The following chart presents a comparison between basic properties of the Nikkor Z 28-75 mm f/2.8 and other lenses of the same class designed for full frame mirrorless cameras. It is an interesting thing that the Nikkor, being the biggest and the heaviest, also features the simplest optical construction. I am still amazed by the fact that Nikon persistently offers lenses which are the biggest and the heaviest in their class. Still, there is some hope that significant physical dimensions will result in good optical properties.
In the photo below the Nikkor Z 28-75 mm f/2.8 is positioned between the Nikkor Z 24-70 mm f/4.0 S and the Voigtlander Apo-Lanthar 2/50.
The tested lens starts with a metal mount surrounding contacts and a black frame made of plastics as big as 32x24 mm. Under that frame you find an inner tube with a movable rear element, 31 mm in diameter. In the folded position, at 28 mm, the element is hidden several milimeters below the contacts and on passing to 75 mm it hides about 2.5 cm deep. The interior of the tube is properly blackened, without any important electronic parts sticking out.
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An immobile, black ring is the first part of the proper Nikkor's body; on the ring you can find a white dot, making an alignment with a camera easier, an inscription with the lens's parameters, the producers logo, a serial number, the focusing mechanism working range (∞–0.19m/0.63ft), and also information that the lens was produced in China.
The next part is a manual focus ring, less than 1 cm wide, covered completely by fine ribbing. It is a focus-by-wire mechanism that comes without any distance and/or depth of field scale but it moves smoothly and is properly damped. Even if you turn it quickly the whole focus throw amounts to an angle of about 220-230 degrees. It's a high value but you should remember that the lens offers a good minimum focusing distance so the significant part of this distance is covered by a range from 0.19 to 1 meter.
Further on you see another immobile ring, this time without any inscriptions. Then you find a huge zoom ring, as wide as 60 mm. Most of its surface is covered by rubber ribs and below you see focal length markings at 28, 35, 50, and 75 mm.
The front element system extends on an homogeneous tube made of plastics and during that operation the lens gets longer by 2.5 cm. The front element itself is relatively flat, with a diameter of 54 mm. It is surrounded by an inscription with the name and parameters of the lens, a non-rotating filter thread, 67 mm in diameter, and a hood mount.
When it comes to the optical construction you deal here with as many as 15 elements positioned in 12 groups. The producers weren't skimpy when it comes to special elements: you find here as many as three aspherical elements, one made of low dispersion ED glass and one made of Super ED glass. Inside there is also a round aperture with nine blades which can be closed down to a value of f/22 at the maximum.
Buyers get in the box: both caps, a soft pouch and a petal-type hood.
