I’m hoping this will be one of the main lenses on my Nikon Z5, and early shooting seems to indicate that can become true.
It’s obvious main attraction is the focal range, from wide angle 24mm to telephoto 200mm. For many of us, that covers all we need.
Reading tests of this lens, I’d say a majority sing its praises, but some say it’s overrated.
This is not an S lens, S being the label on many Z lenses, denoting they are better quality than the others. I’m not sure if I understand the difference, but I guess we take Nikon’s word for it.
That being said, I’ve pixel peeped a bit and this is an impressive lens, in my experience. A bit soft in the corners at times, but plenty sharp in the middle and across most of the frame.
You can get sharper lenses, no doubt, but they will be pricier, and won’t cover the same focal range.
According to Nikon, it’s “dust and drip resistant”. In other words, weather sealed, and so is the Z5. Sure, I can’t go swimming with, but a bit of rain shouldn’t hurt.
I was a bit hesitant about this lens, especially about the maximum aperture of f/6.3. That is certainly not impressive, but in the digital world we can think differently. We all covet the 2.8 lenses, and they have their purpose, for sure, but I don’t need one, nor can I afford one.
The lens has VR, as does the body of the Z5. Plenty of VR to go around, then. Not exactly sure how much this helps, but should do nicely.
The full frame Z5 has great high ISO performance, so having a low aperture number is not as important anymore, at least not unless you shoot fast action, like sports.
But can you get blurry backgrounds? Gorgeous bokeh? Well, this is not a lens to buy if you are focused (pun intended) on blurry backgrounds. But if you leave some distance between your subject and the background, you can get beyond beautiful results.
