Last Updated on 01/16/2020 by Mark Beckenbach
The team at LensRentals had a challenge disassembling the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 S for Z mount.Â
“In a lot of ways, it’s really, really well done,” said Roger Cicla in a brief interview with us about his team’s time trying to repair a Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 S for the Z mount. “In a few, it’s very poorly thought out. For example, I would guess a broken filter ring is a $400 repair, it requires complete disassembly.” What the team encountered is a very modern design with the Nikon 24-70mm, and we found the same thing to be true in our review. Part of the modern design has to do with the LCD screen up top. But in addition to that, the lens is a completely new design for mirrorless cameras and also designed to be small. That’s better than lots of other options on the market right now.
One of the things we were most interested in was the weather sealing. “The weather sealing is superb, as good as any,” said Cicla. Indeed, when we tested it out in the rain, it held up very well. But that’s no surprise to us. When we took Nikon’s first few lenses out with the Z6 and Z7 bodies for review, we found them to be really well built. The professional photographers it’s targeted to will truly appreciate that. But, if you own one and something goes wrong with it, you should probably send it back to Nikon for repair. Nikon recently said they’re not supporting third party repairs anymore.
When we were told about the repair issues, we were scratching our heads. We’ve always known Roger and his team to be great at dissecting lenses. Further, they’re always honest and that’s very appreciated.
The construction is definitely different: part of this teardown will be a hopefully amusing look at Aaron and I going “nope, not that way, let’s try this.” In short, it’s modernized, not old fashioned Nikon soldered wires like it was still the 80s. But definitely not copying anyone else either.
Roger Cicla
You can find the rest of the lens teardown on the LensRentals Blog post. And if you want to try before you buy, the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 Z lens is available on LensRentals.
