Nikon NIKKOR Z 40mm f/2
Purchased: June 2023
Status: In Active Use
Entry Date: 30/6/2023
Purchased it new during Nikon’s cashback campaign in June 2023.
I was sitting on the fence for this purchase for quite some time as there were mixed reviews online about its performance, and that it also sat too close to the Z 50mm f/1.8S that I already owned.
But its compact size was really appealing, and I wanted to have a simple grab-and-go kit lying around for impromptu shoots and ad-hoc situations.
The cashback campaign, coupled with the fact that I had JPY 6000 worth of points due to expire gave me a little push to get it.
Attached the standard Nikon NC filter to it.
It did not come with a lens hood, but since I have a couple of spare HN-2 screw-in metal hoods lying around (from the 50/1.8D and 50/1.4D), I tried using it with the 40mm f/2 and it seems to work flawlessly without vignetting. Looks good too aesthetically.
Initial impressions are that sharpness was good enough wide open, focuses reasonably quickly, and really light and compact compared to the other lenses I have. Rendering is more F-mount’ish than the S-line quality Z lenses that we are getting accustomed to.
Entry Date: 2/2/2024
The lens is pretty much permanently attached to my 1st gen Z6 (which has been semi-retired to a sub-body/backup body now due to the high shutter count) for the past 6 months or so, and I have to admit it is really nice to have a grab-and-go camera around for candid or impromptu situations.
The Z6+40mm also fits nicely into my set-up as a backup set - I usually have this and a 24-70mm f/4S in my bag as a backup kit.
Previously I used to carry the Z6 attached with the 24-70/4S around as backup, but since I do not use the 24-70/4S much ever since I’ve swapped over to the 24-120/4S as my workhorse, the Z6 was just literally just sitting there when not in use.
Having the 40/2 instead of the 24-70/4S attached to it at meant that the Z6 sees a lot more action when I’m not working since the 40mm shines as a snapshot lens.
So far I find that the lens performs as what most people have mentioned online - wide open performance is pretty good at distances over a couple of meters, but when focusing at close subjects the amount of spherical aberrations really rob the lens of clarity and resolution. LoCA also rears its ugly head in high contrast areas when shot wide open too.
Stopping down to f/2.8 improves the sharpness tremendously across the frame at all focusing distances, and thus I am primarily using this lens as a f/2.8 lens that could go to f/2 when needed - right now I only go to f/2 if I am after the dreamy look or when the subject is a reasonable distance away such that spherical aberrations are not as pronounced.
An interesting phenomenon I had observed when using this lens was how the aperture blades seem to close a bit when focusing at close distances at f/2 - seems like the focal length might be shorter at closer distances since the physical aperture opening is smaller? Might be a design to offset the optical defects slightly too?