Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S

Entry Date: 19/10/2022

Purchased this as a primary workhorse lens to replace the 24-70/4S in the standard range.

Although it officially went on sale in Feb 2022, I wanted to read more about it and try it out myself in shops before purchasing it - I ended up placing an order in May or so at my usual camera store but as it had a long waiting list I only managed to get my set in Aug.

Typical of S-line lenses it has great performance throughout its focal length range - sharpness, flare resistance, LoCA control are all great. That said, this lens does not correct geometric distortions optically - there is a pretty strong barrel distortion in the wide end, which changes to pincushion distortion at the tele end. These distortions are automatically corrected in-camera via distortion control (which will be turned on by default in the camera, and the option would be greyed out and cannot be turned off), some RAW editors would require specifically turning on the distortion control when post processing to mitigate the strong distortions.

An interesting find is how long it took for the lens to “boot-up” - most of my other lenses usually make a quick whirring sound when the camera is powered on as the focus is racked for calibration, together with a quick aperture blade opening sound, whereas this lens took slightly longer in this boot-up process and I could feel the focus motor racking the lens. Happens on both my Z6 and my Z6II, so definitely not camera-body dependent. I thought I might have a faulty AF motor initially, but looking at the demo sets in the shops, it seems that it is a characteristic of this lens since all of them pretty much boot up equally slow.

This was one of the lenses which uses a new plastic housing to keep weight down - this plastic has a more textured outlook that feels quite different in hand than the initial Z lenses (like the primes, 24-70/4S, 70-200/2.8S). It also does not get as cold (or hot) easily during temperature fluctuations, and I am indeed thankful for that. I think the previous lens that used a similar housing was the Z 105mm macro?

Focus speed is pretty snappy, though not instantaneous as some of the more premium lenses. Does not seem to hunt much and locks on confidently in good light, and AF-C seems to follow the subject properly. AF-S shows much better AF accuracy when in low-light situations. Guess the algorithm underlying might be slightly different?