s a modern build with an Fs lens, so it was quiet when you’re focusing and producing perfect-quality images, and as I said, the bulky is fantastic.

If you get serious about portraits or indoor photography, this is the lens for you.

Pleasing and autofocusing are good for what it is.

CONCLUSION:

Alright, guys, that concludes all the lenses we will discuss today in this article.

Do you guys have any experience with these lenses? What are your thoughts on them?

Which is your best Nikon lens for portraits and wedding photography?

Is there a lens I didn’t mention in this article that you love using for wedding photography?

Would you please leave your thoughts and comments below?

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