I came across this lens while doing some general browsing for Nikkor and Tamron lenses, and honestly could not believe the price when I first saw it. I figured it had to be some cheap plastic garbage for a toy camera, but then saw the lens had almost a full 5/5 stars with a good number of reviews, so I became intrigued. I looked through most of the reviews and some sample photos and decided to take a chance. With the price of lenses these days, the deal on a prime 50mm was just too good to pass up. I received the lens and was impressed right out of the gate. Rather than some cheap plastic piece of junk, the lens had a nice weight to it, felt well built, had clear class, and even came with some features you wouldn't expect on a $60 lens like a focus meter. I have some $300-400 lenses that don't even have that feature so it was a huge surprise.

When I took the lens out of the box I immediately put it on my D3400 just to figure out the quirks. One drawback I will admit right away is that the auto-focus motor is incredibly loud, so this most likely will not be great for video with all that noise in the background, which is a real shame because I found the video quality to be really solid for such a bargain lens. Honestly that was really my only complain, other than the AF being just a bit slow, but in all honesty if you are shooting with a 50mm prime you most likely aren't needing it for action shots. I carried this lens with me for 3 weeks and shot with nothing else, just to get a good feel for it, and got a really good group of photos. I've posted a few examples just so you can get an idea of how well the lens works. None of the images are post processed. The lens is sharp at F4 and above, and is amazing in low light situations. I even found it serviceable for night sky shots in northern Georgia(near Atlanta) where the light pollution is pretty awful. The 1.8 aperture lets in a ton of light. The biggest surprise though was how well this lens performs even at slow shutter speeds without a tripod. I posted a shot above with a smooth effect on a waterfall and that was taken at about 1/3rd of a second while standing on some rocks with water rushing by me on the other side. Shooting more open, you will get a nice background blur and some decent bokeh. I found this lens comparable to the 35mm prime Nikkor lens I have in terms of image quality, the Nikkor just beats it out by being a brand name and has a much quieter and faster autofocus, but it also cost me over $180 used in good condition.

Having shot with this lens now for a few weeks, it is certainly staying in my camera bag as I've found it to be a great lens and it has even made me consider checking out their 35mm prime, which is a bit more expensive, but I was super impressed with the quality of the Yungnuo right out of the box and it hasn't let me down yet. It takes sharp, crisp, photos, and whether you are just starting out with photography and bought your first DSLR, or you are a more seasoned photographer that is looking to pick up a prime lens to round out your collection, you really can't go wrong with this lens. At its current price point, for the quality of images it is capable of shooting...it's an absolute steal! Check out the video review I did on this lens, along with the still images.