List of DX lenses for the Nikon F-mount

After having detailed the list of available lenses for the Canon EF-S mount, the equivalent mount for Canon cameras, I’ll present you today the one of Nikon DX lenses for the F mount of the brand. We’ll focus here on the lenses dedicated to the Nikon ASP-C DSLR cameras. The FX acronym reminds us that the lens was built for the brand’s full format DSLR cameras. As a reminder, there is a crop factor of 1.5 between the DX and FX sensor – the DX format being 1.5 times smaller than the FX format. To get the equivalent focal length on a full frame sensor, you will have to multiply the focal length by 1.5. For example, a 35mm focal length mounted on a DX camera will give an equivalent angle of view of a 50mm on an FX camera.

It is important to know that lenses intended for DX sensors are adapted to this type of sensor and thus offer a smaller size, weight and therefore a lower price. So, for those who bought a Nikon APS-C camera body, I strongly recommend sticking to the DX format when buying your lenses, even if the choice is much more limited than the lenses for FX sensors, I agree. Please note that you can of course use Nikon FX format lenses on your APS-C body. If you try doing the opposite (mounting a DX lens on an FX body), the camera will automatically crop the image to fit into the format. Otherwise, you will end up with a large vignetting on the edges of the image (the lens being not adapted to cover a Full frame sensor).

Speaking quickly about Nikon APS-C cameras (on which all the lenses of this article will fit), we can note the following cameras (still in production):

Tables below can be sorted according to the characteristic you want (focal length, max. aperture or filter diameter).

The page presented below is under construction. All the available lenses for the DX format are well mentioned in the tables below. I will progressively complete the page with personal opinions on the lenses and I hope I will be able to help you at best with your choice.

Nikon offers about twenty lenses dedicated to the DX format. The choice is obviously wider on the FX format. As usual, I divided the lenses for Nikon APS-C SDLR cameras in this way:

1. Wide angle (WA) and ultra-wide angle (UWA): focal lengths less than 14mm (UWA) and 14mm to 24mm (WA)
2. Standard focal lengths : from 24mm to 50mm.
3. Telephoto lenses: focal lengths beyond 50mm
4. Macro lenses: for macrophotography

Nikon offers only 3 wide-angle lenses for APS-C sensors. There is also a fourth lens offering a wide angle of view, the 10.5mm f/2.8G ED, which is a Fisheye lens.

For those interested in shooting with lenses offering very wide viewing angles, I wrote a complete article on the best Nikon wide-angle lenses, both for DSLR cameras (full frame and APS-C) and mirrorless cameras (Z-Mount). References mentioned on this page can obviously be found on the link above. You will find there details about the wide-angle lenses I particularly recommend. By the way, if you own a Nikon APS-C camera, I really advise you to choose a lens dedicated to the DX format. It will be lighter, more compact and generally less heavy too.

Nikon offers a wide range of lenses with standard focal lengths, ranging from the classic 18-55mm, 17-55mm and several interesting standard zoom lenses for people who want a unique lens, for example when traveling, such as the 18-140mm or 18-200m. Also, note that there are two fixed focal lengths, adapted to the DX format: a 35mm and a 40mm (which have 1:1 macro capabilities).

This type of lenses will be particularly adapted for daily life and portraits. By the way, here is our article detailing all the lenses we recommend from Nikon for portrait photography. You will find both standard and telephoto lenses, for both DX and FX mount (lenses that can be adapted on Nikon APS-C cameras).

Compared to Canon lenses for the EF-S mount (APS-C DSLR), Nikon offers a set of interesting telephoto lenses for beginners, some with built-in stabilization (VR) and others without.

There are only two macro lenses dedicated to the Nikon DX format, summarized in the table below. The best Nikon macro lenses for F-mount (SLR) and Z-mount (mirrorless) are discussed and detailed in an article.

Work was relatively easier here as the lenses are pretty much the same as those used for the Canon EF-S mount. In fact, third-party brands who wanted to enter the APS-C DSLR market generally offer the same lenses for Canon (EF-S) and for Nikon (DX). I found only 6 third-party brands, including 3 offering lenses with autofocus (Sigma, Tamron and Tokina). Note that, even if more and more people are switching to the mirrorless market, some third-party brands such as Tokina keep updating some old lenses, like the Tokina ATX-I 11-16mm F/2.8 CF or the Tokina ATX-I 11-20mm F/2.8 CF, two serious wide-angle lenses to consider.

In the past, Sigma has released a large number of lenses for the Nikon DX mount. I decided not to include Sigma’s “very old” lenses and only add the “newest” ones. Let’s remind that the acronym “DC” makes us know the lens is dedicated to an APS-C sensor. The OS symbol means that the lens is stabilized. Note that lenses with the “Art” label of the brand are the most recent ones, like the two standard lenses (18-200mm and 18-300m) and the three others with large aperture. Other lenses mentioned in the table are older but still to be considered anyway.

Following the same logic as at Sigma, I only quote here the “most recent” lenses. In my opinion, Tamron offers a very good (if not the best) wide-angle lens for the DX format from Nikon. As a reminder, the acronym “Di II” means that the lens was built for the APS-C DSLR format.

References at Samyang are few but I found some of them.

Tokina has a rather good reputation. I myself began with the old Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 on my first Canon APS-C body. In the last few years, Tokina has decided to update several of these lenses, including the Tokina ATX-I 11-16mm f/2.8 CF. It is a very nice reference to seriously consider if you’re looking for a bright wide-angle lens offering a very nice image quality. Regarding the other lenses, I have left only the most recent ones, but you can find some more around the web.

Meike’s Fisheye lens also has a rather good reputation.

I only found this 6.5mm Fisheye which has however good reviews.

Feel free to give me feedback on this list if you think there are other lenses worthy of being in these tables!

To go further, don’t hesitate to come look at the list of Nikon FX lenses for full frame DSLR cameras (they all fit very well on Nikon DX cameras)!

Written by Sylvain PONS

I've been passionate about photography since 2010, learning as I went along. Today, I dedicate myself to guiding others in their choice of camera gear and sharing a variety of tips to improve their photography skills.

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