In my tenure as a professional photographer, I’ve meticulously tested a wide selection of lenses.

The Nikon D3500, along with its array of compatible lenses, was part of this exhaustive inspection.

If you’re seeking swift insights, here’s a brief rundown of my findings:

Are you contemplating whether the Nikon D3500 is a smart choice for your photography needs?

Let’s delve into the specifics of this user-friendly DSLR camera, gauging its advantages and potential pitfalls.

Stay tuned as we explore if the Nikon D3500 should be your next step in the world of photography.

Is Nikon D3500 camera worth the money in 2024?

#1 Editor’s Choice: Discover the Best Prime Lens for Nikon D3500

• Lens Type: Normal
• Mounting Type: Nikon F (FX)
• Focal Length Range: 50mm
• Minimum Focus Distance: 0.45 m
• Weight: 0.41 pounds
• Dimensions: 2.09 x 2.83 x 2.83 inches

First on our list is Nikon 50mm F/1.8G, a prime lens for beginners with decent quality.

Build quality is not top-notch, and it’s mostly made of plastic (except the focus ring, from solid lightweight metal). Prime lenses are cheaper because they have fewer parts, and there is no need for a moving mechanism.

Since it’s made from plastic material, it feels cheap.

On the other side, the quality of the photos you take with this beauty is outstanding. Pictures look great with crisp details, which can prove helpful when shooting portraits.

The minimum focus distance of this lens is 1.48 ft (0.45 m), allowing you to shoot close-up photography quickly.

Nikon 50mm F/1.8G works well on both DX and FX-format DSLRs because they are optimized for edge-to-edge sharpness.

Filter Thread is 58 mm, and autofocus is silent and quick. Because of the fast f/1.8 aperture, low-light performance is also excellent. You can even capture photos in darker areas with brilliance.

What surprised us:

The thing that we were most surprised with was definitely, the background blur. We tested this lens for a couple of hours, and almost every picture looks gorgeous with a beautiful blur in the background.

If you are looking for an excellent prime lens for Nikon D3500 that won’t break the bank, you should consider getting this Nikon lens.

• Lens Type: Telephoto
• Mounting Type: Nikon F (DX)
• Focal Length Range: 18-200 mm
• Minimum Focus Distance: 0.49 m
• Weight: 1.25 pounds
• Dimensions: 3.82 x 3.03 x 3.03 inches (9.65 x 7.62 x 7.62 cm)

There are a few good options when looking for all-in-one lenses. Our top choice was Nikon 18-200mm for a few reasons.

All-in-one lenses are perfect when you need one lens to deliver high performance in different situations.

Shooting landscapes, portraits, wildlife, or street photography, you will have an excellent performance if you decide on this lens.

If you are more into telephoto lenses but still want an all-in-one, you could also go with a Nikon 18-300mm F/3.5-6.3G; it has a more powerful zoom but a little bit more distortion at the high end.

Bokeh is good enough to make your background blur look beautiful, especially when it comes to landscape and portrait photography. However, we recommend prime lenses if you are planning on doing a lot of portraits.

They are cheaper and will outperform other types of lenses in portrait photography.

What’s the bottom line?

The area where this lens lacks performance is dark situations, but this can be either fixed by increasing ISO or in post-processing.

Even when you consider a few flaws that you might experience with this lens, we still think you should get one, especially if you are looking for the best travel lens for Nikon D3500.

#3 Best Budget: Best Bundle for Nikon D3500

• Lens Type: Zoom lens
• Mounting Type: Nikon F-Mount (Bayonet)
• Focal Length Range: 18-55mm
• Minimum Focus Distance: 0.28 m
• Weight: 0.45 pounds
• Dimensions: 4.9 x 3.9 x 2.7 in

This is probably the best option if you are looking for the best Nikon D3500 bundle.

This bundle comes with a Nikon D3500 camera and a Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G lens. This is a zoom lens for Nikon D3500 that is praised in the photography community for its performance and image quality.

An 18-55mm is not quite sharp as a prime lens, but you can still expect great details and contrast. One of the only drawbacks of this lens is Manual focusing, which is not great.

Still:

Autofocus works flawlessly, and I advise you to use it.

This Nikon D3500 bundle will also include 2 Kingston Memory Cards with 32GB Capacity. This is considered one of the best sd cards for the Nikon D3500. They are built for transferring high-resolution images between different devices so you can expect high durability from this Nikon d3500 memory card.

This is a Nikon D3500 bundle with a bag, or to be more precise, you will also get a Deluxe camera gadget bag where you can safely store all of the items you get in this Nikon D3500 bundle.

Altogether, you will get 17 pieces in this bundle, containing useful Nikon D3500 accessories.

This bundle also includes the following:

• 55mm 3pc Filter Kit w/ Ultraviolet protective filter [UV]
• Circular Polarizer filter [CPL]
• Fluorescent filter [FLD]
• Deluxe Camera Gadget Bag
• 50-inch tripod
• 33 Street Camera Lens Cleaning Cloth
• Lens Cap Keeper
• 1 Year Seller Provided Limited

• Lens Type: Wide Angle
• Mounting Type: Nikon F-mount
• Focal Length Range: 11-16mm
• Minimum Focus Distance: 0.3 m
• Weight: 1.21 pounds
• Dimensions: 4.02 x 4.02 x 4.02 inches

This middle-range lens from Tokina is the perfect choice for landscapes and wide-angle photos in general.

One thing we noticed while testing is a shorter focal range. We think it should be longer, giving this lens more versatility. If you plan on photographing landscape most of the time, its angles of view will be acceptable.

Usually, lenses from third-party companies such as Tokina offer better value when compared to Nikon or Canon, which is the case with Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8.

It is made from high-quality materials, and the lens feels natural when held.

Bokeh is not that great compared to other lenses of similar price, but it does the job. We chose this lens as our choice because of other valuable features.

The Downside of this Tokina lens is the weight. It’s noticeably heavy for a wide-angle lens, and even though you may not feel it right away, it will become a problem if you take hand-shoot photos for extended periods.

Also, we noticed that the focus ring doesn’t always work correctly and can sometimes put a camera out of focus.

Tokina is cutting corners on the mechanics to get better optics, which is fine, as you can’t have everything!

Sharpness is excellent, and we got some stunning photos with this Tokina 11-16mm combined with Nikon D3500 DSLR.

Look:

Yes, this lens does have some minor issues, but the overall experience is good, and I recommend getting this wide-angle lens for Nikon D3500 to anyone that wants to photograph landscapes.

• Lens Type: Telephoto
• Mounting Type: Nikon F (DX)
• Focal Length Range: 55-300mm
• Minimum Focus Distance: 1.4 m
• Weight: 1.28 pounds
• Dimensions: 4.84 x 3.03 x 3.03 inches

Telephoto or zoom lenses are perfect for situations where you need to capture objects or animals in the distance.

Our top choice for this type of lens is Nikon 55-300mm F/4.5-5.6G.

It is one of the best value options on this list.

It is built mainly from plastic, so it does feel cheap. However, if you want a telephoto made out of metal, you will need to spend more than double the money, at least!

Nikon uses plastic to save weight and money, and they did an excellent job with this.

Images are crisp with a slight distortion at the 300mm end, which is correctable.

Some users have complained about focus, yet we had no negative experiences with it. It has always been smooth and silent for us. It felt a little bit sticky when zooming, but it worked with no problems after some use.

Note:

If you bought this lens and the zoom isn’t smooth enough, don’t worry. Just play a little bit with it, zoom a couple of times in and out, and it should work great then.

You probably know that Nikon includes VR on almost any lens today, which is especially important with a telephoto lens. We are unsure if Nikon did anything unique with a VR for this example, but we felt it did a fantastic job.

Steady shooting was possible at the highest zoom, even without a tripod.

We highly recommend this telephoto lens for Nikon D3500 to anybody who is looking for a high-quality telephoto lens.

Best macro lens for Macro photography

• Lens Type: Macro
• Mounting Type: Nikon F
• Focal Length Range: 90mm
• Minimum Focus Distance: 0.29 m
• Weight: 0.8 pounds
• Dimensions: 3.82 x 2.83 x 2.83 inches

For a Macro lens, we decided to go with a third-party company, Tamron. The lens that will do the best job regarding macro photography is Tamron 90mm F/2.8.

We did consider including Nikon 105mm f/2.8G, as it may be a more accessible and well-established choice, but after careful consideration, we didn’t think it was worth it.

However, if you want a more premium macro lens, check it out under the “alternative” section below.

Autofocus is a bit noisy, especially when switching from manual to autofocus mode. This means the lens is not as refined as the ones from Nikon.

Also, the shallow depth of field may give you some trouble down the road until you get used to it. To avoid the problem with it, follow our advice:

After a few hours of playing with this lens combined with the Nikon D3500 DSLR camera, we noticed to shoot at f11 in a little darker areas (shadows, shade, etc.). This allows your lens to get the needed light for better focus.

Regarding the quality of the photos, this macro lens is excellent. We were able to shoot stunning close-up pictures of animals and plants. The colors are vibrant while offering crisp details.

There is one thing that concerns us; this model has no Image Stabilization (Vibration Compensation), which can be crucial if you are shooting without a tripod.

Look:

You should check out this option if you are looking for a macro lens for Nikon D3500 that produces high-quality images.

Alternative:

1. Nikon 105mm f/2.8G

FAQ: Best Lenses For Nikon D3500

Which lens is good for Nikon D3500?

The Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED Vibration Reduction Zoom Lens is an excellent choice for the Nikon D3500. This versatile lens is perfect for everything from wide-angle photography to portraits and landscapes. Its Vibration Reduction technology provides sharp, blur-free photos and videos.

Can you use any lens on Nikon D3500?

The Nikon D3500 is compatible with Nikon F mount lenses. However, to fully utilize all of the camera’s features, it is recommended to use Nikon’s AF-S and AF-P lenses which have a built-in autofocus motor. Older Nikon lenses, as well as third-party lenses, can also be used but some features like autofocus might not be supported.

Can I use older Nikon lenses with the Nikon D3500?

Yes, older Nikon lenses can be used with the Nikon D3500. However, not all features like autofocus may be supported. It is recommended to use Nikon’s AF-S and AF-P lenses for full compatibility.

What types of lenses are compatible with Nikon D3500?

The Nikon D3500 uses Nikon F mount lenses. This includes a wide range of lens types like prime, zoom, wide-angle, telephoto, and macro lenses.

Are third-party lenses compatible with Nikon D3500?

Yes, third-party lenses from manufacturers like Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina that are made for Nikon F mount can be used on the Nikon D3500. However, the compatibility of certain features like autofocus can vary.

A Few Final Words About Nikon D3500 Lenses

We hope our guide “Best lenses for Nikon D3500” helped you choose the best Nikon D3500 lens for yourself.

As you already know, different lenses are suitable for other things, but it will also depend greatly on personal preference. One lens doesn’t have to be perfect for everyone; it usually isn’t.

It’s always a good idea to check out some youtube videos as they are an easy way to learn more about specific lenses best suited for your camera.

That’s why it is best to test a couple of lenses before deciding. If you live close to a camera and lenses shop, you should go there and tell them what kind of photography you are into and what you are looking for in Nikon D3500 lenses.

If you cannot test before buying, feel free to check a few more guides, such as Best lenses for Nikon D5100 and lenses for Nikon D500; read some reviews but also send us an email if you need some advice.

We hope you find the best lens for Nikon D3500.

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