20 Best Lenses For Nikon Z7 (2023 Updated)

I was shocked to see that so few people rated this lens! 28mm is super underrated in my opinion. I find that with a good 28 I can ditch the 24 and the 35 and shoot for hours without the need to swap between lenses.

The next wider prime in my kit is the 21mm Loxia and they are far enough apart that it’s very clear when I need to switch. But the main reason why the 28mm is so great is because when I crop an image to a 4×5 ratio, I get the same FOV as the classic landscape lenses of the past, like a 65mm on 6×7 or a 120mm on 4×5.

So for anyone who wants that classic feel on a modern full frame camera, the Sigma 28mm is the best option. As for the lens, it’s what we’ve come to expect from the Sigma Art series. Modern build quality, premium feel and way oversized.

Its insanely sharp across the whole frame at all but the most extreme apertures. At typical landscape apertures it outresolves the 42mp sensor of the A7rII by quite a bit it seems. I wouldn’t be surprised if it still looked great on a 100mp sensor.

I feel like I have tried all 24s and 35s for the Sony E, only to realize that the solution was this 28mm. So if you find yourself in that situation, just do yourself a favor and grab it. You won’t regret it :).

I got the lens today, attached it to my D750 and took this picture, all in five minutes! Did minimal post-processing in Light room Classic, mainly to straighten the building and I couldn’t be more pleased.

The lines look sharp and the colors are vibrant. I have always used my 24 to 120 zoom previously and had heard bout how much better the prime lenses are. I completely agree. It is small and light weight, but a heavy weight in performance in it’s class.

Will post more pictures as I get to use the lens more, but my initial take on the lens can’t be any better.

Nikons 50mm 1. 8 lens is a must have lens as part of your kit. The G lenes are relatively inexpensive but more expensive than the better 1. 8d lens. The older version had no barrel distortion that this and its more expensive sidekick the 1.

4G has. All are great lenses though. The draw back with the older 50mm 1. 8d was that there was no built in AF motor within the lens, so you were reliant on the AF motor with in camera body, not all bodies had the built in AF motor, so the older 1.

8d lens was a manual only lens when fitted to those. The G lenses are more bulky due to the inbuilt AF motors, so they take up more room in your pocket than the older lens. Plus, this lens has weather sealing at the mount end of the lens that the older one didn’t.

Not really an issue if you’re respectful to your kit. Frankly the optics are sharp, the fast aperture is great in low light. I have the 50mm 1. 4 G too, but it’s hardly used. If you are only going to use this lens only once in a while, I’d buy a really good 1.

8d lens up second hand for around a hundred quid, but make sure your camera body has a built in AF motor before you do, unless you don’t mind manually focusing it. It’s a piece of cake to do. Most videos on line will tell you the G lenses are quicker at focusing than the older D lenses.

That rubbish. They are the same speed. Plus, the only reason the G lenses appear quieter is that the AF motors are in the lens not the camera body. So, in affect the AF motors are further away from your face and ears and not attached within the camera body itself.

Nikon would have you believe that the G lenses are a revelation but, they just want you to buy newer lenses that are arguable not as good as the ones they replace. The bottom line is this. Why pay £450.

00 for a G 50mm 1. 4 or a hundred quid less for the G 50mm 1. 8, when you can pick the D variants of these leases up in top nick for around £150. 00 for the 1. 4d or between £60 to £100. 00 for 50mm 1.

8d. They are smaller often look a little flimsy, but they are far from that, plus they go into your pocket so much easier than the G lenses that are bulkier. To be honest I use the D variants 8 out of 10 of the time, I’m only using the G’s on a camera body with no built in AF motor.

There is less post production needed with the older lens as you can get the images banging in camera. As a semi pro, I often use the older lenses, as they are often optically better than the newer kit.

There’s lots of fussy fluff on the modern lenses, and as a result the optic ability are often compromised. All the lenses mentioned in this review are great buys and I’m sure you’ll buy the one best suited to your specific requirements, but don’t discount looking at a good quality second-hand variant of this G lens, you might just bag a bargain and save a few quid and time sat in post-production.

I recently bought this lens to improve my portrait shooting. For the price, this is probably one of the best (full-frame too) lenses that you can buy. I’m sad I didn’t buy this sooner. Obviously, you can’t use this for everything, but it does work really well.

It is a plastic construction, but It does not feel like it is going to break. As sharp as you would expect from a Nikkor lens. I love that it comes with a hood. It’s really nice. As you might have read if you were looking into this lens, having a prime does make you consider your composition more which will improve your skills.

Now talking about more picky things. At that wide-open f/1. 8, it is not quite tack sharp and there is a considerable amount of chromatic aberration which Lr does a pretty good job of cleaning up. I noticed when shooting at f/2.

2 or 2. 8, this was significantly better and noticeably sharper. I will attach two comparison pictures to this review. The darker of the two is f/2. 8 and the lighter is 1. 8. So if you are looking for tack sharp photos with still a decent amount of bokeh, I would fully recommend using this lens and shooting at f/2.

5 or 2. 8. Overall, wonderful value and could not recommend more for anyone shooting anything.

This prime lens comes in at f/1. 8 which is fast enough for my needs. I’m using it on a Nikon full frame D810 and find this lens to be a welcomed lightweight addition. It’s fairly quiet and employs internal focusing.

If desired, it can also be switched to all manual focus. Close focus is around a foot. This lens is sharp, provides very low distortion (based on a window frame with many panes test). The colors are rendered nicely and the bokeh provides a smooth pleasant background.

I’m not providing a pixel peeping lab test here, but from experience, this lens is simply awesome and comes in at a reasonable price.

Intro: I got this lens summer of 2020, but didn’t start using it until late 2020. I have been using this lens with the Nikon D7100 (DX Size sensor) which means this lens is actually a 300-750mm f/5. 6.

Design: Coming in at a whopping 5lbs this lens is heavy, but it feels light in the hand and it is well balanced even at 500. The zoom ring does require a lot of movement to get form 200 to 500. The Focus ring is smooth and easy to move.

If you want to use a filter for this lens you will need to get a 95mm filter which can cost up to $500. This lens comes with a lens hood that twists on the the front of the lens and can be flipped around reversed to save space, however this hood can fall off if you bump it.

The tripod color is comfortable to hold and is super sturdy, it has a small indent when it is vertical and horizontal which can be useful, the one downside to this foot is the way it comes off. It is too easy to slide off if the color is unlocked.

Usability: This lens will work with any F-Mount cameras and the FTZ (1 & 2) adapter, as well as the older film cameras with the F-Mount. All of the switches are easy to use even with gloves on. The lens has a minimum focus distance of 7.

22′ (2. 2m) which allows you to get macro photos VR: This lens has a really great VR system, I am able to handhold this lens even at 500mm and still get sharp shots even at 1/200th I will mostly use the sport mode for wildlife and action shots and I’ll use the normal mode for stay shot where the camera isn’t moving.

Features/Specs: Focal length: 200-500mm (300-750mm in DX mode) Maximum Aperture: f/5. 6 Minimum Aperture: f/32 Lens Format coverage: Full-Frame Dimensions ( x L): 4. 25 x 10. 53 / 108 x 267. 5 mm Length at Maximum Extension: 13.

5 / 343 mm Weight: 5. 07 lb / 2. 3 kg Conclusion: This is an Amazing lens for all types of photography, but it excels in sport and wildlife photography. I would recommend this lens for anyone who wants to get in to supper-telephoto photography but not breaking the bank.

I will keep it simple. This is the best sub $1500 wildlife lens you can buy for your nikon dslr, or even z mirrorless. Pros: – IQ is SHARP! It really produces some brilliantly sharp images. – VR is very good, I successfully keep grabbing panning shots of birds upto 1/600 of a sec for my shutter speed, I find many keepers.

1/800 upwards it just gets better. Don’t listen to anyone who says otherwise, it’s ABSOLUTE USER ERROR! – The build quality is good, the focus ring is smooth. Buttons for manual/AF, VR is always a plus.

– At this price point you would be hard pressed to find a better wildlife semipro lens! – for 5. 6 it produces beautiful bokeh, especially when close to your subject and at 500mm, the compression is just buttery smooth! Cons- – heavy, get ready for a workout, if you’re planning to handhold, and in my opinion this causes most problems for people missing focus.

Get yourself a tripod, a gimbal head tripod and you will unlock its real potential! – there is no weather sealing, if you want weather sealing you need to go for the 500 PF, coz that and weight is the only main areas where the PF 5.

6 has a leg up. That being said I have used mine in the rain, not torrential downpour but in light rain and no issues. just don’t keep changing focal length otherwise you will be pushing water into the lens barrel.

Save yourself the headache get a good lens rain cover and you will be fine! (FTZii is weather sealed FYI) – the filter thread size, is a pain, 95mm is huge, and cumbersome to even store and carry in a bag, or a lens filter pouch.

But you Get yourself a good ND and guess what it takes some very good video. Biggest point for anyone considering this with a Z system. I use this only with my z6ii and let me tell you it’s performed beyond my expectations with the ftzii.

The Z system just takes this to a whole new height, coz yes the f5. 6 is tad high, but with the lowlight capability of the z6ii I can push upto 12800 iso in some cases and get some great shots. I cannot stress how much better this is then the 150-600 sigma or tamron, those lenses are never going to outperform a native lens, even on a Z system.

Also for the third party lens you need to buy a separate tap in console to update the lens, extra purchase. WATCH B&H for price drops, I picked up this baby at $1000 when it was on sale! And it was practically a steal!! The only way I would replace this when the 200-600 Z lens releases, because that with a 1.

4TC would be my next upgrade. Unless that lens is also not weather sealed, in which case I would opt for the 500 PF. And it would be only for this reason, the weather sealing. For me its constant rain as I live in Brazil, for now while a rain cover does do well its just cumbersome for zooming in and out with the rain cover on.

It can scare off birds at times, especially owls and hummingbirds.

The 58mm 1. 4 AF-S has become one of the first lenses that I reach for when taking pictures of people. After digital took over I spent some years trying to replace the portrait & full length body shot functionality of the film era Nikon 60mm / 55mm macro lenses.

Nikon?s much newer 60mm AF-S micro is more a true macro lens and does not cut my particular mustard for portraits. Nikon?s lenses over the last 20 years in the 50mm category have been less than stellar for my kind of use.

Some people like to shoot the 58mm wide open or nearly wide open for the so called Bokeh. That?s not why I value the lens. I like to use it between f/4 and f/8 as a portrait and body length lens – both in studio with flash and occasionally outside with natural light or a little fill.

Focal length is the key attribute for me. I find the 58mm perspective ideal for a certain kind of image. It gets very sharp and its notable field curvature appears to flatten at the smaller stops – or at least yield to greater depth of field.

The lens maintains most of its characteristics like terrific color rendition, excellent skin tones and smooth transition between adjacent tones ( both in color and B&W ) at the smaller openings. Even though it is a 4-5 year old design it mates well to recent high res sensors like the D850 and Z7.

This is truly a spectacular lens! I did a ton of research before buying it and I am glad I decided to go for it! It has great color saturation, contrast and sharpness! I now have the entire 1. 4g series 24mm-85mm giving me a wide range of top top notch glass to capture the shots right the first time.

The other thing that I REALLY like about this lens is the weight. or lack there of! I bought the 50mm art first and returned it. it did seem a bit sharper especially at 1. 4, but the images looked flat and lifeless to me compared to my other 1.

4g lenses. I also thought the Sigma is way too heavy for a 50mm prime IMO. I am really happy with the results I am getting with the 58 1. 4g. I am primarily a portrait photographer and really like the focal length.

I don’t typicality use lenses at their max aperture anyways so the need for intense sharpness is not needed at 1. 4. In all I would say if you want a great optic and you have the budget buy the 58 1.

4g. if you can deal with manual focus another option at this focal length is the Voigtlander 58mm 1. 4 Nocton. which I bought first, but turns out I really need auto focus for some clients depending if they have fast moving kids.

the Voigtlander is now my back up or used for solo shoots where I have more time to focus.

There is nothing I have found, using this lens, which would disappoint me. The pictures it takes are both crisp and clear. I call it my “beauty lens” because it certainly highlights beauty in whatever it captures.

If you like taking pictures of people, this is the go-to lens for you. Beautiful bokeh, clear details in the focal plane. Nikon are due to bring out an 85mm f/1. 2. This is likely to be much more expensive, heavier and it is arguable that the extra light gathering won’t make much difference.

If the f1. 8 turns out to be the “cheaper alternative” then rest assured that it won’t let you down. Best portrait lens I have ever used, faultless.

I shoot with more than one system, not to mention Zeiss, Canon, Sigma ART and some Sony lenses. On my new Nikon Z7II, this 85mm prime is besting every other 85mm I own or have owned and it’s not even going to be their top of the line.

AF accuracy and speed is excellent, bokeh is beautiful and sharpness is stellar, surpassing my Sigma 85 ART 1. 4. Basically this is exotic level performance, which is why it’s priced higher than 1. 8 lenses usually are.

Though a F1. 2 version is likely to be released, few will need anything more than this lens, which is also fairly compact and easy to handle. 100% professional level stuff with zero downsides.

Like any professional wedding and family photographer, I’ve got war stories of my gear taking some serious damage. After damaging my old Nikkor 85mm f/1. 4g lens beyond repair at a wedding, I was presented with a dilemma: repurchase that same lens, or buy the new Z-Series 85 f/1.

8 S lens. The old F-mount 85mm lens produced some wonderful color and contrast, and the bokeh afforded by the an aperture of 1. 4 was otherworldly. Though I hardly ever shot at 1. 4 during daytime because there was so much chromatic aberration in strong backlighting.

And indeed, that CA stuck around until I closed the aperture down to 2. 8. So it meant that the cost of producing beautiful images with that lens was lots of extra time spent editing out CA in Lightroom.

I heard that the new Z lenses did a much better job of preventing that chromatic aberration, and that they were far sharper than their counterpart lenses for DSLR cameras. And hey, this one cost about half of the price of the old lens, so I took the risk.

I’m so glad I did. I’m now a couple of weeks into owning my first Z mount lens, and have put it through it’s paces at a wedding, an engagement session, an event and around my own family life. I use it on my Nikon Z6 camera bodies.

Here are my thoughts on it: PROS: -Captures super sharp images even at an aperture of f/1. 8 -Prevents chromatic aberration almost entirely, occurring now only in the harshest lighting situations -Weighs very little—the lightest of my six lenses -Costs less than I’d expect for the quality of image I’m getting CONS: -I’ll miss being able to open up to f/1.

4 in low light situations -No way to mount it on my DSLR bodies In conclusion, I’m pleasantly surprised by this lens. It performs much better than expected, beating out many of my more expensive zoom and prime lenses.

And it leads me to believe that I’ll be replacing some of my glass with the other Z-mount lenses in the season ahead.

I came from a D850 and the 70-200mm 2. 8 vrII. That 70-200 was my favorite lens. I upgraded to the Nikon Z9. I put the 70-200 vrII on it with the FTZ2 adapter. The lens was sharp and fast BUT I didnt like the balance of the lens on the camera with the FTZ adapter.

I was happy with the images and performance but the balance and feel of the lens was dissapointing. I went ahead and purchased the 70-200 2. 8 S lens for Z mount. I had no idea how much of a difference this lens would make! I can’t compare it to the previous generation 70-200 ED but wow this new one is amazing.

It is sharper, faster, more contrast, better color and way nicer balance on the Z9. Im my opinion the Nikon Z9 plus the Z 70-200 2. 8 S is a dream combo. This lens feels amazing on the camera and is a joy to shoot with.

Its next level quality in my opinion. They nailed it. I shoot this lens all day long at 2. 8 wide open and its super sharp. The bokeh is really nice too. A minor quibble, the bokeh in the outer edges are oval shaped but its not a big deal.

This lens makes your subject pop. Portraits, sports, action, whatever, its amazing. If you can get it, I would highly recommend it, its worth it compared to the older versions.

While the Nikon Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2. 8 VR S Lens is as flawless as advertised and I would highly recommend this phenomenal lens, I also want to discuss B & H. I’ve been a B & H customer for decades.

Bought a Nikon D3 kit from them back when the D3 was new! This time I decided to completely replace my kit (Nikon Z9, 14-24, 24-70, 70-200mm Z S lenses, 2 SB-5000’s, cards, cases, readers, filters, etc.

). B & H handled everything without any problems. It was a big order with several items out-of-stock, not yet released, or back ordered. Over the ensuing weeks, all my items arrived (still waiting on the Z9 and batteries to be released) without issue.

B & H has always made the selection and buying process painless. Never a problem. That’s one reason I’ve been a loyal B & H customer these past 40 years. And, they stand behind what they sell, will gladly answer your questions, and are always helpful and knowledgeable.

Great equipment and a great establishment.

I always hesitated to get a 70-200 2. 8 zoom for DSLR given its size and weight. Nikon’s Z6 is much lighter than DSLR and thus decided to pair it with 2. 8 zooms. 24-70 2. 8 S was the reason I moved into Nikon mirror-less, and has been the only lens on Z6 since day one.

After long wait, 70-200 2. 8 S finally become available. In short, this is another excellent lens from Nikon S family. I don’t mind it is made in Thailand and it comes with USA warranty card in the box.

I have discovered in the past that the larger lens (i. e. 85mm 1. 4g, 24 1. 4g) have smoother, more transparent and more vivid color rendering than 50mm 1. 8g lens, which is razor sharp. The 24-70 2.

8 S and this new 70-200 2. 8 S have the picture characters similar to 1. 4g lens, very smooth, extremely transparent, vivid but not overly do so, and noticeably sharper across the frame when fully open, plus no purple fringes! As expected, this lens can produce some eye-catching creamy blurry background.

I love Nikon’s color science (I will never part with my D700 and 105DC) and the way lens was designed. Similar to 24-70 2. 8 S, the picture quality of this 70-200 2. 8 S + Z6 is a bit artistic than just perfect / matter of fact.

Auto-focus is even snappier than 24-70 2. 8 S in picture mode, similarly quiet in video mode. This lens can focus very responsively with Z6 loaded with latest firmware. It feels like Z6 might not tap into its full auto-focusing capability yet.

I found myself using the close focus 0. 5m at 70mm a lot more than I thought I would, especially indoors. I like the 2nd functional button and out of factory the 2nd functional buttons are assigned as AF-On, but can be changed to other functions such as tracking on-off.

It is well balanced on Z6, I decided to remove battery grip to reduce weight, since the bulk of weight is the lens itself, however, I will likely to keep tripod collar on the lens. I will hold the tripod collar in my left hand and this will form very good support to the lens + camera.

Also with tripod collar, my finger tips will comfortably land near the zoom ring and 2nd function buttons. The collar has smooth contour and I suspect that was the design intent for hand held. The Zoom ring and focus ring are well damped and responsive, even under freezing temperature.

I like the fact that the lens won’t extend in and out, though it comes with cost of being long and heavy. Test briefly I didn’t notice any obvious focus breathing, which is very nice. However, the lens will need minor re-focusing after changing the focus length.

Since I usually will confirm the focus before taking pictures, this won’t be an issue. I rearranged the inside of think tank retrospective 20 V2. 0 bag to place 70-200 S + Z6 diagonally, thus the long lens can fit in better and can also be taken in and out easily.

The overall weight of this combo + bag is bearable. One more thing, VR works well for non-moving subject hand held, I can get sharp photo at 200mm with shutter speed of 1/6. I think the camera knows if on tripod and will adjust VR accordingly, thus I rarely touch the IBIS setting, always leave it on.

This lens has recessed glass element near camera end and thus can accepts Z teleconverter. There are reviews about the new Z x1. 4 stating that it won’t sacrificing much focus speed / accuracy and picture quality, may consider adding one in the future.

Compared to the short tele primes that I own, this lens provides more flexibility for composition and also faster auto-focusing to capture the moment. In summary, this is lens that can provide years of extraordinary and reliable service in the field.

This is undoubtably a fantastic lens and reputed to be sharper than the newer VR version. My gripe is not with the lens so much but as the way it was advertised. It is not even close to being mint. Loved certainly but there is much evidence of heavy wear.

All rubber grips will need to be replaced as they were loose due to wear. There needs to be better guide lines as to what ‘Mint” means.

First, let me state that I purchased this AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2. 8G ED wide zoom to replace my aging AF-S NIKKOR 28-70mm F2. 8 D wide zoom that is experiencing autofocus issues. After repairs by Nikon twice over a period of several years, I felt I could no longer pay for band-aids.

My first impression was the lens was larger and lighter. My careful comparison showed that the lens is actually one half inch (12mm) longer, but weighs about one ounce (35g) less and is 1/4 inch (5mm) less in diameter than the predecessor.

The zoom ring of the new lens is wider, more useful with gloves on. As a G lens, the 24-70 has no aperture selection ring as does the older lens. Other physical characteristics seem to remain the same as both accept 77mm filters.

And of course, the angle of view is improved because it is a minimum of 24mm focal length vs. 28mm of the older lens. That’s an additional ten degrees. As a biologist, one characteristic that I can appreciate is that the new lens will focus to 0.

38m while the older lens will focus only to 0. 7m, nearly twice the distance. And when speaking of focus, the internal autofocus is blazing fast. My impression through comparison images is the 24-70mm F 2.

8 lens produces greater sharpness and improved color over its earlier cousin. For me that equates to money well spent.

I bought my Nikon D750 with the kit lens. That’s a great every day walking around general purpose lens but it’s not particularly fast. I shoot indoor performances and was in need of a reasonably priced sharp, fast lens to compliment my Tamron 2.

8 70-200. I looked at this lens and the Sigma Art. The reviews were excellent for both, but seemed to me to be a little more solid for the Nikon. I used this lens for the first time at a performance last week-end.

It did not disappoint. It has a quality build and feels substantial in the hand. It is weighty and balances nicely in the hand with the solidly built D750. I shot hand held using center spot focus and exposure and shutter priority as it was a dance performance.

Focus was fast and sharpness was within my acceptable parameters for a hand held low-light motion shoot with an on-line destination for the photos. I shot for about three hours during two performances and cranked out 2450 shots.

The lens hunted and had difficulty finding focus two or three times. Exposure was good without exception. This lens gave me the performance I was looking for and i recommend it. I’m posting a few pix from this week-end’s shoot.

They are reduced in size to a max of 1000 pixels a side for web posting.

The one thing that made me hesitant about this lens were the many comments about potential loss of functionality with the switch-up of the focus and zoom rings. My previous 70-200 was my go-to lens probably 90% of the time.

it lived a long hard life, served me well, then just kind of rolled over and died. When you use a lens THAT much – pretty much non-stop for 15 years – functionality is critical. All of the comments about motor-memory, awkwardness of the extended reach to zoom, and also the inability to shoot with the lens hood mounted in the hold position on the front of the lens were big concerns.

The lens hood thing really bothered me – I know I’m not the only shooter who stores the hood handily on the end of the lens so that I can ditch the bag and carry the bare minimum on location but still have the hood handy.

The previous design let you stash it on the end of the lens without blocking the functionality of the zoom, but you can’t do that anymore. You have to either shoot with the lens hood mounted or leave it behind if you don’t have someplace to stash it, which for me is pretty much always.

That said. it is what it is. The lens is beautiful. The edge-to-edge focus is beautiful. The focus distance is about a full foot closer, which I absolutely love. Focus seems really crisp, although I haven’t tested it shooting sports yet.

I find the motor-memory issue to be minimal – it did slow me down slightly the first couple of uses reaching for the wrong ring, but I don’t anticipate it being an issue for long. As for the ‘reach’ issue, while it is somewhat awkward, I find it helpful to use the tripod foot as a sort of brace to rest the weight of the lens in the palm of your hand and use your fingertips to spin the zoom ring.

Leaving the foot loosened or unlocked lets you easily spin from horizontal to vertical without any delay. One commenter solved his reach issue by switching out the nikon foot with the Really Right Stuff the LCF-11 Replacement Foot, which is longer.

While I haven’t done it yet (pricey), I plan to. A longer foot would pretty much eliminate the reach problem, in my opinion (are u listening, Nikon?). All in all, no regrets. Change happens. It’s still a beautiful lens.

I’m not sure where to start. This is one of the best lens that I have used. It’s lighter than it’s earlier version. The 4 functional buttons are strategically placed on the upper edge of the lens can be configured for auto lock focus or back button focus.

In my opinion, moving the zoom ring to the front makes it easier to use this lens. It provides for better stabilization and when used in conjunction with one of the four focus buttons makes getting your shot much quicker.

I know many will not agree with me regarding the focus ring but, by resting the lens tripod collar your palm he lens is stabilized balanced and steady. Using this posture places your fingers in easy reach of the forward focus rings, You’ll notice that one of the four programmable buttons are perfectly located and make for and easy reach.

The lens is super sharp and produces super clear images and focuses much faster. I’ve used this lens on an older Nikon camera and let me say when someone tells you that better glass will make for better shots they are not kidding.

The lens has 3 VR modes on off and sport. I always turn on VR even when shooting from a tripod. The new sport setting is wonderful for when you are shooting from a moving vehicle like a car, boat or train.

The lens has fluorine coating which is said to be superior to other coatings. I have noticed that it collects less dust and it does seem to be much more fingerprint resistant than my other lens. All in all this lens was a great investment and I would fully recommend it.

Best 70-200mm f/2. 8 ever made! Better than the Z-mount in my own opinion, as long as you get a sharp copy. Ive heard there is sample variation, but my copy is extremely sharp, even with teleconverter attached! I like this lens over the Z-mount S version due to the Japanese construction, I like the gold and black look and the autofocus seems faster! Its an E-type lens and so fast to focus that it adapts well to mirrorless too! Highly, highly recommend this lens to everyone! Just make sure you get a sharp copy, it should be very, very sharp.

Im fortunate to be able to compare this against my 300mm f/2. 8G VRII and 500mm f/4E VR FL. Its just as sharp as either at 135mm, and close to as sharp as those much more expensive lenses at other focal lengths too.

Stopping down does help some with sharpness, its already extremely sharp wide open.

Excellent optics. Reflex lenses get a bad rap because out of focus points of light show as donuts rather than solid circles. funny looking bokeh. When the background has no point light sources, this is not a problem.

This is way lighter and more compact than any refractor 500mm f/8, so it’s easy to carry for bird / wildlife photography. It has practically no distortion or chromatic aberrations, so it is great for astrophotography, too.

Focusses really close for macro work. Not so good for city scapes or landscapes with lots of out of focus light points Contrast is a little low, easy to compensate with digital camera or in post processing.

As with most of the pre-AF Nikkor lenses, this one is beautifully made and has only recently gone out of production. Everything works so nicely and because it is made with metal instead of plastic it will last decades, maybe even centuries! The results are, as expected, stunning and many reviews attest to the Ai-s version of the 28mm being one of Nikon’s finest.

The lens features “CRC” to aid close focusing and the coating on the later Nikkors, including this one, cuts flare and increases contrast. The lens is also made in Japan and the quality shows. With film making a strong comeback the Nikon 28mm f2.

8 Ai-s should be part of everyone’s kit along with the classic 105mm f2. 5 and the 50mm f1. 8 which is sharper than the more popular 1. 4.

Though this review is about the Nikkor Z 24-120 f4 S lens, I begin with my favorite workhorse lens: my Nikkor Z 24-70 f2. 8 S lens which I have owned and used heavily for over a year. The 24-70 has exceptional sharpness (even out to the edges) and its maximum aperture of 2.

8 has been very helpful for low-light event photography. Yet I was intrigued by this new 24-120 for the reasons so many other contributors here have mentioned: compared to the 24-70 it is lighter with extended reach and many claimed it is nearly as sharp.

After long thought I decided to purchase the 24-120 with the plan to test it very carefully and then compare it to my workhorse 24-70. On a Z7, the 24-70 does have a bit better sharpness out at the edges and its bokeh (at 2.

8 and 4) is decidedly smoother than the 24-120 (whose bokeh at f4 for out-of-focus foreground detail is at times edgy and jittery with strong onion skinning in background out-of-focus detail). My first inclination was I could not accept those few weaknesses of the 24-120 and would return it.

Yet after much more comparison with various styles of shots (landscapes, interiors, near-macros and more) I saw that the 24-120 is VERY sharp (and in all shots as sharp or nearly as sharp and in some cases seemingly sharper than the 24-70), silently focuses very rapidly and reliably, is noticeably lighter (useful for this 64 year old) and most notably has that extra reach from 70-120 in which range it performs wonderfully! So with some surprise and much satisfaction I have decided to keep the 24-120 and have now sold my former standard: the Z 24-70 f2.

8. As a previous contributor here wrote, this is the new standard (at least for me) and I could not be happier. Thank you, Nikon, and thank you B&H.

I’ve rented from Lensrentals before and wanted to try this one to see if it was good enough to buy. The rental process was very smooth, really appreciated it. The lens produces awesome pictures, I was stunned by the quality.

The focusing was quick and spot-on, macro shots came out excellent. The only issue I had was with the VR, it was noisy and I could actually feel it. None of my other (Nikon) VR lenses exhibit this behavior, nor any Sigma lens I have used in the past.

Turning off VR (because you don’t really need it with this lens) fixed it. I brought this to the attention of the staff and they noticed the same with all the other Nikon 105mm Micro lenses. Not sure if this is normal for this particular lens, but I didn’t like it.

Lensrentals was gracious that they offered me a partial refund since I was not 100% satisfied. Thanks for that, I used that money to rent another lens :).

This lens is dangerous! The sharpness is outstanding (especially on Macro), bokeh is out of this world, and focusing is fast. This was the first dedicated macro lens I ever used, and I don’t want to go back to rings.

If I am going to shoot macro again, I will most likely rent this lens again – little too pricey for me to buy at the moment. Only negative was the VR. It was noisy and I could actually feel some vibration.

Didn’t really need VR so had it turned off. Hopefully it was an issue with this specific lens and not across the board with all these lenses (my other Nikon VR lenses do not have this noise and vibration).

Lensrentals said they will review once the lens is back. Overall, can’t go wrong with this lens. Highly recommended even for macro newbies like myself!.

This lens is not only a nice lens for portraits (at f/2. 8 you get good bokeh because it is 100mm) but it is also a macro lens. Bugs, flowers, stamps, coins, you name it. Something small pops into view with crystal clarity when you take its image with this lens.

Comparable to the 100mm macro lens for Canon. Using a macro lens gives better results than extension tubes. Once you get a real macro lens, you will thumb your nose at the extension tubes from that day forward.

Had a 80-200mm AF-D that I absolutely loved. It struggled with accurate focus and sharpness on my newly acquired D810, so I decided to upgrade to the 70-200 2. 8 VRII. The jump is unbelievable. Focus is nearly instant and the image is so much sharper corner to corner.

On top of that, VR makes low light portraits way easier. I cannot state how happy I am with this lens.

The copy I bought was disappointing to say the least and after independent testing found it was faulty I sent it back. But it got me thinking, do I really want this size and bulk, and are these lenses really that good as to justify the inconvenience? So I hired one this time (a good copy) along with the f 4 version to compare them side by side.

Result? The f 2. 8 worked as it should but frankly I found the f 4 a better lens for what mattered to me. f 4: cheaper, lighter, smaller, better and quieter VR, fast and accurate auto focusing on my d750, well built, works very well with the TC17E 2 teleconverter.

(on a d750 that is), and slightly sharper if you’re pixel peeping at 200%. f 2. 8: one stop advantage in low light, very marginally better bokeh, built like a tank which made it feel dated, and that’s it.

So, since the d750 is so fantastic at high ISO’s I bought the 70-200mm f4 VR G ED AF-S Lens instead and am delighted with it.

I began with a Nikon 5600 bundle and was satisfied with it. My sons both play multiple sports and I wanted a lens that could reach out farther for in-game action shots. I ended up with the Nikon 70-200 VR lens.

It has been amazing with the pictures as sharp as I could ask for. Im headed to Ohio on a bow hunt in October and cant wait to photograph the wildlife. Next in my list is a D500 body. I would recommend this lens.