Presently, the longest-reaching telephoto zoom lens within the Nikon Z-mount system, the Nikkor 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S faces numerous keen potential clients who’re going to stability its longer focal size with total measurement and price. I can’t say it’ll disappoint.
Construct High quality and Design
The Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S is a full-frame lens configured with the Z-mount matching the most recent Nikon mirrorless cameras. Measuring 3.9 inches in diameter (98 millimeters) and eight.7 inches lengthy (222 millimeters) in its most compact state, the lens is similar to different full-frame 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lenses available on the market. When the lens is zoomed to the prolonged 400mm focal size, it lengthens to a bit over 10 and a half inches. The lens hood provides one other three inches in size when it’s connected. Even with the full-grip Nikon Z9 digital camera physique, I discovered the mix to be straightforward sufficient to stow away. Lots of larger telephoto lenses require them to be saved vertically in a digital camera backpack as a result of there’s not sufficient width within the inside, however this setup may nonetheless be horizontal in my packs because it takes up a lot much less room.
Weighing 3.2 kilos (1,435 grams), this can be a barely heavier lens than those for different techniques such because the Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 and the Canon 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1. I nonetheless didn’t discover it to be uncomfortable to carry up for lengthy durations of time whereas wanting by means of the viewfinder, nonetheless, I’m accustomed to working with heavier lenses.
In case you are already working with an extended prime lens for sports activities or wildlife and in search of a shorter, extra versatile zoom like this 100-400mm so as to add to your equipment, you’ll discover it to be very straightforward to get together with. It’s gentle sufficient to the place I felt snug merely holding the digital camera physique when strolling round as a substitute of by the lens. In flip, this makes it quite a bit sooner to boost up and begin taking pictures.
One fascinating construct function of this lens is that it’s the primary to incorporate Nikon’s new “inside stability know-how” which signifies that when it zooms out and in, the middle of gravity of the lens has been purposefully lowered by design. That is excellent news to anybody who requires their cameras to be balanced whether or not that be on a gimbal or a video fluid head. Moreover, regardless of not having a locking swap for the zoom, I had no expertise with lens creep. On high of that, I didn’t even have any unintended shifts backing off of 400mm once I meant to be absolutely zoomed in as I get so usually with different telephoto zoom lenses. Nikon has some magic happening right here as a result of the zoom ring itself isn’t overly stiff and nonetheless feels clean.
On the high of the lens is an OLED panel that may present details about present lens settings. It may be set to show the main target distance, the aperture, or the focal size, and toggle by means of them utilizing the DISP button. Apart from the main target distance, the opposite two appear a bit foolish as choices because the aperture is displayed on the highest display screen of the digital camera just a few inches away and the focal size might be eyeballed by the lens markings. Even for focus distance the place one could need to tune within the hyperfocal distance, I feel most of us are simply eyeballing it these days with mirrorless cameras and the power to punch in and examine the sharpness on the reside view picture. It is a function I didn’t have a look at as soon as throughout my evaluation interval which makes me consider it could possibly be put to raised use or eliminated to save lots of the fee.
Different options on the lens embrace a programmable management ring, an L.Fn customizable button, and a distinct set of 4 L.Fn2 customized buttons. These can all be set to do numerous various things as programmed within the menu, however for simplicity’s sake and to keep away from unintended settings modifications I’ve at all times simply disabled all of them on lenses that function comparable configurations. It’s vital to notice you possibly can’t make these controls do all the pieces out there within the common digital camera menu, solely a choose few, and this synthetic restrict put in place by folks on the opposite aspect of the world on my behalf peeves me. Sony figured this out years in the past to cease making an attempt to foretell what the consumer desires their buttons for and made it a free for all. With Sony, I can press a lens button to ship a picture to my telephone if I need it to. Possibly somebody actually does, and they need to have the ability to.
This turns into extra problematic when an optically-stabilized lens comparable to this doesn’t function a Vibration Discount mode swap to toggle between Regular, Sport, and Off. Including insult to damage, you possibly can’t set one of many customized lens buttons to cope with this shortcoming (or any customized button on the digital camera itself). Since Regular VR mode acts fairly totally different than Sport in that the viewfinder picture and focus factors will leap when the shutter is pressed, it’s not at all times preferable to have most compensation and I’m switching between modes quite a bit relying on my circumstance.
One solution to make this modification is to enter the “i” fast menu by urgent the button and hunt it down, faucet it or transfer the arrows over to it, choose the brand new VR mode by tapping or arrowing over and urgent OK, then exit out of the fast menu by half-pressing the shutter or another button. Or I can dive into the total menu with a equally prolonged course of. Both means, it’s so excessive to vary one thing of this a lot significance and I’m truthfully baffled.
Popping out of the weeds a bit, I’ve three different quibbles with the lens. One is that the main target limiter swap solely has the choices of Full or three meters to infinity. After going into all the difficulty of including a bodily swap, why not make it helpful within the different path too? Second, the tripod foot is detachable with out instruments which is nice, nevertheless it’s additionally missing out-of-the-box usefulness for a majority of individuals with out having a built-in Arca Swiss dovetail. Lastly, the lens hood has a launch button that’s actually onerous to seek out and press even when you understand what you’re in search of. It’s tiny and sits utterly flush with the hood, plus is identical ribbed topography as the encompassing materials.
Ending this part on a optimistic word, the Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 is a part of the Nikon’s “S” sequence of higher-quality lenses which partially means it has a weather-sealed design and Fluorine coating on the entrance ingredient for simple cleansing. Any early opinions of a lens won’t ever have the ability to communicate to real-world sturdiness, this one included, however Nikon has an especially lengthy historical past of lenses which might be constructed to final and after they say one thing has “very good dust- and drip-resistant functionality” and included in its upper-echelon “S” sequence of lenses, I’m inclined to consider the claims.
Picture High quality
Contained in the Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S, there are 25 components in 20 teams together with six Tremendous ED and two ED components. These particular components assist appropriate for chromatic aberrations, and Nikon’s ARNEO and Nano Crystal Coatings work to scale back flaring and ghosting. All through taking pictures for the previous couple of weeks, I noticed no colour fringing to any noticeable diploma and was additionally impressed by the flare management in harsh backlit conditions. In conditions the place different telephoto lenses I’ve used can be an entire wash of distinction and element, the Nikon Z 100-400mm holds on and will get the shot. There’s nonetheless some minimal ghosting that may crop up in backlit conditions, however I didn’t see numerous it.
The lens has an aperture vary of f/4.5 to f/32 at 100mm and f/5.6 to f/40 at 400mm. Taking pictures large open, the aperture breakdown seems to be like this: 100mm to 124mm is f/4.5, 125mm to 184mm is f/4.8, 185mm to 269mm is f/5, 270mm to 359 is 5.3, and 360mm to 400mm is f/5.6.
The lens has a rounded nine-bladed aperture that produces round bokeh on the heart of the body. Shifting outwards in direction of the sides, the bokeh balls flip extra into slanted cat-eye shapes. There’s a slight rim to the bokeh balls however total it seems to be wonderful. Out-of-focus areas are in a position to cleanly soften away and don’t include busy harsh edges.
Testing for heart sharpness at 100mm, f/4.5 was fairly good for being large open with essentially the most enchancment simply one-third cease down at f/5. At f/11 it’s in all probability at its peak sharpness nevertheless it’s all a wash within the mid-ranges. Between f/20 closed down all the best way to f/32 it does drop in sharpness, however truly nonetheless seems to be good and completely usable contemplating the diffraction it’s battling. The nook sharpness at 100mm will get significantly higher at f/6.3 and is at its finest at f/11.
Testing heart sharpness at 400mm exhibits large open at f/5.6 decently good and with submit sharpening, I don’t see an issue. I discovered that it’s going to be the sharpest at f/7.1. Stopped down f/32 by means of f/40, the lens produces its most mushy photographs and prompts warning working at these ranges. Checking the nook sharpness at 400mm, I noticed that at f/7.1 the photograph will sharpen right here significantly and at f/13 it’s at its finest.
I additionally examined the vignetting after disabling the digital camera’s built-in picture corrections. At 100mm, the vignetting is sort of heavy and large open at f/4.5 wants appreciable compensation to even out the publicity. Fortunately, the vignetting clears up tremendously only one click on down at f/5. By f/8 the vignetting clears to the far corners and to do away with it utterly I can cease right down to f/14. 400mm, the story is comparable the place the vignetting is heavy at f/5.6, however with every one-third cease down it clears significantly till f/8 the place it’s solely on the far corners. To clear it, f/13 seems to be to do the trick.
Autofocus
In a jumble of phrases, Nikon makes use of a “Multi-Focus Stepping Motor AF System” contained in the Z 100-400mm. There are two stepping motors (STMs) that drive the focusing components and in good gentle, I’m in a position to snap the autofocus to wherever close to and much within the blink of a watch. Monitoring in good gentle with this lens additionally assures many in-focus pictures when firing off a steady burst of photographs. I used to be in a position to make use of animal autofocus monitoring on the Z9 with this lens to {photograph} my canines working quick towards the digital camera with only a few missed pictures.
At 100mm, the shut focus distance is simply 2.46 toes (0.75 meters) and at 400mm its 3.22 toes (0.98 meters). Taking pictures shut focus at 400mm offers a good 0.38x magnification and may be very helpful in making this one lens extra well-rounded. I can shoot very shut and really tight, and with the megapixels afforded by the Z9, crop down additional to make photographs look macro in spirit.
Largely Killer, Nonetheless Some Filler
Judged on optics alone, the Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S is a powerful piece of glass that may produce high-quality photographs in any lighting state of affairs. It has the power to get sharp outcomes by means of stable lens design, competent autofocus pace, and 5.5 stops of vibration compensation. On the similar time, it creates pleasing buttery backgrounds that place all its sharp give attention to the themes. The shut focusing capability and potential of including 1.4x and 2x teleconverters make it a flexible addition to anybody’s equipment.
The construct of the lens makes an attempt so as to add some newer options just like the OLED display screen with numerous real-time informational readouts and customizable buttons and a programmable management ring, however there are at the moment numerous blind spots and albeit, boring concepts within the implementation that make it much less compelling in apply than they sound on paper.
Are There Options?
Because the Nikon Z-mount remains to be comparatively new, there haven’t been any true options produced but that match the $2,700 Z 100-400mm. Loosely linked could possibly be the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S lens that prices a harsh $14,000. It’s a giant prime lens with a built-in teleconverter that provides two stops of sunshine large open compared to the 100-400mm and 400mm.
On the opposite finish of the spectrum for people who personal a Nikon DX APS-C digital camera physique, a comparable focal size lens can be the Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR which prices a lot much less at $350. Whereas providing comparable framing because the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens on full-frame, the 50-250mm is extra compact and light-weight, albeit with extra fundamental optics and design.
With the Nikon FTZ II adapter, in fact, any F-mount lens might be introduced over to the Z mount which opens up extra prospects for a wider vary of older different choices.
Ought to You Purchase It?
Sure. General, the Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S is a pointy and quick lens with few issues that may’t be mounted by firmware updates.
