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Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 Review

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The Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is a compact and lightweight pancake lens that is perfect for everyday use. Despite its small size, it delivers sharp images with good contrast. However, it has some serious issues with vignetting and distortion, as well as longitudinal chromatic aberration. Overall, it is a good lens for the price if you can overlook its flaws.

The Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is a compact and lightweight pancake lens that delivers sharp images with good contrast. However, it has serious issues with vignetting, distortion, and longitudinal chromatic aberration. It is a good lens for the price, but its serious image quality problems make it a difficult choice for wide-angle photography enthusiasts.

Pros
  • Compact and lightweight
  • Sharp images with good contrast
  • Smooth control ring for manual focus adjustments
Cons
  • Serious issues with vignetting, distortion, and longitudinal chromatic aberration
  • Plastic build quality
  • Audible whirring noise from the autofocus motor

The build quality is mostly plastic, but it includes weather sealing, and the control ring turns smoothly for manual focus adjustments.

The Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 is a compact and lightweight pancake lens that is perfect for everyday use. Despite its small size, it delivers sharp images with good contrast. However, it has some serious issues with vignetting and distortion, as well as longitudinal chromatic aberration. The build quality is mostly plastic, but it includes a weather sealing, and the control ring turns smoothly for manual focus adjustments. The autofocus motor is responsive but emits an audible whirring noise. In terms of image quality, the lens exhibits sharpness and excellent contrast in the center of the frame, but suffers from noticeable ghosting, vignetting, and distortion issues, particularly at wider apertures. The close-up quality remains fantastic at the minimum focus distance, although there are some concerns with flaring and coma levels. The bokeh is soft and lovely, but longitudinal chromatic aberration is a strong issue at wider apertures. It is a good lens for the price, but its serious image quality problems make it a difficult choice for wide-angle photography enthusiasts.

The close-up quality remains fantastic at the minimum focus distance, although there are some concerns with flaring and coma levels.

Source

This article is based on the review by

Christopher Frost

Christopher Frost

Christopher Frost is a YouTube channel dedicated to providing in-depth reviews and analyses of photography equipment, particularly lenses. Christopher Frost, the creator and host of the channel, is known for his thorough and detailed evaluations of various lenses from different manufacturers, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and others.  To learn more, please visit the channel here.

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