Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8 Assessment

Introduction

Ease of Use

Weighing in at 565g (1lb 4oz) and measuring 120.5mm (4.8in.) in size (when set to the 28mm focal size), the Z 28-75mm F2.8 is a comparatively mild and compact lens given the versatile focal vary of 24-75mm that is on supply.

It feels properly balanced even when utilizing it with a dual-grip digicam physique just like the Nikon Z9 physique that Nikon offered for us to check it with, as proven within the product pictures, and would even be equally at house mounted on a smaller single-grip Z6 or Z7 sequence digicam.

The lens extends additional by an extra 3cm to succeed in a complete size of 15cm when absolutely zoomed out to 75mm.

In comparison with the opposite f/2.8 customary zoom for Z-series mirrorless cameras, the Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S, this new lens is 30% lighter, with the 24-70mm S weighing in at 805g.

Construct high quality is nice, however not excellent, for what’s in any case solely an enthusiast-level lens. With a principally plastic building, the Z 28-75mm F2.8 feels pretty stable in your hand, and it commendably has a steel mount.

Observe that this lens additionally has a weather-resistant design to assist shield it in opposition to mud and moisture. Nikon state that “The lens is just not assured to be dust- and drip-resistant in all conditions and below all circumstances.“

There aren’t any exterior switches in any respect on the Z 28-75mm F2.8 lens, not even one for selecting between auto-focusing and handbook focusing.

Observe that there isn’t a picture stabilisation system constructed into this lens, as a substitute counting on the digicam physique., which can be a difficulty when you personal a Nikon Z50 or Z fc digicam.

In the direction of the lens mount finish of the Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8 lens, there’s the primary (and smallest) of the lens’ two rings, which may be customised to one in every of 4 completely different settings.

By default it’s set to regulate handbook focus, however you can too change it to regulate the aperture, publicity compensation or ISO. Alternatively you’ll be able to have it set to do nothing in any respect.

When used as a focusing ring, be aware that it has no onerous stops at both finish, making it tougher to know when you could have reached infinity focusing. The ring has simply sufficient resistance to make superb changes to handbook focusing, with out having an excessive amount of give.

The opposite, second ring is the zoom ring, which has a pleasant clean motion. It has focal lengths marked at 28, 35, 50 and 75mm.

The zoom lens rings is ridged and the management ring is knurled, serving to you differentiate between them by contact when capturing via the viewfinder. Additionally they assist so as to add to the high-quality and durable really feel of the Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8 lens.

This lens has been designed to be fast and quiet when autofocusing with a stepping motor onboard which makes it properly suited to each stills capturing and video.

Taking pictures with the lens mounted on the Nikon Z9 proves it to have nearly unerringly correct and fast autofocus within the majority of conditions, with barely any searching in any respect. It’s additionally impressively quiet, too.

Included within the field is a plastic petal-shaped lens hood (HB-93A), which inserts onto the Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8’s 67mm filter thread.

The hood locks into place and is reversible so you’ll be able to scale back the scale of the lens for transporting it and storing it at a smaller dimension.

Focal Vary

The Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8’s focal vary offers an angle of view of 32° 10′ at 28mm and 75° at 75mm.

28mm

75mm

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, sometimes seen as blue or purple fringes alongside contrasty edges, weren’t particularly obvious in our take a look at photographs, solely showing in very excessive distinction areas.

Vignetting

With the Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8 lens set to its most aperture, there may be some very apparent mild fall-off within the corners at each ends of the zoom vary, which you may both must right in post-processing or stop-down the aperture to keep away from.

28mm

75mm

Distortion

There’s some delicate barrel and pin-cushion distortion at both finish of the focal vary in each the JPEG and Uncooked recordsdata, however it’s not too pronounced.

28mm

75mm

Sunstars and Flare

The Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8 produces very good sunstars when stopped-down to f/22, as proven beneath, though it’s susceptible to flare when capturing straight into the solar even with the lens hood fitted.

Macro

The Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8 affords a variable minimal focusing distance of 0.19m (0.63ft) at 28mm, 0.22m (0.73ft) at 35mm, 0.3m (0.99ft) at 50mm and 0.39m (1.28ft) at 75mm, with a most magnification of 0.34x. This allows you to seize some pretty good close-up photographs when capturing on the 75mm focal size.

Bokeh

Bokeh is a phrase used for the out-of-focus areas of {a photograph}, and is often described in qualitative phrases, reminiscent of clean / creamy / harsh and so forth.

Within the Z 28-75mm F2.8 lens, Nikon have employed an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades, which mixed with the quick most aperture ends in fairly good bokeh in our view.

We do realise, nonetheless, that bokeh analysis is subjective, so we have included numerous examples beneath to your perusal.

Sharpness

With a purpose to present you the way sharp the Nikon Z 28-75mm F2.8 lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next pages.