$50 Lens Review: Nikon AF-P 18-55mm F3.5-5.6G VR 😲 (INSANE value!)

Want a champagne lens on a beer budget? Here it is: the humble little Nikon AF-P 18-55mm kit lens. In this quick review, I discuss the pros, the cons, and show a bunch of sample photos.
Equipment shown in the video:
The lens: ebay.us/IOr4Qw
JJC Lens Hood: amzn.to/3Pa9MzU
Hoya CPL filter: amzn.to/43HrAH7
DISCLAIMER:
Some of these links have an affiliate code. If you purchase gear with these links I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

[@lensvana]

Equipment shown in the video (AFFILIATE LINKS): The lens: ebay.us/IOr4Qw JJC Lens Hood: amzn.to/3Pa9MzU Hoya CPL filter: amzn.to/43HrAH7

[@mitchellwnorowski6747]

I have the af-s on my D60, great combo. Especially with ccd !

[@hurleygreen927]

THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO! I recently got a backup Nikon DX camera (D3400) that came with this lens, and I'm impressed with the sharpness and compact size. As an extra benefit, I'm also using it on my full frame Nikon D750, giving me a cropped 27-85mm perspective, and I'm LOVING IT! Again, thanks for the video, and keep up the great work.

[@lensvana]

Nice pickup! The D3400 is a great little camera, and an especially good combo with that lens. This lens - and the AF-P 70-300 DX - are really impressive considering the size/cost (I've also used the DX 70-300mm on the D750 with great results). Thanks for watching :)

[@Ogami_Itto15]

Much thanks and glad to see you back. For a beginner like myself, your videos have been extremely helpful 🙏🏽

[@lensvana]

Thank you for the kind words! :)

[@michaelaiello5229]

Wonderful review of this very competent little lens which I keep on my Nikon D3500. When I want to travel as light as possible, this is my kit. I too find the button annoying. And your lens hood observation...very funny! Thanks and keep up the good work.

[@lensvana]

Thanks for watching :) Great to hear from someone else that appreciates this lens!

[@robertdavis1255]

Thanks for sharing your experience with great results & comments....yes I have this lens & use it on both my cameras...D7100 & D500...very happy with its performance.... cheers from Australia 🦘🦘😊

[@lensvana]

Thanks :) I'm always envious when I see wildlife photography videos from Australia - you guys have so much diversity... and so much light!

[@mikewilson8513]

I sometimes bolt this lens onto my D610. The results are quite superb. I bought a D80 many years ago with this kit lens. It really is quite brilliant. When I bought the D610, I used this 18 55 until i could afford FX lenses. Its a cracking lens.

[@lensvana]

Agreed! The 70-300mm VR DX is another gem (I have also used that one on Full Frame)

[@Boss80gb]

"Woahh,Look at him...We have a Professional in the building" 😂Awesome vid& your enthusiasm &humor are awesome!I still have one of these from my Fathers old collection &Have NEVER used it.....Watching this video,I will NOW!Stay creative &We subbed to your channel sir!😜🤌✌

[@lensvana]

Thanks for watching :) And for your support!! Happy shooting, this lens won't let you down

[@Sc0pee]

People bash this lens for no factual reasons other than it's being cheap "kit lens" (so it must suck!). But it's probably the best valued lens for the DX body period.

[@lensvana]

Agreed! Insane value proposition

[@emvisuals]

love this lenss!! these AF-P lens have superior auto focus systems. Its like autofocusing in camera phones

[@dominicwroblewski5832]

I agree with you 100% about this lens. I am a big fan of kit lenses, as they are great, inexpensive tools. I got this AF-P version to try on one of my D7100 bodied and now I'm on a hunt for a deal on another used one for my second D7100. This is a great lens to pair with the Nikon 55-200mm VR, the Nikon 70-210mm f4 or the Tamron 55-200mm. While on the subject of kit lenses, one of the best is the humble Nikon 28-80mm G. It only has 6 elements in it. The same number of elements as the Nikon 50mm f1.8 and it works well with APSC bodies. Did I mention that you can get one for under $40. Long live the kit lens and people who sell them off to "get something better"

[@lensvana]

Nice to hear from another D7100 shooter! I fully agree on the 28-80mm, I have a review on my channel for this lens (got it for basically nothing attached to a film SLR) - it's even nicknamed the "silver bullet" by those who know :D Long live kit lenses indeed

[@dezmondwhitney1208]

I looked at the image quality of the photos and, for me, this would be a fine lens. Its light weight and VR are also welcome.

[@emperor4677]

Great review. Truly these kit lenses are made to be as sharp as possible, for as little money as possible. They may lack good zoom range, large aperture, great colors, etc. but are plenty sharp and truly astounding how good they resolve on 24MP. It's almost like my great FX 24-85mm just as good as 24-120, while being smaller and cheaper, if it was 16mm instead of 18 and had better build quality(metal mount, VR button, etc.). But as far as sharpness- it's the photographer's fault if the results are bad. I guess that this zoom lens could noticeably be beaten only by Sigma 18-35 or 50-100mm. Probably a great step up wold be 16-85, covering 24mm FX equivalent, instead of 28mm ow the wide and let's say 120mm instead of 75 on the long end. Plus much better build quality and VR button switch. Now that I would say is a great alternative to 24-85 for DX :) 16-80 E is even better, mostly regarding aperture and VR, but it's prohibitively expensive and not worth it, plus the build quality is still the same.

[@lensvana]

Thank you! And it's like you read my mind - I've already ordered the 16-85mm and it's on the way over! My decision criteria was exactly as you say - a bit more on either end, with a VR switch and something for harsher conditions, too. Everyone raves about the 16-80mm but I didn't want to pay 3x the price.

[@emperor4677]

@@lensvana Hah I come to this conclusion recently as I switched to D600(here in East Europe they are the same price as D7200 or even cheaper!) and got 24-85(must admit that I feel like it's too big/heavy, can only imagine what 24-120 would feel like..). Considering I use telephoto only when it's pretty short(70-80mm) or very long(300mm), there was not much difference between 85 and 120mm, and 24MP is plenty to just crop the image if needed. So if I stayed at DX, changing my 18-140 with 16-85 would made the most sense, now that I think of it and probably adding 10-20mm later, as I already have 35mm DX(works very good even on FX). So Ken Rockwell was pretty accurate to say all you need for your DX is 18-55(for me more like 16-85) and 35mm DX. Good I didn't stay at DX as I considered buying 10-20 + 70-300, alongside my 18-140, 35mm DX and 60mm AF-D, which would be too much and not optimal. Now D600 with 35mm DX, 60mm AF-D, 18-35 and 24-85 feels like all you can ever need :)

[@lensvana]

​@emperor4677 That's a great FX kit that anyone would be happy with - I know I would be! I agree with you on the weight factor - the 24-85mm is right at the limit for a long walk for me, and pairs nicely with the lighter FX bodies. The 24-120mm F4 apparently isn't great past 85mm, so unless you really really need f4 then the 24-85mm is the more logical choice That's always my standard recommendation to beginners: cover the mid-range first, (24/28 - 70/85/105/120 FF equivalent), then add other zooms and primes to taste :) BTW, have you seen this website? www.makofoto.cz/ It's in Czech so you have to use Auto Translate, but it's one man's effort to do serious lens testing and he has some very useful lens info in there for Nikon F and a bit of Z too.

[@lensvana]

Should have clarified the difference between barrel distortion (inevitable at 18mm) and perspective distortion (can be reduced by getting further back from the subject and zooming in with the lens - otherwise can be corrected in post-processing with Guided transformations to mark true verticals and/or horizontals)

[@abunk8691]

I've seen other samples of the AF-P 18-55mm VR and along with yours and I still go "Wow how do they go those kinds of shots?" as the few months I've tried using that lens paired with a D5300 I've had some problems. These are based on my typical going on a walk shots and night time star trails. And for context I'm someone used to taking photos using a smartphone and I use raw for some stuff with challenging dynamic range like directly shooting sunsets or sunrises. Stuff that can be blamed on my lack of skill: - missing subject focus as I think I'm in focus because the autofocus locked on the subject without noticing that I need to stop down the aperture to get more detail and depth (especially apparent when I was trying to shoot cats and dogs and a bunch of photos turn out blurry even when they aren't moving) - shots being too dark (this could be blamed on me preferring to take picture close to sunset time and not using anything past ISO 2000) But I think I've encountered some issues that aren't fully a fault of mine but could partly be due to the design of the lens: 1. The lens sliding down from 55mm to 35mm when shooting tilted upwards (kinda blame the collapsable mechanism style of the lens, though I've kinda gotten used to this and just hold it in place) 2. Lack of hard stop for infinity focus/ lack of distance scale (I've tried using the lens for star trail photography and it takes me a while to get the lens focused) Overall using the AF-P 18-55mm VR I've discovered I prefer going wide at 18mm for more landscape type shots and 35/55mm for most stuff. Currently not using the D5300 and said lens as it needs cleaning since some fungus grew inside as before it got passed to me it was stored inside a camera bag with a fungus filled AI-s 135mm F2.5 that was in a ziplock bag. I'm looking into getting it cleaned or getting second lens such as an AF-S DX 35mm F1.8G or an AF-S 50mm F1.8G. I want to ask something. Would an older Nikon lens like AI-s 35mm F2 or a 50mm F1.2 be worth it to get cleaned if they have a severe fungus infestation? Asking that as the owner of the 135mm has those lenses as well with their Nikon F3 and the 35mm and 50mm looked interesting to me but seem very risky. Thank you and sorry if this is very long.

[@lensvana]

No worries, I enjoy reading all comments :) My overall thoughts: 1. The lens shouldn't be sliding like that, mine refuses to slide even if I try to shake it. These lenses are not that old, so this is somewhat unexpected behavior. 2. I would try focusing exclusively with live view for anything involving infinity focus at night with this lens. For equipment, I think you have a few options: 1. Consider buying another used AF-P 18-55mm and test it out to see if you see better results. I wouldn't bother paying for cleaning of your existing lens as the cleaning costs may exceed the cost of another lens. 2. If you've never tried a 35mm F1.8G DX, you should try one - you may not miss the kit lens! Regarding the older lenses: those two are great optical designs, but I would not bother if they are infested with fungus. Don't get me wrong: I'm a fan of repairing whenever possible, but it may not be economical to do so. Hope that helps!

[@abunk8691]

@@lensvana Thank you for the reply. I will probably go with your second recommendation of going with the 35mm F1.8G DX lens

[@lensvana]

​@@abunk8691 Great choice!

[@Sc0pee]

It sounds to me that your still pretty new to photo shooting and could really benefit from tutorial videos. I recommend watching as much content from Simon D'entremont in KZbin as possible. The best teacher I have came across in KZbin so far.

[@atruceforbruce5388]

Yes it's a kit lens....however, there is still a lot more refinement to the glass that many of the nikkon lenses of old had.

[@RenzorTheRed]

Your chart in the beginning listed that the VR could be disabled on the d7100 with a Firmware update, but then later you said that you couldn't disable it with your d7100. Which is it?

[@lensvana]

The chart was about compatibility (will it autofocus?) VR can't be disabled on the D7100

[@duncanmacleod8066]

❤❤❤

[@envidraviolis]

haaa... as an idiot I bought it for my Nikon D5000 ... I'm an amateur I didn't know that it's not compatible :( I'm sad now

[@lensvana]

Ahh, we've all been there! Well you can keep it for the day you upgrade to the D7100 :) For a great equivalent (compatible) lens, check out the AF-S 18-55mm VR II

[@jcord1111]

There is a big diference between this and the AF-S 18-55?

[@lensvana]

As long as you have the latest one (AF-S VR II) it's not a huge difference

[@jcord1111]

@@lensvana thks

[@BSHokke]

The problem with editing programs is that I dont want to buy a monthly fee for a program which i’m going to use probably 2 or 4 times a Year. If i was a professional then i would use it every day.

[@lensvana]

Yeah, I agree it's not worth it for just a few times a year. Check out RawTherapee and/or DarkTable - both free and excellent

[@BSHokke]

@@lensvanathanks for the tips 👊🏻

[@jan-martinulvag1953]

Have you seen this video? : Nikon D3400, D3500, D5500, D5600 kit lens (18-55 mm) sharpness

[@lensvana]

Just checked it out - thanks for the tip! Everyone should check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJfGZ5SurJ6oeZY SUMMARY: 18mm sweet spot: f/11 (best f/5.6 - f/16) 35m sweet spot: f/11 (best f/11 - f/22) 55mm sweet spot: f/11-20 (best f/11 - f/22) This is actually really useful because I like to use this lens closed down for architecture

[@mien666]

Is it not compatible with D3100? 😔

[@lensvana]

It won't autofocus with the D3100. As an alternative try the AF-S 18-55mm VR II

[@miamiSincar]

the P lens are sharper

[@mfa8086]

Nikon lenses don’t have af/m switches on any lens.

[@fjphoto23]

They do.

[@mfa8086]

@@fjphoto23 Just for my own interest, which ones? And thank you.

[@atruceforbruce5388]

The 35mm dx prime lens does have the af/m switch on it.