Enjoying the Nikon Z 40mm f/2
Back in late June when Nikon announced their cashback campaign, I decided to get the Nikon Z 40mm f/2 muffin-ish lens to couple with my ex-workhorse Z6 to make a compact lightweight set-up.
According to the reviews online, many mentioned that the sharpness of the lens is not exactly awe-inspiring, especially when you are used to the quality of the S-line lenses, so I went in with that expectations in mind.
I paired the lens with a Nikon HN-2 screw-in metal hood (on top of a Nikon NC filter) to be able to put it inside my bag without using a lens cap, and this combination still remains relatively compact and does not introduce any vignetting at all.
After using it for more than a month now, I’m honestly surprised that I’m enjoying the lens way more than I had expected. The lightweight and compact size does make me bring the camera out more often, and somehow using this set reminds me of the days where things were simpler and I just wanted to take shots of things for fun or anything that is of interest to me.
As per most reviews, the sharpness is not exactly the best as compared to the rest of the Z-lineup, and at close distances the resolution and sharpness do take an additional hit in their quality. However, that being said, it is still not in the realm of unusable bad quality - shots do maintain enough detail retention even when shot wide open, particularly in the center of the frame, and sharpness improves for shots done from 2m onwards. Stopping it down to f/2.8 does bring out more resolution and contrast across the frame, so I’m pretty much using it as a f/2.8 lens now that can also open up to f/2 when the situation calls for it.
So some of the things I’ve observed or experience from using this lens so far:
The rendering is not like the typical Z S-line lenses due to the steep sharpness falloff out of the central region, which creates a more “vintage” look typical of the F-mount lenses
At f/2 the sharpness falloff of the out of focus areas coupled with the slight glow from spherical aberrations do actually give images an interesting atmosphere and look
Not the best in strong backlit situations - fringing rears its ugly face and further loss of contrast happens throughout the frame
Using the lens at f/2.8 tames the lens quite a bit and it performs closer to the typical quality known of Z-lenses
The lightweight and compactness is definitely something that one should not overlook - I have the 50mm 1.8 S as well, and while that lens is not a behemoth so to speak, the 40mm f/2 is just so much easier to carry around
Looking forward to creating more with this lens!