Nikon Nikkor Z 14-30 mm f/4 S review - Introduction

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Nikon Nikkor Z 14-30 mm f/4 S

1 February 2021

Maciej Latałło

1. Introduction

The full frame Nikon Z mirrorless system was launched in August 2018 with two bodies and three lenses. Among these lenses there was an universal zoom and two fixed focal length devices. Less than half a year later, in January 2019, another lens was added to that system and it proved to be one of the most interesting instruments launched recently.

Ultra wide zoom lenses have been approached in different ways. The 16-35 mm class used to be quite popular; sometimes different devices had focal range starting from 17-18 mm focal length and ending even at 40 mm. Among such instruments you can find f/2.8 lenses and a bit slower ones too. Later on producers offered even wider angles with 14-24 mm or even 12-24 mm models but these were lenses of significant physical dimensions, with huge convex front elements that made it impossible to apply classic filters.

In January 2019 Nikon presented the Nikkor Z 14–30 mm f/4 S, a model that tires to combine advantages of both classes of lenses, described above. Its focal lengths range is very universal because at 14 mm you get a huge angle of view, amounting to 114 degrees, and 30 mm means you deal with a very versatile lens, fit to shoot practically anything. After all it is not a coincidence that many photographers claim the 30-35 mm focal length are among of their most favourites.

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All of this is closed in a shapely and relatively lightweight barrel and, what's more, the producers even included a non-rotating filter thread for traditional filters, 82 mm in diameter.

All of this, in my humble opinion, made the Nikon lens one of the most attractive options for travellers of all kinds and fans of landscape photography, available currently on the market. As I count myself among them I hardly could wait when I would be able to test it. I got such an opportunity during my trip to Iceland in April 2019 and I admit my curiosity was appeased. Perhaps it was also why I stopped being so eager to test the lens because, more often than not curiosity acts as a kind of motivator for me. Still now I am able to catch up by presenting Nikkor's full test in the following chapters – enjoy your reading!

Courtesy of the Nikon company we have been sent one specimen of that lens for testing purposes and now we can invite you, dear Readers, to find out how it fared in our tests,

You are also invited to get acquainted with our test procedure, described in the article "How do we test lenses?" If you feel it’s still not enough, please go to our FAQ section where you can find some further explanation.