Yes, it’s real! The dream is alive, and it feels like a single lens that a photographer can have on them. Very few things are as great as having just a single lens on you when you’re traveling to shoot photos. The new Nikon Z 28-400mm f4-8 is exactly that. No other company has made something like this. The closest other brands have gotten while making a good lens is the Tamron 28-200mm offering — which starts at f2.8. Combined with the DX-cropping ability on Nikon cameras, their build quality, and the autofocus, Nikon is probably making the best lens for travel photographers.
Editor’s Note: The Phoblographer was able to see this new lens under NDA with Nikon. We paid for our own transportation trip; but Nikon took care of the one meal we had while out there. The lens that we tested is a pre-production version. It was used with a loaner Nikon Z8, also provided to us by Nikon. We care about being transparent with our readers; as it’s a reason why publications still exist. None of our reviews, first impressions, or previews have ever been paid for. For more details on this, please visit our disclaimers page.
You can pick up the Nikon Z 28-400mm f4-8 at Amazon.
Table of Contents
Hardware
I have to be frank; there isn’t anything really innovative about the exterior of the new Nikon 28-400mm lens. It looks just like any Nikon lens. It’s big, but not so big to seem enormous and intimidating. A very nice touch is a square lens hood — which I’m a major fan of.
The lens’s exterior is all dressed up in black, plastic, and rubber. Aesthetically speaking, it’s the lanky model on the runway wearing the safest outfit possible, with no one batting an eye at it. Bill Cunningham would simply ignore it.
Nikon tells us that the lens has weather resistance built in. However, it shouldn’t be held to the same standards as the Nikon S lineup of lenses. Truly, this is a nearly useless claim when push comes to shove. Even if it breaks or malfunctions due to the various elements and debris, Nikon’s warrant doesn’t cover it. However, the Photography Care Program does — both amateur and professional photographers should consider it.
Focusing
The Nikon Z 28-400mm f4-8 is a pretty great performer when photographing birds in good lighting. To further clarify this statement, I’m talking about photographing birds at the equivalent of lighting that demands an exposure of ISO 1600, 1/2000th, and f16. That’s what we did our preliminary testing in. We have yet to test the lens in our own standard testing grounds, but it’s quite a performer. It was able to track birds flying through an entire scene and mostly stay locked onto an individual winged beast within a group.
Typically, the Phoblographer tests in lower light situations with birds hiding amongst branches and all. We’re not sure how this lens will perform in such a situation yet.
This is all standard for Nikon, however. Their autofocus for wildlife is incredible and has majorly improved. Combined with their pre-release shooting ability, they’re overall incredible — we only wish the system let you shoot RAW while in that drive mode. Considering that we tested this lens on the Nikon Z8, we’re sure it would be better on the Z9. But we’re also not sure someone would use it with the Z9.
Ease of Use
Nothing particularly different about the Nikon Z 28-400mm f4-8 would make you think differently if you’re a Nikon shooter. It wears the standard focusing, zoom, and control ring that any other Nikon Z zoom lens adorns itself with. There are situations where you’ll want to do manual focus override, and the placement of this ring is just the right place to make it simpler. Compared to some of Canon’s lenses, the ergonomics of this one just feels right. By that, I mean it truly feels like it was made for photographers.
Image Quality
We’re not a website that pixel peeps. And considering that I just returned from a short trip to Italy, I can tell you that the last thing I’d want to do is pixel-peep these images. So, with that said, we think any photographer will be really happy with this lens’s images. Anything that needs to be fixed, per se, can be done easily in post-production or with in-camera corrections.
This is only a guess: I’d be pretty confident that if you care a lot about resolution, this lens will reach its resolving potential at under 100MP.
Just a further note: this isn’t our review. That’s in the works.
Extra Image Samples
The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.
Unedited
Some of these images include artistic effects like in-camera painting techniques.
Edited
Nikon Z 28-400mm f4-8 Tech Specs
- At 28mm, the aperture is f4 to f22
- At 400mm, the aperture is f8 to f45.
- FX format: full frame lens
- 21 elements in 15 groups
- 9 aperture blades
- 4 ED elements
- 3 Aspherical elements
- At 28mm, the close focusing is around a foot and a half
- At 400mm, the close focusing is around 4 feet
- 77mm filter thread
- 1lb 9.6 oz
- 3.4 inches to 5.6 inches.