My 2020 Nikon F-Mount lens collection

I started to get into photography in 2014 when I bought my first DSLR: The Nikon D5300. A year later I upgraded to the Nikon D7100 and then finally made the jump to full frame with the Nikon D810 in 2018. My girlfriend used to have a Pentax K-x with a zoom lens since 2009, which I used to borrow a lot in the early 2010s, so I do have some DSLR experience from those times, however I mainly used the camera in program mode at that time, and often took some terrible photos because I just didn't spend much time to learn about it.

I didn't really care about the hobby of photography at that time, that camera was just a tool that helped me to take pictures. So today I want to introduce my Nikon F-mount lens collection which I acquired over the years since 2014. My goal was twofold: Get lenses that have a very good value, and lenses that are small and light in their respective focal lengths. Unfortunately newer Nikon lenses often don't offer these features, so I had to resort to my second favorite lens brand: Cosina Voigtländer. I used to have a Tokina 11-16mm lens for my crop cameras, but I sold it once I upgraded to full frame. So right now I only have Nikon and Voigtländer lenses.

My lens philosophy

It's interesting that when I really got into photography, I started to prefer primes over zooms, especially at the wider and standard focal lengths. I just like how they rendered the images, I loved the higher apertures, the bokeh, and the smaller size and weight that some of them offered. I'm also someone who enjoys manual lenses and manual focus. I believe a proper photographer needs 2 things: Great lenses and a great sensor. I don't expect the camera to do the whole job for me, I want to be the one that manipulates the tool to give me the best possible result.

Here's the list of my 2020 Nikon F-mount lens collection with video introductions which I have posted on my newly established Youtube channel.

1. NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8 G ED



This is one of my favorite lenses and I believe it produces the best image quality of any lens in my collection. I initially bought it to pair it with the Nikon D7100, which made it effectively a 30mm equivalent on that crop body. But the lens really shined when I got my D810. I used to take some of my best landscape photos with this lens. It's amazing when it comes to flare control and direct light, and it produces amazing sun stars at lower apertures (f/14 or smaller). I just love this lens, and a lot of people claim this is one of Nikon's best modern F-mount lenses. I paid around 600 USD for it here in Taiwan.

2. VOIGTLÄNDER 28mm f/2.8 SL Color-Skopar



This is a manual focus only pancake lens, which is all metal and really light. It makes a DSLR kit really small and easy to carry, and performance is pretty decent, especially in the center. I wanted a wide-angle pancake, and initially thought to get the 20 mm one, but then I did not want to have 2 lenses of the same focal length. I don't use this lens often, usually when I do some street photography and don't feel the need to carry the larger and heavier Nikkor 20 mm f/1.8 G. This lens cost around 375 USD second hand.

3. NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 G



This is my most used lens, and 50-58 mm is my favorite focal length. The lens is made of plastic, but it's light, so I don't mind the build quality. The auto-focus is fast, and the image quality is decent. Not great, but it's definitely acceptable for my daily photography needs. I paid around 250 USD for it new.

4. NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 Series E



This classic Nikon pancake lens was a gift for my birthday. It was made somewhere in the late 1980s according to the serial number. The focusing ring is a bit loose, but aside from that the lens is perfectly fine and produces some nice images on my D810. There's a lot of purple and green fringing when it's wide open, but that depends on the subject you're shooting. Stopped down it's very sharp, but what I like the most is the dreamy bokeh it creates. Nice for some portraits and for shots of close-up objects. This lens cost only 35 USD on eBay, and is for me more of a specialty lens, not an every day lens. It's built out of metal, and I think it will last another 30 years for sure.

5. VOIGTLÄNDER Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II S



This is my fastest lens, as well as my favorite lens. It cost me around 400 USD to get this one second hand, and I believe this is one of the best bang for the buck lenses out there when it comes to Nikon. Sure, at f/1.4 lens it's not performing that great, there's a lot of purple fringing, but there are cases in lower light where it's not very pronounced, so it's still very usable wide open sometimes. From f/2.8 and above this lens really shines and is a steal when you consider the quality you get. This is where I use it the most for portraits, because it's the sweet spot between being sharp in the center, and having an amazing bokeh. From f/4 on it's extremely sharp, sharper than any other Nikon lens I own, and it has a very unique 3D pop that none of my other lenses have. This is a manual focus only lens and extremely well built (it's all metal and has a very smooth focus ring).

6. NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR



This is my only zoom lens. When I bought it, I was looking for a telephoto lens that gives me a reach of 200 mm, however this one turned out to be a really great value lens that offers 300 mm at the far end and even has VR. I paid around 350 USD second hand and the lens was basically like new. This is really a cheap price for a full frame lens with such a long reach. Of course this is not a professional lens, so sharpness is not that good at every length (I think 200 mm is the sharpest, once you go 300 mm it becomes softer). The VR is great, I can shoot portraits or birds hand held at about 1/30s or 1/40s. Slower than that is very difficult. This is probably Nikon's best value telephoto lens you can get right now.

7. NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8 G



This is one of my recent purchases. I bought this lens at around 330 USD second hand here in Taipei. While the lens was a bit old (from 2013), it was in mind condition. It's more of a specialty lens for me, I use it mostly for portraits or street photography. There are maybe 2 things that are not so good about this lens: The slow auto-focus, and the softness wide open, especially in low light. At f/5.6 and above on a nice sunny day this lens is extremely sharp, much sharper than a lot of other Nikon lenses. It's also relatively small and light for an 85 mm, since it's made of plastic. It's a great lens, but I would be fine without it, if necessary. With that said, this is probably Nikon's best value portrait lens out there.

8. NIKON 100mm f/2.8 Series E



This is the latest lens to my collection. I ordered it from Japan from eBay last year, because it looked so good. It cost me 140 USD because of the pristine condition, but it turned out that the focusing ring is extremely tight, and I regretted getting this copy ever since. Nevertheless I decided to keep it. I use it as a specialty lens, mainly for street photography. What I like about it is the all metal construction, and the small size. For a 100 mm lens this is very small and compact. The image quality is not so great, though. You can read more about that by reading my lens review and see my image gallery.

In conclusion

All in all I paid around 2500 USD for these 8 lenses, which shows you that I pay around 300+ USD on average for a lens. You may wonder, if this is where my collection ends. Well, for now it does. I'm not going to spend money on these things during the recent coronavirus outbreak, because our lives here are heavily restricted, and I avoid going out and taking photos to minimize the risk of infection. With that said, I know this shall pass one day, too, and I will enjoy this hobby again. Here's a list of all the F-Mount lenses I lust over to varying degrees:

• Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR
• Nikon 180mm f/2.8 ED AI-s
• NIKKOR 50mm f/1.2
• Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL II

What's your lens collection and philosophy?