Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 Review

For this overview of the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8, I’ve examined the lens extensively each within the discipline and within the lab. This is likely one of the smallest, lightest full-frame lenses ever made, and never simply by Nikon. However how does it carry out?

Pancake lenses just like the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 normally include some compromises. Typically these compromises are within the type of dealing with options or most aperture, such because the Olympus 15mm f/8 “physique cap lens” that may solely shoot at f/8. Different occasions, picture high quality is the most important casualty of such a small lens design.

Up entrance, I’ll say that the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 doesn’t have the sky-high efficiency of most different Nikon Z prime lenses, which will probably be clear when you learn the “Optical Options” web page of this overview. Nonetheless, with such spectacular portability, perhaps it should earn a spot in your bag anyway. By the tip of this overview, you’ll have a greater sense of whether or not the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is best for you.

Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 Specs

It strikes me that these are fairly low-end specs, except the three aspherical components. The Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 has none of Nikon’s high-end lens coatings and few superior dealing with options. The worth of $500 is a bit stunning, contemplating that Nikon’s present Z 28mm f/2.8 prices $300 (and sometimes goes on sale for less).

Let me linger on that comparability a bit longer. The Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 and 28mm f/2.8 are very related lenses at first look. Each lenses are extraordinarily gentle, weighing 125 grams and 155 grams respectively (0.28 and 0.34 kilos). The 26mm f/2.8 that I’m reviewing at this time is the slimmer of the 2 lenses – 24 versus 43 millimeters (one inch versus 1.7 inches) – however each are small and moveable.

Utilizing each lenses in follow didn’t actually change my opinion; these are related lenses. The 26mm f/2.8 is extra moveable due to the slimmer profile, nevertheless it additionally has some handling-related points that the 28mm lens doesn’t. Extra on that in a second. As for picture high quality, the cheaper 28mm f/2.8 is usually higher, however the two lenses are in the identical ballpark.

I’m left wishing that Nikon had made simply one in every of these two lenses – I hardly even care which one – and in the event that they wished one other pancake lens, chosen a distinct focal size round 60mm or so. (The present Nikon Z 40mm f/2 would slide properly in between, making a trio of 26/28mm, 40mm, and 60mm pancakes.) However, it didn’t occur that approach.

Construct High quality and Dealing with

The Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is a light-weight lens, nevertheless it doesn’t use cheaper supplies than different Nikon Z lenses. It even has a metallic lens mount, whereas the heavier 28mm f/2.8 has a plastic mount. Perhaps that’s the place your further $200 are going 🙂

I can’t stress sufficient how tiny the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is, and that makes it fairly gratifying to make use of within the discipline. Whereas mountain climbing in Loss of life Valley, I might hold my camera (the Nikon Z7) within the mesh facet pocket of my backpack with the Z 26mm f/2.8 mounted. I didn’t must cease, unzip my bag, and pull out the camera to begin taking photographs. The identical goes for any camera strap or holster system – this lens is sufficiently small to be fully unobtrusive.

As for the remainder of the construct high quality options, one factor that I don’t like in regards to the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is that it’s an externally-focusing lens. In different phrases, the barrel of the lens inches ahead as you focus nearer. Right here’s how that appears on the closest focusing distance:

When the entrance barrel is on the most extension, I discovered that I might wobble it a really small quantity. I’ll emphasize that it’s not a lot of a wobble – a lot lower than a millimeter – nevertheless it makes me extra cautious of utilizing this lens in dusty situations. Exterior-focusing lenses typically give me pause, particularly once they’re such moveable lenses as this. The straightforward truth which you could carry it in all places means it should doubtless see loads of dangerous climate and harsh situations over time.

One other situation with the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8’s development is that it fully lacks a filter thread. As a panorama photographer, I usually discover myself utilizing polarizing filters to scale back undesirable reflections and haze in a photograph, and that’s not one thing the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 can do by default.

The excellent news is that the lens hood for the Z 26mm f/2.8 solves each of those issues fairly properly. It has a built-in 52mm filter thread, and it stays fastened in place because the lens focuses. The massive profile of the lens hood successfully hides the extending barrel of the lens, blocking it from the weather.

Naturally, a lens hood harms the lens’s portability in the event you’re making an attempt to squeeze it right into a small pocket. When the lens hood is hooked up, we’re now an excellent nearer comparability between the 26mm f/2.8 and the 28mm f/2.8! Even so, I’d advocate protecting the lens hood with you – no less than someplace in your backpack, if not on the lens – to be able to use filters and shield the lens in dusty or wet situations.

I ought to point out that the cap for the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is an uncommon slip-style cap that envelops a lot of the lens. Make certain to take away the cap earlier than turning on the camera! In any other case (in the event you’re not utilizing the lens hood) the lens makes a nasty sound, and the camera pops up an error message: “Lens initialization failed. Flip camera off after which on once more.”

As for different dealing with options, there’s not a lot to speak about. The Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 has no buttons or switches – there’s solely the one guide focus management ring. It’s so simple as may be.

The subsequent web page of this overview covers the optical traits of the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8, together with focusing efficiency and sharpness checks within the lab. So, click on the menu beneath to go to “Optical Options”: