The Nikon Z 24-70mm F2.8 S scored well in DXOMark’s tests.
Nikon are slowly building up the lens collection for their Z series of cameras, but with so few on the market they need to make sure that each and every release hits it out of the ballpark, especially when there is a back catalog of lenses that can easily be adapted to the Z6 and the Z7. Recently, the guys and gals over at DXOMark put the new Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S lens through their battery of tests, and it scored well, but can it compete with other lenses in its class? Join us after the break to find out.
The Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 S is, of course, the bigger brother of the impressive Nikon Z 24-70mm f4 S (read our review), and it has been designed with professional photographers who need that extra depth of field, and better low light performance that an f2.8 aperture can provide. The Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S performed very well in the tests that DXOMark perform, in fact, with an overall score of 36, it sits at fifth place in DXOMark’s zoom lens league table.
The lens was tested on the 45.7 Megapixel Nikon Z7. Overall the lens scored 36 points, which is quite impressive. With a sharpness score of 26, a light transmission score of 3, and distortion values of just 0.6%, you can see why the 24-70mm f2.8 S scored so well overall. When you add in a score of -2.1 for vignetting, and a score of 5 for chromatic aberration, it’s clear to see that the Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S is definitely one to get for the Z series of cameras. We have been equally impressed with the lens, and you can read about our time with it so far in our First Impressions post.
The Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 S achieved a higher score overall than the Canon 24-70mm f2.8L II USM which was shot on the equally powerful Canon 5DS R, and the Sony 24-70mm f2.8 GM which was tested on the Sony A7R III which has roughly the same amount of Megapixels as the Z7. Where the Nikon scores lower in sharpness, and scores approximately the same as the other two lenses when it comes to light transmission and distortion, it wipes the floor with both in the chromatic aberration and light transmission tests. These, of course, are not exact like-for-like comparisons, and we know so much more comes in to play, but these results should give a reasonably good idea of how the new Nikon lens performs.
A couple more comparisons show that The Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 S beats the Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG OS HSM Art which was tested on the Nikon D810E quite handily and that it really outperforms its smaller brother, the Nikon Z 24-70mm f4 S which was also tested on the Z7. If you are a working photographer, it is really quite easy to see which 24-70mm lens you should be reaching for if you shoot with a Nikon Z camera. If you would like to see some image samples from the Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S head on over to our First Impressions post to see if you like what you see. Keep an eye out for our full review. The Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S is available from Amazon for $2,296.95.