Essential item!

This is a must have lens. The lens can be had for around $100, and I've yet to see any Nikon lens that can produce similar image quality, for anywhere near this price. Most DSLR beginners will end up with slow zoom lenses that will handicap even the cheapest DSLR. Any zoom that can produce the quality images that this lens does will cost hundreds, if not thousands more.

Many criticize the build quality of this lens but I don't see it as a problem. It's small and light, but it feels solid. In no weigh does the build quality affect the use or performance of the lens. I have also used zoom lenses costing hundreds more, that feel as cheap or worse.

Most importantly, this lens is fast and can take great hand-held images in low-light. I didn't think a 50mm prime, on my Nikon D80, would be all that useful, but I purchased this lens to show me the image quality my camera was capable of. I've been so impressed with this lens that I have been forced to become more creative and I constantly seek out new ways to use this lens. Even if you think you don't have much use for this lens, spend the $100, and believe me you will spend a great deal more time looking for pictures to take with this lens, than you will worrying about the money you spent! For beginners there isn't a much better lens. This lens will allow you to focus on using your camera and learning how to take good photos, rather than playing around with cheap zooms that produce mediocre pictures. You'll learn what you really want/need to take good pictures and then you can spend the big bucks much more wisely!

Finally, if you've read this far, I'll just confirm what many others have said. Image quality, sharpness, speed, color/contrast, and bokeh are all incredible with this lens. The only limitation I have found with this lens is that near minimum aperture f/20-f/22 it gets a bit soft. That's likely due to diffraction more than anything else, and not a fault of the lens.