Nikon D500 Wide-Angle Lens Recommendations

If you’ve spent much time on my site before, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a big fan of wide-angle lenses. I tend to reach for them more than any other lens for my travel photography.

There are a lot of things I like about wide-angle lenses.

• I like that they can really capture more of a place, whether that’s the interior of some magnificent cathedral or mosque, a bustling market, or an artisan surrounded by their workshop.
• I like that they can often be used in lower light than tighter focal lengths because they’re less susceptible to camera shake. That is, you can get away with a lower ISO and lower shutter speeds than you could with a telephoto in the same lighting conditions.
• And I like that they encourage you to get in close, giving a much more connected feel to the image. That’s good for both an immersive feeling to the shot as well as when shooting in tight spaces.
• I like that they can be more forgiving for focus, with a naturally deeper depth of field.

For all these reasons, wide-angle lenses probably spend more time on my camera than any other type, and over the years, I’ve used a bunch of them.

If you’re looking to expand your lens selection to include a wide-angle lens for your Nikon D500, below are some practical suggestions of lenses worth looking at.

Wide-Angle Lenses Mentioned in This Post

If you just want to cut to the chase, these are the lenses mentioned in this post.

You can find much more information about them below along with some example images I’ve shot with them.

Strengths & Weaknesses of Wide-Angle Lenses

There are some things that wide-angle lenses are particularly good for:

• Landscape photography
• Architectural photography
• Travel photography
• Adding drama
• Adding broad context
• Capturing grand interiors
• Cityscapes

But there are also things that wide-angle lenses are not well-suited to:

• Closely-cropped portraits. That’s not to say that wide-angle lenses can’t be used for portraits. Some of them can be excellent for shooting environmental portraits, where you want to capture other aspects of the location to help tell the story (aspherical wide-angle lenses tend to work better, but even with them you have to be careful with the stretching that you get near the edges of the frame). Think of a doctor in a hospital setting, or a welder in her workshop, or a painter in his studio, and so on. But they’re not good for a conventional headshots (as always in photography, there are exceptions. A good example is the portraiture of Platon Antoniou, which are striking and dramatic but don’t fall into the traditional look).
• Wildlife. It’s often not possible or desirable to get close to wildlife. You probably wouldn’t take only a wide-angle lens on safari, for example. (Again, there are always exceptions: example 1; example 2; example 3).

About These Wide-Angle Lens Recommendations

But first I want to clarify what these recommendations are and aren’t. I’m not trying to provide a laundry list of every wide-angle lens that’s compatible with the Nikon D35600. Nor am I going to recommend super-expensive lenses that, while they’ll work well, aren’t a logical pairing with the Nikon D500. I’m also emphasizing autofocus lenses here–there are plenty of good older and manual-focus lenses as well, and that’s not my focus here.

So what is a wide-angle lens? The threshold for what makes a lens wide-angle is quite subjective. You could argue, for instance, that the 18-55mm or 18-140mm kit lenses that often come with the D500 are wide-angle. When they’re zoomed out to 18mm (which is 27mm on a full-frame sensor) they are respectably wide. But I’m focusing on here not so much on replacing those lenses with better ones, but rather on lenses that offer something different from them so that you can get different kinds of shots. Nikon’s 16-85mm, for instance, would give you slightly more reach on both ends of the zoom, and it’s an optically superior lens, but it’s not going to be a huge difference in perspective and framing–particularly on the wide end–from the 18-55mm.

I regard around 30-35mm (in 35mm equivalent) as the threshold between wide-angle and “normal” perspectives. Lenses in the 40mm to 60mm range are often considered “normal” perspective, while anything over that heads into telephoto territory.

Nikon AF-P 10-20mm ƒ/4.5-5.6G VR

This super-wide zoom lens from Nikon is unusually affordable. Like the Sigma 10-20mm below, it has aspherical elements but essentially the same super-wide view.

Two features separate this Nikon version from the Sigma–one is a plus and one is a negative.

On the negative side, this lens is slower. The Sigma has a constant ƒ/3.5 maximum aperture through the zoom range. That means that the maximum aperture is ƒ/3.5 whether you’re fully zoomed in or fully zoomed out. The Nikon version has a maximum aperture range of ƒ/4.5-5.6, What that means is that when you’re fully zoomed out, the aperture is ƒ/4.5, while when you’re fully zoomed in, the maximum aperture is ƒ/5.6. By itself, that would make this lens less suited to low-light shooting than the Sigma, albeit only slightly.

But then there’s the other feature, which is a big positive that basically negates the slightly slower maximum aperture: the Nikon lens has vibration reduction, which means that you can get an extra 2-3 stops without shaking ruining the photo. This essentially cancels out the slower maximum aperture, and then some. Vibration reduction, or VR, is pretty unusual on lenses this wide, and especially on ones at a low price point like this one. ¹

Find them at:

• B&H Photo
• Adorama
• Amazon

Alternative: Another good option is Nikon’s 10-24mm ƒ/3.5-4.5. It has slightly more on the zoomed-in end, has the same maximum aperture, doesn’t have vibration reduction, and yet is more expensive. But what you’re paying for here is an optically better lens, which translates to sharper images across more of the frame and less lens flare. Third-party manufacturer Tamron also have their own version of this lens, which is significantly cheaper than the Nikon version.

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 12-24mm ƒ/4G IF-ED

I particularly like the Nikon AF-S DX 12-24mm ƒ/4G IF-ED. It’s an excellent lens, but it’s priced higher than the others here–about double or triple the price. If your budget extends that far, it’s well worth a look.

Find them at:

• Amazon
• B&H Photo

Sigma 10-20mm Wide-Angle Zoom

This has been one of Sigma’s very popular lenses for a long time. And for good reason. It was one of the first lenses to bring in a super-wide focal length at very competitive pricing. It’s small and compact and well built.

On a Nikon D500’s DX sensor, the 10-20mm is the equivalent of a 15-30 on a full-frame (FX) camera. So it’s a very wide-angle lens.

And it has aspherical elements. What that means is that you don’t get the heavy lens distortion that you get with a similar focal length in a fisheye lens (see below). So lines stay straight, including horizons. You do, however, get quite a lot of stretching around the edges, but that’s something you can factor into your framing and even accentuate for dramatic effect if you wish.

Here are some photos I’ve taken with a Sigma 10-20mm wide-angle on various Nikon DX bodies.

Find them at:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon
• KEH (used)

Worth Noting: Sigma uses “DC” in the names of their lenses for APS-C cropped-sensor cameras like the D500. They use “DG” for lenses designed for full-frame bodies. And this lens is available with different mounts for other camera brands, so be sure to be getting the Nikon F version.

Alternative: Sigma has made two 10-20mm lenses for Nikon DX cameras. The newer, slightly improved one is has a constant maximum aperture of ƒ/3.5 through the zoom range (Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM). There’s also an older and slightly slower ƒ/4-5.6 version (Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX D DC HSM) which has long been discontinued but still turns up used, and is also a good option.

Tokina atx-i 11-16mm ƒ/2.8 CF Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens

Tokina isn’t a brand that comes up as often, but this lens stands out. It has an ultra-wide 11-16mm perspective, and it’s fast, with a maximum aperture of ƒ/2.8 (and a minimum of ƒ/22). Aspherical elements help minimize lens distortions. And with an MSRP of $349, it’s very affordably priced.

If you’re after a shade more flexibility, there’s also the Tokina atx-i 11-20mm ƒ/2.8 CF (not to be confused with the Cinema version, which is a very different lens at a very different price point). It’s more expensive and also bigger and heavier.

Check current price and availability at:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon

Nikon 10.5mm ƒ/2.8 DX Fisheye Lens

A fisheye lens is a special kind of wide-angle lens. It combines a super-wide perspective with heavy lens distortion.

It’s a niche look. It’s a very dramatic look, and it’s also easy to overdo. But it can also be a lot of fun to shoot with and create some really unique and unusual perspectives. We’ve become more conditioned in recent years to the fisheye look thanks to the widespread use of it on GoPro and action camera videos.

Nikon’s 10.5mm fisheye is small and compact. There’s no zoom–most (but not all) fisheye lenses don’t have zoom.

Fisheye lenses are especially good for:

• grand interiors
• close quarters
• dramatic distortion
• close action

For a specialty lens that’s relatively fast (maximum aperture of f/2.8), the Nikon 10.5mm is reasonably priced. It’s small and light and doesn’t take up much space in the camera bag.

You can find them at:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon
• KEH (used)

But it’s also one of those lenses that’s worth trying, but it’s not going to be one that every photographer reaches for regularly. A good way to try it out to see if it’s your cup of tea is by renting it. You can find them at LensProtoGo.

I have some more photos I’ve taken with other fisheye lenses here and here.

Terms Used with Wide-Angle Lenses

35mm equivalent. The focal length refers to the distance that light rays converge in focus after passing through a lens. There’s complicated math involved, but our purposes here are much simpler. The focal length of a lens denotes whether it’s a wide-angle, normal, or telephoto. And if there’s a range (eg. 24-70mm), it’s a zoom lens.

But the complication with cameras like the D500 and other DX cameras in Nikon’s range (or any other cropped-sensor cameras, for that matter) is that these cameras use a smaller sensor than a traditional full-frame sensor (which, in turn, is based on the old 35mm film standard–that’s where the “35mm equivalent” bit comes from). And that alters the math and the perspective.

The Nikon D500 has what’s known as an APS-C sensor, which Nikon calls a DX sensor. (They call their full-frame sensors, FX.) It’s smaller than a full-frame sensor, so you need to multiply the focal length by 1.5x. For example, if a lens says it has a focal length of 10mm, when you put it on a D500, you’ll get a view that’s equivalent to 15mm on a full-frame camera.

On the telephoto end, that usually works to our advantage, because you get more reach. A 200mm telephoto lens, for example, gives you the practical equivalent of 300mm on a full-frame camera. But on the wider end, it works against.

Aspherical elements used in the design of the lens work to keep lines straight and minimize distortion. Contrast that with a regular fisheye lens, where nearly every line ends up bent.

Chromatic Aberration / Purple Fringing. The corners and edges of the frame are hard for wide-angle lenses to get right. And because of the physics of the glass, you can often end up with different wavelengths getting out of alignment or becoming unfocused (aka soft). Cheaper, very wide lenses tend to suffer from this more.

Most image editing apps these days include corrections for chromatic aberration (also known as purple fringing) that you can apply in editing, and they often do a decent job.

DSLR vs Z lenses. The Nikon D500 is a DSLR (i.e., digital single-lens reflex) camera. Nikon SLRs and DSLRs have for decades used what’s known as an F-mount system to connect the lenses to the camera body.

In the past few years, Nikon has launched a mirrorless camera system that they’re calling the Z series. Lenses for those cameras are known as Z-mount lenses.

For the D500, you want F-mount lenses. While it’s possible to get an adapter to put F-mount lenses on a Z-mount body, the reverse isn’t true (i.e., you can’t use a Z-mount lens on an F-mount body).

DX vs FX. Nikon calls its full-frame cameras FX cameras, and its APS-C cropped sensor cameras DX. The Nikon D500 is in the DX range.

It’s often simpler (and cheaper) to stick with lenses that are specifically designed for DX cameras, but it’s not a requirement. For Nikon lenses, “DX” will be in the lens name. Other manufacturers might use a different code; Sigma, for example, uses “DC”.

FX lenses are also often (but not always) bigger and heavier. Nikon’s 14-24mm ƒ/2.8G lens, for example, is a wonderful lens (you can see some of the photos I’ve taken with it here), but it’s big, heavy, expensive. It will work on a Nikon D500 (multiply the focal length by 1.5x to get the effective focal length on the DX sensor), but it makes the most sense on a full-frame body. In short, there’s usually a more logical combination of DX body + DX lens than DX body + FX lens, especially when it comes to wide-angle lenses (that’s less true with longer focal lengths).

Wrap Up

Something else I wanted to mention is that although I’m focusing here on using wide-angle lenses on the Nikon D500 specifically, one of the great things about the DSLR system is that it doesn’t mean you can use these lenses only on the D500.

In other words, if you decide to update to a newer camera in the future, or upgrade to a higher model such as the D500, these same lenses will remain good options that work on those cameras as well. So long as you stick to a DX-series Nikon DSLR body, you’re good to go. And with an FTZ mount adapter, you can use Nikon F-mount lenses on mirrorless Z-mount cameras as well. ²

Related: I have a separate post on Nikon D500 memory cards.

1. There’s another advantage: Nikon’s new AF-P lenses use a special Stepping Motor that is quieter and smoother with its autofocus. The “P” stands for pulse, referring to the method of driving the autofocus motor. This technology is less important to stills photography and is mainly relevant to shooting video, where smooth and quiet autofocus is especially important. You can find the latest AF-P lens compatibility chart here.[↩]
2. Most DX lenses can also be used on Nikon FX DSLRs, but there will be limitations on the amount of frame covered–in most cases you have to put the camera into DX mode and settle for reduced resolution.[↩]

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