5 Best Nikon D600 Lenses Every Beginner Must-Own [In 2023] 📸

Feb 9, 2023 | Buying Guides

Do you want to buy the best lens for Nikon D600 in 2023?

Finding the Nikon D600 lenses that are best for you is a difficult job.

But in this guide, I will show you some of the best Nikon D600 lenses.

It packs a full-frame 24 Mpx sensor, with 39 autofocus points and a 1080p full HD recording option. It also has 5,5 fps continuous shooting, an ISO range from 100-6400.

best lenses for nikon D600

It is safe to say it is one of the most affordable full-frame cameras on the market. Yet, no matter what good the camera body is, it can be improved with the right set of lenses. And what lenses to choose for D600?

Find out in the article!

Best Editors' Choice
Best Runner Up
Best Budget

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G Lens

Nikon 70-200mm f/4G Lens

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G Lens

Description:

Captivating wide-angle brilliance that brings your vision to life with stunning clarity and impeccable precision.

Description:

Unleash the power of distant beauty, capturing exceptional details and mesmerizing moments with unparalleled zoom capability.

Description:

Discover the magic of artistic expression, perfect for captivating portraits and low-light wonders, all without breaking the bank.

5.0
4.9
4.7
Best Editors' Choice

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G Lens

Description:

Captivating wide-angle brilliance that brings your vision to life with stunning clarity and impeccable precision.

5.0
Best Runner Up

Nikon 70-200mm f/4G Lens

Description:

Unleash the power of distant beauty, capturing exceptional details and mesmerizing moments with unparalleled zoom capability.

4.9
Best Budget

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G Lens

Description:

Discover the magic of artistic expression, perfect for captivating portraits and low-light wonders, all without breaking the bank.

4.7

Best Prime Lens for Portraits

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G Lens

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G is a prime lens that is amazing for portrait photography and it has premium autofocus and produces sharp and crisp photos.

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One of my most important criteria in choosing a prime lens is versatility. Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G offers just that.

In terms of f-stop, it is an f/1.4 lens, making it an excellent choice for low-light situations. With this lens, I loved that it allowed me to reproduce realistic colors similar to what my bare eyes see.

Also, I must praise color consistency, no matter the lighting, so this works well indoors as it does outdoors. I took high-quality, bright, sharp, beautiful, and silky bokeh pictures.

However:

I took some photos outdoors, and I can’t help but think this lens does require a polarized lens cover, even with the lens hood. It is because of the flare that can sometimes be noticed if the lighting is too strong or direct.

With this being an affordable lens, the polarized cover isn’t too much of an investment. The construction of this Nikon lens is also fantastic since it is weather sealed, so you won’t have any trouble using it in the rain.

It is made out of metal and quality plastic, and an additional plus is that it is pretty light.

Pros

  • Excellent balance of contrast
  • You can open it up to f1.4
  • Fast, bright, and sharp
  • Great low-light performance

Cons

  • No aperture ring
  • Color fringing is noticeable

Best Wide-Angle Lens for Landscapes

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G Lens

This is a premium wide-angle lens from Nikon that captures beautiful photos and it is considered as one of the best lenses for landscapes.

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Nikon AF-S 14-24 mm f/2.8G is a fantastic venerable ultra lens for the D600 camera. This lens is my number one choice for low-light natural scenes, much of a night sky.

It allowed me to capture star trails and Milky Way. What I love about this lens is the sharpness of image corners, even at f/2.8.

With this lens, I had a lot of fun shooting night photos, and to be honest, the 14-28 mm f/2.8 is a standard for this type of photography. Color distribution and contrast are excellent, with natural-looking colors and no chromatic aberrations.

Autofocus is very fast and almost silent. I had difficulty telling if it was working, which is praise for any autofocus mechanism. In terms of manual focus, it is extraordinary as well.

The focus ring turns smoothly. That gets you to achieve the focus point you need precisely. Equally important is that the focus stays in the same place if you decide to recompose.

The materials used for this lens are rock solid, which is essential, considering it is a wide-angle lens intended to be used outdoors.

Pros

  • Amazing sharpness and clarity
  • Distortion is very low
  • Glass is extremely well built
  • Vibrant colors

Cons

  • The slip-on lens cap
  • Vignette at a wider focal length

Best All-Around lens for everyday photography

Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G Lens

This is an all-in-one lens that is very versatile, has excellent build quality and bas built-in VR II for steady shots that produces great shots.

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Nikon AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G is my ideal first choice for the prime lens in shooting portraits. It focuses better than the 24-27mm lenses I used before, and the images I got were very crispy.

I did a portrait shooting session outdoors with a 200-300 mm range and got terrific results. However, I noticed more minor distortions at the lower end of the zoom range, but it only happened in ultimately low-light conditions. At full zoom, the lens extends much longer than I anticipated, resulting in clear images.

Image stabilization provided f/3.5 stops of blur-free shots when I was shooting handheld. It meant dramatically sharper images and a great 4K video. This is an excellent lens with versatile zoom suited for outdoor use.

I can object to the size and weight of the lens, but other than that, I didn’t find other drawbacks.

Pros

  • Good picture quality
  • It has a longer reach
  • VR is an instant lockup
  • Fast and silent autofocus

Cons

  • The zoom ring is not smooth
  • This lens is heavy

Best Telephoto Lens for Wildlife Photography

Nikon 70-200mm f/4G Lens

This a telephoto lens with excellent quality as it has superb performance, it has high contrast and autofocus is responsive and fast in all conditions.

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One of my all-time favorite lenses is a telephoto Nikon 70-200mm f/4G. It provides unbelievable performance of the VR gyro and five stops of image stabilization. It is an excellent telephoto lens with edge sharpness comparable with that taken f/2.8, though it outperformed that lens at most f-stops.

Corner sharpness differs depending on the aperture you use, but you won’t even tell the difference in many cases. At f/4, there is a slight softness in the corners, but not something that can cause significant issues.

There’s a little bit of pincushion and some barrel distortion in places you would expect in terms of distortion. However, it is essential to notice this lens has far less distortion than many other zooms in the market.

I found VR helpful and productive in low-light conditions when I could not raise ISO without compromising the photo quality. It can also help to mitigate motion bluer and slower shutter speeds. The image quality is exceptional, with high contrast and color distribution.

Pros

  • Great VR
  • Long zoom and good colors
  • Sharp pictures
  • Performs well with proper lighting

Cons

  • Design

Best Macro Lens for Macro Photography

Nikon 40mm f/2.8G Lens

Unleash your creative potential: Nikon 40mm f/2.8G Lens captures mesmerizing details with precision and clarity, perfect for macro photography enthusiasts.

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I picked out all Nikon lenses in this list, and I did it for a good reason. Nikon AF-S 40mm f/2.8G is my perfect choice for macro photography.

It gets me a 1:1 aspect at a distance of about 6 inches. The lens does a superb job at the f/2.8 stop, though I suggest using a flash ring to avoid unwanted shadows.

This lens’s angle is 38 degrees and 50 feet, with a minimum focus distance of 0,53 feet. It is an excellent lens for the price. The images it produces are nice and sharp. It comes with quick autofocus, DX format, and a good depth of field.

I didn’t notice barrel distortions during the testing, and all of the pictures I got were crisp and clear. I mostly used it for photographing plants and insects; it consistently produced excellent results, much better than other lenses I tested in this range, even compared to different zoom lenses.

I will point out that it is a 40 mm lens to work both as a macro lens and a lens for general photography.

However, notice it is a 40 mm lens, so sometimes you will have to get closer to your object than you want to. But it is a small price to pay for such a good and affordable lens.

Pros

  • Great manual focus feel
  • The macro feature works like a charm
  • Lens is lightweight
  • f/2.8 is great for general photography

Cons

  • Auto-focus performance in low-light
  • You must get close to the subject for 1:1

Best lenses for Nikon D600 – Verdict

There it goes, my list of the five best lenses for the Nikon D600. I love this camera, and as a manufacturer, Nikon produced the best lenses for the particular model.

So it is the main reason all five tested lenses belong to Nikon. I’m sure you will have lots of fun shooting with them, and always feel free to share your photos!

MReadsimilar guides, such as the Nikon D850 lenses and lenses for the Nikon D500 tutorial.

If this guide helped you make the right decision feel free to share it with your friends.

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Edward Avedon

Edward Avedon

Professional Photographer

I’m Edward Avedon, a seasoned professional photographer with over 7 years of experience and the co-founder of the renowned LensesPro blog. Currently, I am furthering my knowledge as a student at Columbia University in the heart of New York, USA.

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2 Comments

  1. Hi! You made me feel confident that I did choose correctly by investing in the D600. It didn’t make sense to go to an D850 because there was so little of benefits to compensate for the price.

    I have the prime 50mm which I love. Why such a difference of using the 40mm for macro and not the 50mm? I bought a 60mm instead? Bad choice?

    Reply
    • Awesome that you picked the Nikon D600; it’s a fantastic choice! As for your query – while the prime 50mm lens is ideal for general photography, its capabilities may not be enough to achieve those macro shots you want. You should consider the 40mm lens instead – it’s designed to reproduce small subjects in great detail and offers a 1:1 magnification ratio, which you may need. But if you already have a 60mm lens, that’ll do as well – so there is no need to worry either way!

      Reply

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