Nikon Long Lens Options for Hobbyists

15 Apr

Written By MJ

Recently I have been talking to a few of my friends who have just recently picked up photography as a hobby, and they are dabbling with the thoughts of getting some longer lenses to capture their kids’ events like sports day or drama performances.

As we brain-stormed through the various options available to the Z mount currently, it dawned upon me that the telephoto realm is really a dangerous spot for GAS, as for every option available, there is another option that would compensate the former’s weaknesses or compromises.

I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to do a very brief summary of long lens options that would not require incur the wrath of bankruptcy. So long-term GAS affected patients, please do not start bombarding me about the missing Z 400/2.8 TC or the Z 600/4 TC lenses in my list below.

Since technology would evolve over time, if any one happens to find this post in the future, please do take note of when this article was posted before you start to flame me with an option that was not available at time of writing.

Let’s start with bodies first. (Yeah I know the title said lens but, there are DX lenses too.)

With the introduction of the two EXPEED7 siblings, the Z50II and the Z5II, I think pretty much anyone looking at getting a new camera for kids’ sports should definitely consider either body. They share the same autofocus system, which itself is inherited from the bigger EXPEED7 siblings, so in terms of subject detection, autofocus tracking and focus accuracy they are just limited by their own sensor readout speeds.

Tight budget: Z50II. It is the most affordable EXPEED7 camera body now. And also being an APS-C camera, it would give extra reach with attached lenses, which is useful for our said scenario. Pairing it with the DX 50-250/4.5-6.3 VR could make a really compact telephoto set.
Some wiggle room for budget: Z5II. While it sits at the bottom of the full-frame camera line, it sports a very capable 24.5MP BSI sensor, which when coupled with the EXPEED7, delivers beautiful files and great autofocus performance.
Even more room for budget: Z8. It comes with a fully stacked 45.7MP sensor, which is a speed demon itself. The camera delivers blackout free shooting, which is very helpful for framing fast action shots. The 45.7MP also gives a lot of room to crop, which is beneficial if getting extra long telephotos is not feasible.

(I know the Z6III is omitted here. As of writing, I just cannot recommend the Z6III for such use case now due to its lack of customizations (due to be fixed in a firmware update), and the Z5II just provides a way better cost performance when compared to the Z6III)

Next let’s look at the lenses.

Tight budget: Nikon Z DX 50-250/4.5-6.3 VR. This lens when fully zoomed in would result in an equivalent 375mm lens, and when paired with the fast Z50II it should be able to tackle most outdoor sports events with no issues. However this option should only be considered if the Z50II is used.
Tight budget (FX version): Tamron 70-300/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD. It is the most affordable native Z-mount telephoto lens right now, although it only ends at 300mm. While might not be long enough for some outdoors sports events, its f/6.3 aperture will help tame the ISO a bit in indoor venues. It does not come with any optical stabilization system, so I highly suggest that you do not pair this lens with any of the current DX cameras.
Some wiggle room for budget: Tamron 150-500/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD, or Nikon AF-S 200-500/5.6 VR via FTZ. Both of these lenses go up to 500mm, with the Tamron being a native Z lens and slightly lighter at the expense of a slower aperture, and the Nikon requiring a FTZ adapter making the set front heavy. The Nikon should have no issues indoors as well with its faster aperture in the tele range.
More wiggle room for budget: Tamron 50-400/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD or Nikon Z 28-400/4-8 VR. While both of these are 400mm class lenses, their starting focal length and aperture ranges are very different. The Tamron has a slightly tamer maximum aperture range, and goes down to a normal 50mm view. The Nikon on the other hand goes all the way down to 28mm, but at the expense of a small aperture at telephoto ranges. The Nikon could be a one lens solution since it covers the wide angle range too, but its slow aperture means that it would struggle really hard in indoor situations.
Even more room for budget: Nikon 180-600/5.6-6.3 VR. I’d say just treat this as a constant f/6.3 lens. It’s an upgrade everywhere as compared to its predecessor, the AF-S 200-500/5.6 VR, and the only lens on this list that goes to 600mm, but ultimately as compared to all the other options here it is the heaviest and longest so that itself might be a concern too.
Image quality priority at non-bankruptcy budget: Nikon Z 100-400/4.5-5.6 VR S or Nikon Z 400/4.5 VR S. I think this should most probably be the reasonable budget limit for most users, and while they are both 400mm class lenses, their fast aperture (especially with the prime) would give the best image quality as compared to the other options here. It boils down to if you treasure flexibility (100-400/4.5-5.6) or pure speed and clarity (400/4.5).

One thing that was intriguing to me was how Tamron seems to be helping cover Nikon’s consumer telephoto range quite a bit, and I for one am glad that such options are available for the system, since most of Nikon’s own solutions cater to the slightly higher end of the spectrum.

I think that it would be nice to see more APS-C specific telephoto options, since now with the Z50II we now have a highly capable DX body. Perhaps it would launch with the unicorn Z80?