Nikon Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR Evaluate

Introduction

Ease of Use

Weighing in at 725g (1 lb 9.6oz) and measuring 141.5mm (5.6in.) in size (when set to the 28mm focal size), the Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR is a really light-weight and compact lens given the extremely versatile focal vary of 24-400mm that is on provide.

It feels effectively balanced when utilizing it with a mid-sized digicam physique just like the Z8 that Nikon supplied for us to check it with, as proven within the product photographs, and would even be equally at residence mounted on a smaller Z-series digicam.

It’s vital to notice that the lens does steadily lengthen additional by a further 100mm to succeed in a complete size of 241.5mm when totally zoomed out to 400mm, so it isn’t as compact because it first appears when set to the 28mm focal size.

Build high quality is nice, however not excellent, for what’s in spite of everything solely an enthusiast-level lens. With a largely plastic building, the Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR feels pretty strong in your hand, and it commendably has a steel mount.

Note that this lens additionally has a weather-resistant design to assist shield it towards mud and moisture. Nikon state that “The lens is not guaranteed to be dust- and drip-resistant in all situations and under all conditions.“

There is a single swap on the left-hand facet of the Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR lens which is for locking the barrel on the 28mm focal size to stop zoom creep when carrying the lens and digicam round.

There are not any different exterior switches or buttons in any respect on this lens, so you will have to delve into the digicam menus to decide on between auto-focusing and handbook focusing.

The built-in 5.0 stops of picture stabilisation are vital when hand-holding such an extended lens, and the system fortunately works very effectively, guaranteeing which you can shoot at slower shutter speeds than 1/four-hundredth and nonetheless get sharp outcomes (clearly relying in your method).

If you mount it on a Nikon Z digicam that has Synchro VR functionality, you may shoot as much as 5.5 stops slower. Note that there isn’t any exterior management on the lens for turning picture stabilisation on or off.

Located in the direction of the lens mount finish of the Nikon Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR lens, there’s the primary (and smallest) of the lens’ two rings. By default it’s the handbook focus ring, however in autofocus mode it may be used to interact handbook focus override or alternatively set the aperture, publicity compensation or ISO pace.

The handbook focus ring has no laborious stops at both finish, making it tougher to know when you might have reached infinity focusing. It has simply sufficient resistance to make tremendous changes to handbook focusing, with out having an excessive amount of give.

The second ring is the generously sized zoom ring, which has focal lengths marked at 28, 35, 50, 70, 105, 200, 300 and 400mm and rotates by means of 90 levels from 24mm to 105mm.

The zoom ring is ridged and the management ring is knurled, serving to you are feeling them by contact when capturing by means of the viewfinder.

Auto-focusing is satisfyingly fast and quiet due to the onboard linear stepping motor which makes it ideally suited to each stills capturing and video. 

Shooting with the lens proves it to have virtually unerringly correct and speedy autofocus within the majority of conditions, with barely any looking in any respect. It’s additionally impressively quiet, too.

This lens ships with each a superb high quality squared design lens hood (HB-114) and a comfortable pouch (CL-C2), plus the 2 lens caps.

The hood will be inverted to save lots of area when storing the lens, and you’ll even shoot with it whereas nonetheless inverted.

Focal Range

The Nikon Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR’s focal vary offers an angle of view of 75° at 28mm and 6°10′ at 400mm.

28mm

400mm

Chromatic Aberrations

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

Vignetting

With the Nikon Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR lens set to its most aperture, there’s some apparent gentle fall-off within the corners, which you will both have to right in post-processing or stop-down the aperture to keep away from.

28mm

400mm

Distortion

There’s some gentle barrel and pin-cushion distortion at both finish of the focal vary in each the JPEG and Raw recordsdata, nevertheless it’s not too pronounced. Note that Auto Distortion Control is about to On when this lens is mounted and can’t be turned off.

28mm

400mm

Sunstars and Flare

The Nikon Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR produces very good sunstars when stopped-down to f/22, as proven beneath, though it’s liable to flare when capturing immediately into the solar even with the lens hood fitted.

Macro

The Nikon Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR affords a minimal focusing distance of 0.2m (0.66ft) on the 28mm focal size  and 1.2m (3.94ft) when zoomed to 400mm, with a most magnification of 0.35x on the 28mm focal size.

Bokeh

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

In the Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR lens, Nikon have employed an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades, which mixed with the slightly sluggish most aperture ends in pretty good bokeh in our view.

We do realise, nonetheless, that bokeh analysis is subjective, so we have included a lot of examples beneath on your perusal.

Sharpness

In order to indicate you ways sharp the Nikon Z 28‑400mm f/4‑8 VR lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next pages.