We have seen a number of people reaching out for advice on the best lens for portrait photography when using a Nikon d5500 camera. We decided to publish this article to help any of our readers who own the d5500 and are looking to pick up a decent little portrait lens for it but don’t have the time to waste researching everything themselves.
As the d5500 is an entry-level camera we will be focusing on some high-quality, yet budget-friendly lenses that you can use with your camera to help improve your portrait photography performance. That said, we would just like to say that both of these lenses are very high performers considering their price points in the market and they have proven to be very popular within the community due to offering excellent performance.
Click Here To Check For Prices On High-Quality, Budget Friendly Portrait Lenses For Your d5500!
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The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G Lens
This has made it a very popular choice for portrait photography with a large number of photographers using it as their go-to lens of choice for portraits. Over the years since the Nikon 50mm was released on to the market, a number of these customers have published their own reviews (click here to read some of them) online on how they use the lens for portrait photography as well as how well the lens performs for them.
As it is a prime lens with a fixed 50mm focal length it is ideal for capturing portraits in a large number of different situations. The tech on the lens also allows it to provide your Nikon d5500 with some excellent image quality too as shown in the photograph below. In our opinion, the image quality of the lens is able to compete with some lenses at much higher price points in the market without issue and is one of the reasons it has proven to be so popular.

Considering its fixed focal length, the lens offers a decent field of view allowing you to capture parts of the background of your subject in great detail as shown in the image above. You are able to quickly and easily tweak the manual focus ring on the lens when required to tweak the focus level of your subject to ensure that you are able to capture a perfect portrait every time too.
If you are looking for a great little budget-friendly portrait lens for your Nikon d5500 then we would highly recommend picking up the Nikon 50mm. The lens will serve you well and help instantly improve your portrait photography performance while also lasting you for many years to come.
Click Here To Read Independent Third Party Reviews Of This Product!
Click Here To Check For Prices On This Product!
The video below offers an additional third-party, independent review for the Nikon 50mm to offer our readers an independent opinion of the product.
The Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G
It is the little brother of the 50mm lens covered above and shares the same features and benefits of the lens with a focal length of 35mm. Its build quality is great and its performance and image quality is excellent for its price point in the market as shown in the photograph below.

The f/1.8G amateur of the lens offers you great performance even in low light conditions while also still providing some crisp and clear portraits that have an excellent level of image quality. If you are planning to do some part-time work in a nightclub capturing photographs of the revelers having a good time or anything like that where you will be in variable lighting conditions then this lens is perfect for you.
If you are planning on adding a filter to the lens then the 52mm thread size is very common making it easy for you to source a decent filter that will fit the 35mm lens. If you are looking to pick up a decent, budget-friendly lens filter then for the lens then the Gobe 52mm range (Click here to check for product prices and availability) is definitely worth checking out.
Click Here To Read Independent Third Party Reviews Of This Product!
Click Here To Check For Prices On This Product!
The video below offers an additional third-party, independent review for the Nikon 35mm to offer our readers an independent opinion of the product.
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Image Licensing
Shared under Creative Commons – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Rajarshi MITRA – away in silence! – https://flic.kr/p/dLwgHR
Boudewijn Berends – Mila at the beach – https://flic.kr/p/8ekxJX