Nikkor Z 28-400 f/4-8 VR Lens Review

As of this writing, Nikon’s longest super-zoom for their FX format is this bad boy. The 14.3X zoom range of the 28-400 lens is just extraordinary. You would expect this lens’ resolution would range from weak to weaker, but you’d be wrong.

I have been shooting with this lens for months now. The more I use it, the better I like it.

28-400 f/4-8 VR Lens at 400mm with bayonet hood

This is my new do-everything lens. Nikon’s Z-mount lenses, with the exception of a couple of their mega-expensive F-mount super-telephotos, consistently out-perform their F-mount counterparts. This lens’ nearest F-mount counterpart would be the 28-300mm lens. This 28-400mm lens smokes it in all regards except the aperture brightness.

28-400 f/4-8 VR Lens at 28mm

28-400 f/4-8 VR Lens at 400mm

The 28-400 is remarkably small and light, when you consider that it can zoom to 400mm. I can hike all day with this lens without having to suffer; it fits neatly into a small daypack. The exterior is made of the same high-performance plastics that most of Nikon’s Z lenses have. It’s weather and dust resistant, too.

I measured the field of view at 28mm, and got 65.5 degrees versus ideal 65.35 degrees. Very good. I measure the field of view across the horizontal frame.

I measured the field of view at 400mm at 5.27 degrees versus ideal of 5.2 degrees. You’re getting a true 400mm.

Specifications

·      Weight: 1.6 lbs., 725g. Incredibly light for 400mm

·      Single stepping motor (STM)  for internal autofocus (nearly silent, but not particularly fast)

·      77mm filter threads

·      NO fluorine coating on the lens front. Doesn’t repel dust and dirt. Excellent flare resistance

·      9 rounded blades, electronic aperture (circular out-of-focus lights, except frame edges)

·      4 ED glass, 3 aspherics

·      Total lens elements: 21, 15 groups

·      Variable-aperture f/4-8

·      NO lens function buttons or function rings

·      VR: yes, but no external switch. Rated to 5.5 stops (verified 1/10s shutter at 400mm!)

·      Manual focus ring nearest camera

·      Zoom ring rotation range 90 degrees, short but smooth

·      Metal lens mount, high-quality plastic exterior

·      Moisture/Dust sealed

·      Minimum focus: 18.7cm/7.4" at 28mm: (0.37X), 1.2m/3.9 ft. at 400mm  (0.32X) near-macro!

·      Length: 14cm (5.6") at 28mm, 24cm (9.4") at 400mm, diameter 85mm

·      HB-114 plastic rectangular bayonet lens hood

·      Cheap lens pouch without any drawstring: insulting

·      Zoom lock switch at 28mm

Nikon’s Lens Design

This is the official lens element design, taken from the Nikon website. Lots of glass.

Macro

400mm f/8 1/1600s ISO 640

You can pretty much use this lens for macro! Huge working distance at 400mm focus down to 1.2m/3.9 feet, providing 0.32X magnification, or 112mm horizontal field of view. Depth of focus is narrow at 400mm, however.

Although you get up to 0.37X magnification at 28mm, the working distance between the lens hood and subject is only about ¼ inch (6mm)! I measured 97mm horizontal field of view at 28mm. Nearly useless for close-ups at this focal length.

Focus Speed

I measured 0.72 seconds in bright light to focus from 4.2 feet to infinity. The Nikon Z8 was used for speed testing. This is good enough for most moving subjects. It’s much slower in dim lighting, of course.

In dim light, I encountered slight inconsistent critical focus. The net result was that the resolution would often drop slightly in deep shade or indoors.

Aperture Ranges

28mm f/4 to f/22

35mm f/4.5

50mm f/5.6

70mm f/6.0

105mm f/6.3

200mm – 400mm f/8 to f/45

Parfocal

Parfocal means that the focus doesn’t change while zooming. This lens was verified to be essentially parfocal all the way from 28mm through 400mm! I’m working on a separate article on this subject, where I will go into much more detail.

Field Curvature

Based upon observing focus peaking of subjects like flat lawns  with fresh-cut grass, I’m not seeing any appreciable curvature of field at any focal length.

Chromatic Aberration

Refer to this article for a detailed analysis of both lateral chromatic aberration (CA) and longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA). Most photo editors can readily remove the CA, even though this lens definitely has lateral chromatic aberration.

Vibration Reduction

I was able to actually get a sharp photo at 1/10 second at 400mm hand-held, which is 5.5 stops.  I used the Nikon Z8 with ‘Normal’ VR setting. Set VR via the “Photo Shooting”, “Vibration Reduction” menu, since there’s no lens switch. Your results will vary, depending upon how steady you are. I photographed a Siemen’s star, which readily shows any subject motion or focus problems.

400mm 1/10s f/8 ISO 400 VR: ‘Normal’ Nikon Z8

Distortion

Normally, your photo editor will automatically use the embedded lens-correction information and eliminate both distortion and vignetting.

Distortion is only noticeable at short focal lengths, and it is worst at 28mm, assuming you don’t allow your editor to fix it.

Un-corrected distortion and vignetting at 28mm. MTF50 chart.

If you check out the MTF50 lp/mm measurements in the test chart shot above, you will see that the resolution is quite impressive. The barrel distortion (worst at 28mm) disappears with most editors using the embedded file distortion correction data. This 28mm f/4 shot demonstrates the worst-case uncorrected vignetting, too.

Flare and Ghosting

 There are minimal problems with in-frame lights or the sun messing up the shots. The very small amount of flare it shows is nearly ignorable.

Coma

Shooting stars at 28mm, I couldn’t see any coma at all. Stars in the frame corners underscored the need to use an editor to rid lateral chromatic aberration, however.

28mm f/4 15s: right side shows frame corner at pixel-level

Infrared

850nm Infrared 28mm f/4

I was amazed to see that I could shoot infrared without a blazing hot spot in the center of the image. I thought that 21 elements in the lens would be a disaster for infrared. I tested at very long-wavelength infrared, which always shows more issues than shorter wavelengths.

14.3X Zoom

28mm left, 400mm right. 14.3X zoom is outrageous! 

Despite the huge zoom and double-telescoping design, this lens has sucked in zero dust. They must have really good internal air filters.

The red rectangle in the 28mm shot, showing what the 400mm view contains, doesn't look like there's anything there besides some vegetation.

Resolution

Refer to this article for detailed resolution information. It’s not quite as good as their ‘S’ line of lenses, but I think that the results are quite impressive for a super-zoom.

Here’s a quick summary of the peak MTF50 measured sharpness for the center (C) and edge (E) at the widest aperture:

28mm C: 73.3 lp/mm, 3504 l/ph. E: 65.4 lp/mm, 3126 l/ph

35mm  C: 69.3 lp/mm, 3313 l/ph.  E: 43.1 lp/mm, 2060 l/ph

50mm  C: 61.5 lp/mm, 2940 l/ph.  E: 35.5 lp/mm, 1697 l/ph

70mm  C: 63.5 lp/mm, 3035 l/ph.  E: 34.8 lp/mm, 1663 l/ph

105mm C: 58.8 lp/mm, 3504 l/ph. E: 39.1 lp/mm, 1869 l/ph

200mm C: 52.9 lp/mm, 3504 l/ph. E: 46.9 lp/mm, 2242 l/ph

300mm C: 52.0 lp/mm, 3504 l/ph. E: 46.1 lp/mm, 2204 l/ph

400mm C: 53.7 lp/mm, 3504 l/ph. E: 47.2 lp/mm, 2256 l/ph

The edges, at focal lengths beyond 28mm, are a bit weak. They’re still acceptable, though. My own benchmark of “unacceptable” is an MTF50 below 30 lp/mm.

Bokeh and Focus Depth

28mm f/4, 180mm f/7.6, 400mm f/8

You do need to get closer to your subject to get those out-of-focus backgrounds, due to the narrow aperture. The quality of the bokeh is “medium”, in my opinion. The bokeh is not objectionable, but most pro glass will do better.

Samples

400mm f/8 ISO 1000 1/3200s

62mm f/6.0, focus stack with Helicon Focus

400mm f/8 1/1600s ISO 4500

400mm f/8 1/1600s ISO 1800

Summary

This is as close to a “do everything” lens as you can find. I’ve lost count of how many times I had the wrong lens on my camera when I spotted an unexpected subject, but this lens cures that issue.

When I’m on a long hike, weight and size are a big issue. This lens solves those problems. I really hate changing lenses out in the dusty wilderness or when it’s windy anywhere; this lens enables me to leave it on the camera full-time.

The loss in resolution, compared to my ‘pro’ lenses, is so slight that I rarely give it a thought. In controlled conditions, I will still go for my professional glass, but for long trips where luggage space is at a premium or going on challenging hikes this lens is what I will pack. It’s better than I had anticipated how it would perform. I’d recommend that you use a product like my favorite ‘Topaz DeNoise’ to handle the slight sharpness loss and extra image noise from needing higher ISO’s. Brighter apertures would be nice, but that directly correlates with weight and size.

Due to the dual-telescoping design, I’d recommend that you be careful about too much rough handling of this lens. I haven’t had any problems with the minor abuse this lens has seen, but I think it is probably more vulnerable than most lenses.

Before Nikon made its current generation of mirrorless cameras, this lens would have been a no-go. Using f/8 at longer focal lengths used to be too frustrating for autofocus, but that’s no longer a problem in most conditions. Less subject isolation isn’t ideal, but it isn’t a problem for most of my shots.

My Nikkor Z 24-120 f/4S is better than this 28-400 lens in every category EXCEPT the ability to zoom out to 400mm and VR. For me, 400mm versus 120mm happens to be a huge exception and is the reason I got the 28-400. Everybody has their own photographic priorities, and I just hate it when I don’t have the option of having a long focal length available.

I sure wish this lens had a fluorine-coated front element, but Nikon decided to save the money. They sure saved money on the lens case. But I suppose I’m just nit-picking. Life is all about compromises.