It’s not an overstatement to say that Nikon has built its reputation on its expertise in lenses. Founded in 1917 as Nippon Kogaku, K.K. (Japan Optical Company), the company specialized in optics for many years before it began producing cameras. In fact, all Canon cameras through mid-1947 used Nikkor lenses!

Of course, in the ensuing years Nikon has developed advanced camera technology, too, combining its proficiency in both arenas to produce the Z-series mirrorless cameras and S-series lenses. Photographers who started out using Nikon camera bodies and optics have tended to hang onto their lenses for many years, even as they upgraded to newer camera bodies with more features. Indeed, many of us have stuck with the Nikon brand at least partially because we were able to use our existing kit of lenses with our latest and greatest camera. After all, an enthusiast’s optics collection can easily have cost many times the price of the body itself.

Backward compatibility of lenses is a 60-year tradition for Nikon, which is what makes the Z6’s all-new Z-mount so interesting and exciting. Nikon’s SLR and dSLR product lines have always, with few exceptions, been able to work surprisingly well with virtually all Nikkor F-mount lenses dating back to the very first, introduced with the Nikon F itself in April 1959, and emblazoned Nikkor-S Auto 1:2 f=5cm (a 50mm f/2 lens). Since then, Nikon has sold more than 110 million F-mount lenses, and millions more are available from third parties like Tamron, Sigma, and Tokina. Nearly all are compatible with every Nikon single-lens reflex built since then, although those made before 1977 may need an inexpensive $35 modification to be used safely on bodies that debuted after that.

So, introducing the brand-new Z-mount for Nikon’s first full-frame mirrorless camera could have been a risky proposition, and perhaps not worth the possibility of current Nikon owners migrating to a different mirrorless platform, including current industry leader Sony and newcomer Canon. Fortunately, Nikon anticipated this possibility, and announced the Nikon Mount Adapter FTZ at the same time as the Z6 and Z7 cameras. Hundreds of F-mount Nikon lens models are compatible, from the AF-S Fisheye Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED zoom to the AF-S Nikkor 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR super-telephoto, plus four Nikon teleconverter add-ons.

The availability of the FTZ adapter was essential to the success of the Z-series cameras for these three reasons:

• Dearth of native lenses. The adapter compensates for the tiny number of native Z-mount lenses available for the Z6 and Z7 at introduction. Only four lenses were announced along with the cameras: the Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S, Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S, Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S, and Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct. The 24-70mm “kit” lens and 35mm f/1.8 shipped at the same time as the Z6, while the 50mm f/1.8 became available a few months later, followed by the introduction in early 2019 of a fifth lens, the 14-30mm f/4 zoom. The super-fast 58mm f/0.95 manual focus lens was promised for early 2019. The huge number of legacy F-mount lenses—which many early Z6 and Z7 owners will already own—allows Nikon to introduce additional Z-mount optics at a reasonable pace. Five more lenses are slated for unveiling in 2019, and at least three more scheduled for the following year.

  Meanwhile, most of us are delighted we can use our favorite F-mount lenses on the Z6, or can purchase and use specialty lenses that may not be introduced in Z-mount for some time. My own 105mm f/1.4E ED lens (shown in Figure 7.1) is one of my favorite accessories for my Nikon mirrorless camera.

• Current owner loyalty. Many current Nikon dSLR owners have been coveting the lighter weight, compact size, and other advantages of mirrorless cameras, and while there have been some defections, a large number of us have been waiting for an alternative from Nikon more suited to the enthusiast’s needs than the ill-fated Nikon 1 line. Indeed, Nikon expects current Nikon dSLR fans to make up the bulk of purchases for the Z6 and Z7. The FTZ adapter makes the adoption of either new Z-mount camera much more seamless and less painful.

Figure 7.1 Nikon’s excellent 105mm f/1.4 E ED F-mount lens is a perfect match for the Z6.

• Technical innovations. Nikon could have, perhaps, provided the Z-series cameras with a lens mount that would accept F-mount lenses without an adapter. However, that would have meant larger lenses, and the submitting to the technical restrictions imposed by the venerable 60-year-old lens system. The F-mount, designed for film cameras, has a 44mm “throat” and a flange to focal plane (registration) distance of 46.5mm. These dimensions impose severe restrictions on lens design, including the maximum size of the largest aperture, and the angles at which photons can approach the sensor.

  In contrast, the Z-mount’s diameter is a generous 55mm, and the flange/registration distance a mere 16mm, the least of any competing camera from Nikon, Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, or Fujifilm. Nikon says it can use the mount’s flexibility to design lenses that are both faster and optically superior. Indeed, the “S” moniker is said to represent Superior.

  As a bonus, the reduced flange dimension means there is plenty of room between the sensor and the rear mount of many lenses designed for other camera platforms to be accommodated by additional adapters. Third-party manufacturers have already announced such add-ons to allow using certain Canon, Yashica/Contax, Leica, Minolta, Nikon, Pentax, and Olympus lenses in manual focus and exposure mode on the Z6 and Z7. Although Nikon would prefer you purchase Nikkor lenses, it knows that the ability to use other optics on their cameras—even in manual focus mode—can allay some of the reservations of those considering a switch.

The current hybrid situation, in which there are not many Z-mount lenses for the Z6—but plentiful compatible lenses in the existing F-mount lineup—means that this chapter will be a hybrid, as well. For this book, at least, I’m going to embrace both Z-mount and F-mount products, so that I can explain the real-world options—especially to those who may be new to the Nikon world. After all, even if you did not own any Nikon lenses when you purchased your Z6, you probably will consider both types as you expand your optical horizons, because Z-mount and F-mount lenses work seamlessly with your camera. A vast number of affordable pre-owned F-mount lenses are available from sources like www.keh.com.

Later in this chapter, I’ll have more details on how adapted F-mount lenses work with the Z6 and FTZ adapter. There are some differences, especially with older lenses, and with F-mount lenses that have vibration reduction built in. It’s true that there is a mind-bending assortment of high-quality lenses available to enhance the capabilities of your camera. These lenses can give you a wider view, bring distant subjects closer, let you focus closer, shoot under lower light conditions, or provide a more detailed, sharper image for critical work. Other than the sensor itself, the lens you choose for your Z6 is the most important component in determining image quality and perspective of your images.

This chapter explains how to select the best lenses for the kinds of photography you want to do.

Sensor Sensibilities

Ever since Nikon introduced its first digital camera with a full-frame sensor (the Nikon D3, in August 2007), the debate over full-frame versus cropped sensor DX cameras has been hot and heavy in the Nikon community. Full-frame cameras like the Z6 have a sensor that measures roughly 24 × 36mm, while APS-C (DX) cameras have a sensor that measures about 24 × 16mm. Each type of sensor has its own advantages. Full-frame sensors typically have larger pixels than their counterparts with equivalent resolution, and better low-light performance, while DX models offer extra telephoto “reach” thanks to their cropped sensors, which create an image from a smaller center portion of the image transmitted by the lens.

Because many enthusiasts have been confused by the full-frame/crop debate, it’s useful to take a look at exactly what the “crop factor” means. In addition to the term crop factor, you’ve probably also heard the term lens multiplier. In truth, both are misleading and inaccurate terms used to describe the same phenomenon: the fact that cameras like Nikon’s high-end DX model, the D500, provide a field of view that’s smaller and narrower than that produced by so-called FX (full-frame) cameras like the Z6 when fitted with the same lens.

Figure 7.2 quite clearly shows the phenomenon at work. The outer rectangle, marked 1X, shows the field of view you might expect with a 35mm lens mounted on a Z6 or another one of Nikon’s FX cameras. The area marked 1.5X shows the field of view you’d get with that 35mm lens installed on a DX model. It’s easy to see from the illustration that the 1X rendition provides a wider, more expansive view, while the inner field of view is, in comparison, cropped.

The cropping effect is produced because the sensors of DX cameras, and the Nikon Z6 in its crop modes, take in a smaller amount of area than the full-frame sensors of the Z6, D5, and multiple earlier Nikon FX models. As I mentioned earlier, these “full-frame” cameras have a sensor that’s approximately the size of the standard 35mm film frame, 24mm × 36mm. Any DX sensor or crop does not measure 24mm × 36mm; instead, it specs out at approximately 23.5mm × 15.7mm (in the case of the D500). You can calculate the relative field of view by multiplying the actual focal length by 1.5.

Figure 7.2 Nikon offers digital SLRs with full-frame (1X) crops, as well as DX (1.5X). The Z6 has other optional formats, too.

In the past, this translation was generally necessary only if you happened to use your full-frame camera accompanied by a DX model. It also comes in handy today if you are working with any lens using one of the Z6’s crop modes, and want to know how a familiar lens will perform. I strongly prefer crop factor over lens multiplier, because nothing is being multiplied; a 100mm lens doesn’t “become” a 150mm lens—the depth-of-field and lens aperture remain the same, despite what you may have read elsewhere. (I’ll explain more about these later in this chapter.) Only the field of view is cropped. But crop factor isn’t much better, as it implies that the 24mm × 36mm frame is “full” and anything else is “less.” I get e-mails all the time from photographers who point out that they own full-frame cameras with 33mm × 44mm sensors (like the Hasselblad X1D medium-format digital). By their reckoning, the “half-size” sensors found in cameras like the Nikon Z6 are “cropped.”

If you work with both FX and DX cameras, or you use DX lenses on your Z6 with the FTZ adapter, you might sometimes find it helpful to use the crop factor “multiplier” to translate a lens’s real focal length into the full-frame equivalent, even though, as I said, nothing is being multiplied. Lenses designed for the DX format may or may not be usable for full-frame images on your Z6, so Nikon automatically switches to DX mode when it detects that a DX lens has been mounted using the FTZ adapter. If the camera is unable to discern that an APS-C lens has been mounted (although in my tests of a few Tamron and Sigma lenses it did a pretty good job), you can manually choose the DX crop in the Choose Image Area entry of the Photo Shooting menu.

That’s because an APS-C lens used without crop mode on an FX camera usually exhibits severe darkening, or vignetting in the corners of the image, because its image circle is generally smaller than the area of a full frame. Of course, the same lens at a longer focal length setting may produce an enlarged image coverage circle so that the lens is almost acceptable for full-frame use. Unfortunately, with the current firmware, the Z6 disables the Choose Image Size option when it thinks an APS-C/DX lens is mounted, so there is no way to experiment with any DX lenses you may already own.

Figure 7.3 The Z6’s full-frame field of view (top left); DX crop (top right); and 1:1 crop (bottom).

As I noted earlier, the good news for those who presently do own DX lenses is that the Z6’s extremely high resolution means that you can use APS-C lenses in the Z6’s DX mode—or one of its other crop modes—and still have acceptable resolution. That allows you to continue to use your legacy lenses, while gaining the extra telephoto “reach” a crop format offers. And, best of all, the crop factor works with any lens, not just DX optics.

You can give a telephoto boost to your FX lenses, too, if you don’t mind losing some resolution. Flip to DX mode, and your 24-70mm f/4 kit lens has the same field of view as a 36-105mm f/4 zoom (but with only 10 megapixels of resolution), the 50mm f/1.8 is transformed into a 75mm f/1.8 portrait lens, and the Nikkor 105mm f/1.4 that I love using on my Z6 becomes a 157mm f/1.4 high-speed telephoto lens—with three-axis VR that the lens ordinarily lacks. (I’ll explain how the Z6’s in-body image stabilization fights camera shake later in this chapter.)

Some will tell you that with full-frame lenses, a crop mode doesn’t do anything you can’t do in an image editor. In one sense, that’s true. You could always shoot in FX mode, and then trim to the DX format—or any other crop—in an image editor, with a bit more flexibility over what part of the frame is cropped. But consider the other side of the coin: if you’re shooting a field sports event, such as football or soccer, and need the telephoto reach crop mode provides, would you prefer to manually crop each and every image you select, or would it be more efficient to let the camera crop the frame to match what you’re seeing with the viewfinder or monitor?

Choosing Native Z-mount Lenses

If you’re new to FX photography or to the Nikon system, you’re probably wondering which lenses from the vast array of available optics can be added to your growing collection (trust me, it will grow). You need to know which lenses are suitable and, most importantly, which lenses are fully compatible with your Nikon Z6.

With the Z6, Nikon’s current limited roster of S-line lenses is, of course, fully compatible. At the time Z6 and Z7 were announced, they consisted of precisely three lenses, with a fourth one formally announced, but not available. Here’s what the initial S-line optics have in common:

• Nikon Z-mount bayonet. Designed exclusively for attaching Z-series lenses to the Z6, Z7, and future models in the product line, the lens mount has 11 electrical CPU contacts that allow two-way communication with the camera. The data flow includes lens focal length, current and maximum f/stop, distance information supplied by the lens to the camera, autofocus functions, and aperture control.

  Unlike Nikon F-mount lenses, the Nikon Z cameras do not have a physical aperture lever to change the f/stop from wide open (for viewing and focusing) to the aperture used to take the picture (in common photo parlance, the taking aperture). Your f/stop is set electronically by the camera based on its autoexposure calculation, or as specified by you (in A and M modes).

  One byproduct of this system is that Z lenses will need to have electrically compatible extension tubes and similar accessories; lower-cost manual alternatives will have no way of physically setting the aperture.

• Programmable control ring. Your lens’ focus ring is not just for focusing anymore! For that reason, Nikon has renamed this rotating band the control ring. When you’re using manual focus mode, the control/focusing ring has one mandatory function: focus. You can always count on the control ring providing focus adjustment when you select M using the A/M switch on the lens, the Focus Mode entry in the Photo Shooting menu, or from the i menu. (Note that the switch takes precedence, regardless of what you’ve selected in the menus.)

  When either autofocus mode is active, the control ring can have one of four different behaviors, specified using Custom Setting f2: Custom Control Assignment:

  • Focus (M/A). The control ring can be used to fine-tune focus after autofocus has been achieved.
  • Aperture. You can use the control ring to set the aperture instead of one of the command dials.
  • Exposure compensation. If you add/subtract exposure using exposure compensation a lot, you’ll love the optional ability to do this by rotating the control ring, rather than holding down the Exposure Compensation button while spinning either command dial.
  • None. The best use of this option is to prevent accidentally messing with the camera’s autofocus setting. You won’t be able to fine-tune focus, either on purpose or by mistake.
• Stepping motor technology. All the Z-series lenses with AF capabilities announced to date feature stepping motors for fast, quiet automatic focus. Fast is required for shooting sports and subjects that move unpredictably or rapidly, while quiet is desirable for both movie making (to avoid recording the sound of the AF motor in your video) and stealth shooting.

  A stepper motor is a brushless DC motor that divides one rotation into equal steps, allowing the camera to move quickly to one of those fixed steps without the need for electronic feedback or a sensor to confirm the amount of rotation. Nikon has been using stepper motors in its AF-P lenses for its dSLRs for several years (the “P” stands for the electronic pulse used to drive the motor). The technology allows changing focus mode (AF-S, AF-C, or M) without the need to flip a physical switch on the lens or camera body; you can do it within a menu.

• Nano Crystal and Super Integrated Coatings. Light is your friend when you’re creating an image—except when unwanted photons (say, from illumination coming from backlighting or entering the lens diagonally) cause flare, glare, ghost images, or reduced contrast. Vendors try to counter these effects by applying coatings to lenses, filters, and other optical devices. Often, multiple layers of anti-reflection coatings are needed to handle all the various wavelengths of light. Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coat’s nanometer-sized (one millionth of a meter) particles work with all wavelengths of light and allows more of the desirable photons to pass unheeded. A complex lens with more than a dozen elements suffers only a 0.75 percent reduction in light, compared with a 15 percent loss with older coating technologies. These lenses also benefit from rugged fluorine coatings on the front element that repels dust, dirt, water, and even grease, making them easier to remove, and which have anti-reflective properties of their own.
• Weather-sealed construction. Moisture is unavoidable, and Nikon expects the Z6 to be heartily accepted by pros who must capture images in inclement weather. The Z6 itself has remarkable weather sealing, and its lenses offer a significant amount of resistance to less-than-ideal shooting conditions (don’t dunk your camera in water, however!).

Better Lenses with Z-mount?

There’s been a great deal of discussion about the advantages of Nikon’s new Z-mount lenses. Much of it seems to assume that the larger 55mm diameter (and 52mm throat size) will make it possible to design lenses with faster maximum apertures, such as the 58mm f/0.95 Nikkor Noct. However, it’s not simply that the larger opening lets in more light and they can now magically make lenses with larger f/stops. If that were true, there wouldn’t already be lenses faster than f/1.4 for cameras with smaller “throats.” An f/0.95 lens is available in Leica’s 40.5mm mount, for example.

What the wider opening actually does is give lens designers more freedom in creating optics that are sharper, faster, and with fewer aberrations. For example, typical wide-angle lenses for dSLRs use a retrofocus design to move the optical center of the lens so the rear element does not protrude into the mirror chamber. To do that, the rear element must be very large in order to avoid vignetting and other forms of distortion. The Z-mount’s 16mm registration distance and wider throat makes it easier to optimize the convergent and divergent elements without worrying about long exit pupil distances between the rear element and sensor plane.

Digital sensors, compared to film, have their particular challenges for lens designers, including the need for a less steep angle of incidence emerging from the rear element, because of the need to send photons down those deep “wells” in non-BSI sensors. Microlenses were the primary solution, especially when so many lenses designed for film (which is more tolerant of the angles) were in use. BSI sensors have helped, as I noted in Chapter 3, and, along with the Z-mount’s advantages, mean we can expect much better lenses for our new Z-series cameras.

Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S

Priced at a tad under $850, the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S lens is an exceptionally sharp basic wide-angle lens, suitable for landscapes, street photography, exterior architecture, and shooting interiors that aren’t so cramped that they call for a wider lens. You can use it for photographing small groups, and it’s especially valuable for available-light photography because of its fast f/1.8 maximum aperture.

Figure 7.4 The Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S is a fast wide-angle lens.

It focuses down to 9.84 inches, not particularly close enough for true macro work with its 1:5.25 reproduction ratio (true macro lenses have a 1:2 or 1:1 or better reproduction ratio). Its minimum aperture is just f/16 if you’re looking for a lens with extra depth-of-field. But this lens’s nine-bladed rounded diaphragm produces pleasing bokeh wide open. (I explain bokeh later in this chapter.)

Overall, this lens (shown in Figure 7.4 with its hood attached) is an excellent performer with two ED (extra-low-dispersion) and three aspherical elements with plenty of sharpness to match the Z6’s resolution, so there’s little need to consider an adapted F-mount 35mm lens, unless you already own one, or need the extra speed of Nikon’s phenomenal 35mm f/1.4G optic, which costs almost exactly twice as much. (I’ll explain the alphabet soup of Nikon lens nomenclature later in this chapter.)

Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S

By and large, 50mm f/1.8 “normal” lenses tend to be inexpensive “starter” prime lenses for those who need a lens faster than the typical zoom, but who can’t afford pricier 50mm f/1.4 alternatives. This particular lens is inexpensive only in comparison with the other S-Line lenses, at $596, but for that price you get a super-sharp lens worthy of Nikon’s “superior” classification.

Figure 7.5 The Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S is an exceptionally sharp “normal” lens.

Lenses of this focal length lend themselves to general photography, and, with the automatic extension tubes for the Z-series that should be available in the near future, for macro work with subjects at distances closer than the 15.7 inches this lens can focus at. Shift into DX crop mode, and you have a 75mm (equivalent) portrait lens with an f/1.8 maximum aperture that’s excellent for selective focus head-and-shoulders portraits of individuals or twosomes. Its nine-blade aperture produces good bokeh. Even those new to photography will have heard the phrase “nifty 50” that is often applied to lenses of this focal length. Lodged between the realms of wide-angle and short telephoto focal lengths, a fast and sharp 50mm lens is an important tool for those looking for versatility at a (relatively) affordable price.

Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S

I was mildly surprised when Nikon unveiled this lens, with an f/4 maximum aperture, as its kit lens and sole zoom for the Z6 and Z7 cameras. One might expect a lens in the popular 24-105mm or 24-120mm focal lengths that some pros might prefer. However, Nikon had several challenging requirements to fulfill. In order to attract both existing Nikon dSLR owners and those currently using other platforms, the kit lens had to be sharp (sharper, at least, than its sturdy, but conventional F-mount 24-120mm f/4 zoom). The kit lens also needed to be versatile, compact, and, most of all, affordable. As the 24-70mm focal length is also quite popular and considered versatile enough to use for everything from landscapes to portraits (despite its limited zoom range), Nikon selected this lens as its initial Z-mount zoom.

Affordability was of utmost importance; if purchased in a bundle with the Z6, this lens adds only $600 to the price tag. If you’re going to charge almost $2,000 for the body for a new camera platform, you can’t win many fans by asking them to lay out an additional $2,000 or so for their basic lens. That’s the price range for Nikon’s existing F-mount 24-70mm f/2.8 optics in versions with vibration reduction ($2,396) and without ($1,796).

Compactness was also paramount; mirrorless cameras like the Z6 are prized precisely because of their reduced size and weight. This lens weighs less than 18 ounces and measures about 3 × 3.5 inches when collapsed. (See Figure 7.6.) In a brilliant stroke, Nikon designed the lens so that you don’t need to press a button to retract it into its most compact configuration; just rotate the zoom ring past its widest 24mm setting, and you feel a brief resistance before the ring continues rotating while the lens retracts fully.

Figure 7.6 Relatively inexpensive, the 24-70mm kit lens is an impressive performer.

This zoom, like all the Z-mount optics, is sufficiently sharp even wide open, and gets even better as you stop down. It focuses down to about 12 inches (for a reproduction ratio of 1:33) and has a minimum aperture of f/22 for a bit of extra depth-of-field if you need it.

Should you want a faster lens in this focal length range, Nikon’s “lens map” has a 24-70mm f/2.8 version slated for 2019. At this time, no 24-105mm or 24-120mm zoom has been promised; Nikon is concentrating on fast prime lenses (see the sidebar Things to Come), with only four zooms listed for the next year or two.

Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct

At the time I write this, Nikon’s super-fast, super-sharp “normal” lens is more of a proof-of-concept than a legitimate practical option for most of us. In December 2018, Nikon indicated the lens would be released by late January 2019. However, Z-series owners have not been lining up to purchase this rather exotic optic.

Yes, it is almost two full f/stops faster than a 50mm f/1.8 lens, meaning, on your average city street at night at ISO 1600 you could shoot wide open at 1/125th second instead of 1/30th second. Or, in full daylight and ISO 64 you’d need a shutter speed of 1/8,000th second for your selective focus images at f/0.95. This lens is purported to be exceptionally sharp wide open, thanks to the Z-series cameras’ wide “throat” that loosed many of the chains facing Nikon’s lens designers.

Before you available-light photographers add this lens to your birthday “want” list, keep in mind that the cost of ownership is likely to remain lodged in the $6,000 stratosphere. And it is a manual focus lens. Most folks buying a $6,000 lens would expect autofocus, at least, if not the ability to slice Julienne fries and run a few Android apps as a bonus. But, alas, manual focus and a hefty price tag are the key specs for this 58mm lens, for which Nikon resurrected the venerable name originally applied to the legendary Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 optic introduced in 1977. The Noct (for Nocturne) was the sharpest f/1.2 lens ever made, so this new version has considerable shoes to fill.

Nikon claims exceptional performance, even wide open, using ultra-high refractive index aspherical (non-spherical) lens elements, and two (count ’em) different reflective coatings to combat glare: ARNEO (I’m still trying to find out what the acronym means) which reduces vertical incidental light and Nano Crystal coating to counter photons reaching the lens from a diagonal direction.

Its controls are as unconventional as its other design elements. In addition to the control ring found on other Z-mount lenses, it includes what Nikon calls a high-precision focus ring with “extreme accuracy and natural torque.” On a manual focus lens with such a large maximum aperture and resulting shallow depth-of-field, you can bet that correct focus will be critical. It also includes a Lens Fn button, and a novel LCD display (and accompanying DISP button) that can provide information on aperture, focal length, and depth-of-field.

My guess is that few photographers will buy or need this lens (the original Noct sold only a few thousand copies), but Nikon wanted to show off the excellence possible in designing lenses for the new Z-mount, and this one is likely to become a legend in its own right.

Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S

Nikon introduced this exciting $1,300 lens in January, 2019. The compact lens weighs just 17 ounces and—unusual for such a wide zoom—accepts screw-in 82mm filters. It has 14 elements, including four aspherical and four ED elements, and a quiet STM motor that’s perfect for video capture. It has dust and moisture sealing, and the customizable control ring.

My copy has sharpness that is comparable to my F-mount 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor, in a much smaller package.

Universal VR

As a Z6 owner, at this point you won’t need to pay extra for purchasing lenses with vibration reduction (VR) built in. Because the Z-series cameras include in-body image stabilization (IBIS), every lens you use—even adapted lenses and manual focus lenses—will have some form of VR available to counter camera movement as you shoot. After all, even the highest resolution lenses and sensors, like those found on the Z6, can do nothing to correct image sharpness lost due to movement. And while higher shutter speeds can eliminate most blur caused by subject movement, when it’s the camera that’s causing blur due to vibration, other approaches have to be taken. Your Z6 has improved technology that can help avoid blur caused by mechanical shutter movement and bounce, but when the entire camera and lens are vibrating, that’s where image stabilization (IS) comes into play.

Image stabilization/vibration reduction can take many forms, and Nikon has expertise in all of them. Electronic IS is used in video cameras (and also available in the Z6 while shooting movies). It involves shifting pixels around from frame to frame so that pixels that are not moving remain in the same position, and portions of the image that are moving don’t stray from their proper path. Optical image stabilization, which Nikon calls vibration reduction (VR), is built into many Nikon F-mount lenses and involves lens elements that shift in response to camera movement, as detected by motion sensors included in the optics. In-body anti-shake technology included in the Z6 adjusts the position of the sensor carriage itself along five different axes to counteract movement.

The results can be spectacular, with up to a 5-stop improvement from in-body image stabilization technology. That is, a photograph taken at 1/30th second should have the same sharpness (at least in terms of resistance to camera shake) as one shot at 1/1,000th second. In practical terms, you probably won’t experience such a dramatic gain, however.

Of course, no amount of vibration reduction can eliminate blur from moving subjects, but you should find yourself less tied to a tripod when using longer lenses, or when working with wide-angle lenses under dim lighting conditions than in the past. If you’re taking photos in venues where flash or tripods are forbidden, you’ll find the Z6’s image stabilization invaluable.

How It Works

As I mentioned, stabilization uses gyroscope-like motion sensors to detect camera motion. When such motion is sensed, the carriage holding the sensor is shifted a precise amount in the opposite direction. Movement can occur along one of five different axes, as shown in Figure 7.7:

• X and y axes. These movements occur when the camera shifts in the x and y directions; that is, the camera moves from side to side or up and down within the plane of the sensor. Shifts in the x and y directions (the camera moves from side to side or up and down along the plane of the sensor) are likely to occur when shooting macro images hand-held but can take place any time. This motion is very easy for the IBIS to detect.

Figure 7.7 The five axes of in-body vibration reduction stabilization.

• Roll. This is the rotation of the camera along an axis passing through the center of the front of the lens, or an axis parallel to it. It’s easiest to picture the rotational point as the center of the lens, but it may actually be located closer to your hand as you grip the camera body. Roll happens when you, say, align the horizon while shooting a landscape. There may be a tendency to continue to “correct” for the horizon as you shoot, producing vibration along the roll axis. Roll is especially noticeable in video clips, because it’s easy to see straight lines changing their orientation during a shot. This type of motion can also be easily handled by IBIS.
• Pitch. This type of movement happens when the camera shake is such that the lens is tilted up or down, often because the lens itself is a front-heavy telephoto lens. The magnification of the tele only serves to exaggerate the changes in pitch. Pitch movement tends to be less critical with wide-angle lenses. The Z6’s in-body image stabilization is less adept at countering this type of movement. It’s one case in which vibration reduction built into the lens potentially provides superior correction. While none of the lenses introduced for the Z6 so far have their own optical image stabilization system, it’s quite possible that future lenses, such as the planned 70-200mm f/4 S-line optic, will have it.
• Yaw. Telephotos are also a major contributor to yaw vibrations, in which the camera pivots slightly as if you were shooting a panorama—even when you’re not. VR built into future Z-mount lenses could provide higher degrees of correction.

Here’s a quick summary of some things you should keep in mind:

• Tripod use. For best results, turn off vibration reduction when the camera is mounted on a tripod.
• Vibration reduction doesn’t stop action. Please don’t forget this! No type of stabilization is a panacea to replace the action-stopping capabilities of a faster shutter speed. If you need to use 1/1,000th second to freeze a high jumper in mid-air, VR doesn’t help you.
• Stabilization might slow you down. The process of adjusting the sensor to counter camera shake takes time, just as autofocus does, so you might find that VR adds to the lag between when you press the shutter and when the picture is actually taken. In a situation where you want to capture a fleeting instant that can happen suddenly, image stabilization might not be your best choice.
• Give vibration reduction a helping hand. When you simply do not want to carry a tripod all day and you’ll be relying on the IBIS system, brace the camera or your elbows on something solid, like the roof of a car or a piece of furniture. Remember that an inexpensive monopod can be quite compact when not extended; many camera bags include straps that allow you to attach this accessory. Use a monopod for extra camera-shake compensation. Brace the accessory against a rock, a bridge abutment, or a fence and you might be able to get blur-free photos at surprisingly long shutter speeds. When you’re heading out into the field to photograph wild animals or flowers and want to use longer exposures and think a tripod isn’t practical, at least consider packing a monopod.

Using the FTZ Adapter

Nikon says that the FTZ adapter (see Figure 7.8) is compatible with roughly 360 F-mount lenses. This includes more than 90 lenses that have full autofocus and autoexposure compatibility when using FX or DX AF-S type G/D/E, AF-P type G/E, AF-I type D, and AF-S/AF-I Teleconverters. As for other lenses:

• AF, AF-D lenses. You must focus these optics manually, but with AF-D lenses the electronic rangefinder will assist in determining correct focus, and Peaking Highlights (described in Chapters 5 and 12) works with either type. You can adjust the aperture electronically and use Aperture-priority autoexposure.
• AI-P and all lenses with a CPU chip. You get manual focus only (with Peaking Highlights) and Aperture-priority exposure.
• AI, AI-S, and Series E lenses. Manual focus and manual exposure only, but you can use the non-CPU Lens Data entry in the Setup menu to specify the maximum aperture and focal length of the lens, as described in Chapter 13. However, zoom focal length ranges are not supported. You may also be able to mount and use non-AI F-mount lenses (pre-1977), but may have mechanical interference problems.

Figure 7.8 The FTZ adapter.

As I noted earlier, DX lenses must be used in one of the Z6’s crop modes if you want some assurance that the entire image area will be filled. Spotting DX lenses is easy: Nikon’s versions all have the letters DX in their names.

The process is a bit more complicated when it comes to third-party manufacturers. Tamron uses the Di (Digitally integrated) designation for its lenses that are compatible with full-frame digital (and film) cameras, and applies the Di II label to lenses suitable only for cropped-sensor models. With Sigma lenses, DG is used for lenses suitable for both FX and DX cameras, and DC indicates a DX-only model. Tokina seems to use the D (for FX) and DX (for DX) nomenclature. All three vendors have been making lenses for (full-frame) film cameras for many years, well before the digital/DX factor became a factor, so when purchasing one of their lenses you may not see a special designation, but, if the lens was introduced prior to about 2004, it’s almost certainly a full-frame model.

That’s the case with Nikon’s older lenses, too, such as the Nikon AI, AI-S, or AI-P lens, which are manual focus lenses produced starting in 1977 and effectively through the present day, because Nikon continues to offer a limited number of manual focus lenses for those who need them. All are full-frame models.

Nikon lenses produced prior to 1977 must have a minor conversion done to be used safely with most Nikon dSLRs and is recommended for Z6 owners as well, because of possible mechanical issues. John White at www.aiconversions.com will do the work for about $35 to allow these older lenses to be safely used on any Nikon digital camera.

Adapted Lenses and VR

What happens to vibration reduction when you use an F-mount lens with the Z6 using the FTZ adapter? Lenses that do not have VR built-in gain 3-axis VR, with the camera body providing pitch, yaw, and roll correction. That’s even true for older lenses that don’t have a CPU chip. However, you must visit the Non-CPU Lens Data entry in the Setup menu and input the lens’s focal length and maximum aperture, and then select that lens number when it is mounted on the Z6. You’ll find more information on working with non-CPU lens data in Chapter 13. Compatible F-mount lenses that do have vibration reduction for pitch and yaw receive the addition of roll axis correction from the Z6’s IBIS, giving them 3-axis VR as well.

Since optical image stabilization (OIS) built into lenses generally does a better job of detecting and correcting for pitch and yaw, why doesn’t Nikon simply direct the Z6 to use the lens OIS for those two axes and correct for x, y, and roll using in-body image stabilization? Unfortunately, that’s more complicated than you might think.

The two systems have to work together, so the IBIS would know what the lens VR had already done, how the image has been adjusted, in what directions, and by how much. Ideally, the system would have the adapted lens’s VR correct for pitch and yaw (because optical image stabilization is better at that, particularly with telephoto lenses, because of the relatively large movements in those directions) and the in-body stabilization would oversee motion along the other three axes.

Although Nikon optical engineers have been somewhat vague with their answers, they seem to indicate that Nikon’s VR lenses do communicate their activity to the body, so the in-camera stabilization system can accommodate the action of the lenses during the VR process.

Ingredients of Nikon’s Alphanumeric Soup

I’ve been tossing around a lot of cryptic letters and descriptors that Nikon applies to the names of its lenses, both Z-mount and F-mount. I’ve collected here an alphabetical list of lens terms you’re most likely to encounter, either as part of the lens name or in reference to the lens’s capabilities. Not all of these are used as parts of a lens’s name, but you may come across some of these terms in discussions of particular Nikon optics:

• AF, AF-D, AF-I, AF-P, AF-S. In all cases, AF stands for autofocus when appended to the name of a Nikon F-mount lens. An extra letter is added to provide additional information. A plain old AF lens is an autofocus lens that uses a slot-drive motor in the camera body to provide autofocus functions (and so cannot be used in AF mode on the Z6, which lacks that motor). The D means that it’s a D-type lens (described later in this listing); the I indicates that focus is through a motor inside the lens; AF-P is used to designate lenses with that very quiet stepper motor that’s especially useful for sound video applications. The most common Nikon focus designation for F-mount lenses is still AF-S, and the S means that a Silent Wave motor in the lens provides focusing. (Don’t confuse a Nikon AF-S lens with the AF-S [Single-Servo Autofocus] mode.) Nikon has upgraded most of its older AF lenses in F-mount with AF-S (or AF-P) versions, but it’s not safe to assume that all newer Nikkors are AF-S/AF-P, or even offer autofocus. For example, the PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED perspective control lens must be focused manually, and Nikon offers a surprising collection of other manual focus lenses to meet specialized needs.
• AI, AI-S. All Nikkor F-mount lenses produced after 1977 have either automatic aperture indexing (AI) or automatic indexing-shutter (AI-S) features that eliminate the previous requirement to manually align the aperture ring on the camera when mounting a lens. Within a few years, all Nikkors had this automatic aperture indexing feature (except for G-type lenses, which have no aperture ring at all), including Nikon’s budget-priced Series E lenses, so the designation was dropped at the time the first autofocus (AF) lenses were introduced.
• D. Appended to the maximum f/stop of the lens (as in f/2.8D), a D-Series lens is able to send focus distance data to the camera, which uses the information for flash exposure calculation and metering.
• DC. The DC stands for defocus control, which allows managing the out-of-focus parts of an image to produce better-looking portraits and close-ups.
• DX. The DX lenses are designed for use with digital cameras using the APS-C-sized sensor having the 1.5X crop factor. The image circle they produce isn’t large enough to fill up a full 35mm frame at all focal lengths, but they can be used on Nikon’s full-frame dSLR models using the automatic/manual DX crop mode.
• E. The E designation was used for Nikon’s budget-priced E-Series optics, five prime and three zoom manual focus lenses built using aluminum or plastic parts rather than the preferred brass parts of that era, so they were considered less rugged. All are effectively AI-S lenses. They do have good image quality, which makes them a bargain for those who treat their lenses gently and don’t need the latest autofocus features. They were available in 28mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2.5, 50mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2.8, and 135mm f/2.8 focal lengths, plus 36-72mm f/3.5, 75-150mm f/3.5, and 70-210mm f/4 zooms. (All these would be considered fairly “fast” today.)

  However, today the E designation is applied to lenses to represent those that stop down the lens to the “taking” aperture electronically. (During framing, focusing, exposure metering, and other pre-photo steps, the lens always remains at its maximum aperture unless you stop it down using a Preview—depth-of-field preview—button.) Non-E lenses use a lever in the camera body that mates with a lever in the lens mount. Lenses with an E in their names, such as the 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR optic, use an electronic mechanism instead.

• ED (or LD/UD). The ED (extra-low dispersion) designation indicates that some lens elements are made of a special hard and scratch-resistant glass that minimizes the divergence of the different colors of light as they pass through, thus reducing chromatic aberration (color “fringing”) and other image defects. A gold band around the front of the lens indicates an optic with ED elements. You sometimes find LD (low dispersion) or UD (ultra-low dispersion) designations.
• FX. When Nikon introduced the Nikon D3 as its first full-frame camera, it coined the term “FX,” representing the nominal 24mm × 36mm sensor format as a counterpart to “DX,” which was used for its 16mm × 24mm APS-C-sized sensors. Although FX hasn’t been officially applied to any Nikon lenses so far, expect to see the designation used more often to differentiate between lenses that are compatible with any Nikon digital SLR (FX) and those that operate only on DX-format cameras, or in DX mode when used on an FX camera like the Z6, Z7, D700, D600/D610, D800/D810, Z6, D3, D3s, D3x, D4/D4s, and D5.
• G. G-type lenses have no aperture ring, and you can use them at other than the maximum aperture only with electronic cameras like the Z6 that set the aperture automatically. Fortunately, this includes all Nikon digital dSLRs.
• IF. Nikon’s internal focusing lenses change focus by shifting only small internal lens groups with no change required in the lens’s physical length, unlike conventional double helicoid focusing systems that move all lens groups toward the front or rear during focusing. IF lenses are more compact and lighter in weight, provide better balance, focus more closely, and can be focused more quickly.
• IX. These lenses were produced for Nikon’s long-discontinued Pronea 6i and S APS film cameras. While the Pronea could use many standard Nikon lenses, IX lenses cannot be mounted on any Nikon digital SLR.
• Micro. Nikon uses the term micro to designate its close-up lenses. Most other vendors use macro instead.
• N (Nano Crystal Coat). Nano Crystal lens coating virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections across a wide range of wavelengths, and is particularly effective in reducing ghost and flare peculiar to ultra-wide-angle lenses. Nano Crystal Coat employs multiple layers of Nikon’s extra-low refractive index coating, which features ultra-fine crystallized particles of nano size (one nanometer equals one millionth of a meter).
• NAI. This is not an official Nikon term, but it is widely used to indicate that a manual focus lens is Not-AI, which means that it was manufactured before 1977, and therefore cannot be used safely on modern digital Nikon SLRs (other than the retro Df model) without modification.
• NOCT (Nocturne). Used originally to refer to the prized Nikkor AI-S Noct 58mm f/1.2, a “fast” (wide aperture) prime lens, with aspherical elements, capable of taking photographs in very low light. It’s been revived to describe the 58mm f/0.95 Noct lens for Nikon’s Z-series mirrorless cameras.
• PC (Perspective Control). A PC lens is capable of shifting the lens from side to side (and up/down) to provide a more realistic perspective when photographing architecture and other subjects that otherwise require tilting the camera so that the sensor plane is not parallel to the subject. Older Nikkor PC lenses offered shifting only, but more modern models, such as the PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED lens introduced early in 2008 allow both shifting and tilting.
• UV. This term is applied to special (and expensive) lenses designed to pass ultraviolet light.
• UW. Lenses with this designation are designed for underwater photography with Nikonos camera bodies, and cannot be used with Nikon digital SLRs.
• VR. Nikon has an expanding line of vibration reduction (VR) F-mount lenses, including several very affordable models, which shift lens elements internally to counteract camera shake. The VR feature allows using a shutter speed up to 4.5 stops slower than would be possible without vibration reduction, according to Nikon.

Zoom or Prime?

While the Z6 has only one zoom and 2.5 prime lenses available now, you’re probably considering using, borrowing, or buying some F-mount optics to use with your camera, and among those lenses there are plenty of both zoom and prime lenses available. So, within this chapter’s “hybrid” mode, I’m going to offer you some help to use when selecting between zoom and prime lenses. There are several considerations to ponder. Here’s a checklist of the most important factors, in addition to image quality and maximum aperture earlier, but those aspects take on additional meaning when comparing zooms and primes.

• Logistics. As prime lenses offer just a single focal length, you’ll need more of them to encompass the full range offered by a single zoom. More lenses mean additional slots in your camera bag, and extra weight to carry. Just within Nikon’s F-mount product line alone you can choose from a good selection of prime lenses in 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm, 135mm, 200mm, and 300mm focal lengths, all of which are overlapped by a single zoom: the AF-S FX Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens. Even so, you might be willing to carry an extra prime lens or two in order to gain the speed or image quality that lens offers.
• Image quality. Prime lenses usually produce better image quality at their focal length than even the most sophisticated zoom lenses at the same magnification. Zoom lenses, with their shifting elements and f/stops that can vary from zoom position to zoom position, are, in general, more complex to design than fixed focal length lenses. That’s not to say that the very best prime lenses can’t be complicated as well. However, the exotic designs, aspheric elements, and low-dispersion glass can be applied to improving the quality of the lens, rather than wasting a lot of it on compensating for problems caused by the zoom process itself.
• Maximum aperture. Because of the same design constraints, zoom lenses usually have smaller maximum apertures than prime lenses, and the most affordable zooms have a lens opening that grows effectively smaller as you zoom in. The difference in lens speed verges on the ridiculous at some focal lengths. For example, the 18-55mm super-bargain kit lens Nikon offers for its entry-level digital SLRs gives you a 55mm f/5.6 lens when zoomed all the way out, while prime lenses in that focal length commonly have f/1.8 or faster maximum apertures. Indeed, the fastest f/2, f/1.8, and f/1.4 lenses are all primes, and if you require speed, a fixed focal length lens is what you should rely on.
• Speed. Using prime lenses takes time and slows you down. It takes a few seconds to remove your current lens and mount a new one, and the more often you need to do that, the more time is wasted. If you choose not to swap lenses, when using a fixed focal length lens, you’ll still have to move closer or farther away from your subject to get the field of view you want. A zoom lens allows you to change magnifications and focal lengths with the twist of a ring and generally saves a great deal of time.

Categories of Lenses

Lenses can be categorized by their intended purpose—general photography, macro photography, and so forth—or by their focal length. The range of available focal lengths is usually divided into three main groups: wide angle, normal, and telephoto. Prime lenses fall neatly into one of these classifications. Zooms can overlap designations, with a significant number falling into the catch-all, wide-to-telephoto zoom range. This section provides more information about focal length ranges, and how they are used.

Any lens with a focal length of 12mm to 20mm is said to be an ultra-wide-angle lens; from about 20mm to 35mm is said to be a wide-angle lens. Normal lenses have a focal length roughly equivalent to the diagonal of the film or sensor, in millimeters, and so fall into the range of about 45mm to 60mm on a Z6. Short telephoto lenses start at about 70mm to 105mm, with anything from 135mm to 300mm qualifying as a conventional telephoto. For the Nikon Z6, anything from about 350mm to 400mm or longer can be considered a super-telephoto.

Using Wide-Angle and Wide-Zoom Lenses

To use wide-angle prime lenses and wide zooms, you need to understand how they affect your photography. Here’s a quick summary of the things you need to know.

• More depth-of-field. Practically speaking, wide-angle lenses offer more depth-of-field at a particular subject distance and aperture. You’ll find that helpful when you want to maximize sharpness of a large zone, but not very useful when you’d rather isolate your subject using selective focus (telephoto lenses are better for that).
• Stepping back. Wide-angle lenses have the effect of making it seem that you are standing farther from your subject than you really are. They’re helpful when you don’t want to back up, or can’t because there are impediments in your way.
• Wider field of view. While making your subject seem farther away, as implied above, a wide-angle lens also provides a larger field of view, including more of the subject in your photos.
• More foreground. As background objects retreat, more of the foreground is brought into view by a wide-angle lens. That gives you extra emphasis on the area that’s closest to the camera. Photograph your home with a normal lens/normal zoom setting, and the front yard probably looks fairly conventional in your photo (that’s why they’re called “normal” lenses). Switch to a wider lens and you’ll discover that your lawn now makes up much more of the photo. So, wide-angle lenses are great when you want to emphasize that lake in the foreground, but problematic when your intended subject is located farther in the distance.
• Super-sized subjects. The tendency of a wide-angle lens to emphasize objects in the foreground, while de-emphasizing objects in the background can lead to a kind of size distortion that may be more objectionable for some types of subjects than others. Shoot a bed of flowers up close with a wide angle, and you might like the distorted effect of the larger blossoms nearer the lens. Take a photo of a family member with the same lens from the same distance, and you’re likely to get some complaints about that gigantic nose in the foreground.
• Perspective distortion. When you tilt the camera so the plane of the sensor is no longer perpendicular to the vertical plane of your subject, some parts of the subject are now closer to the sensor than they were before, while other parts are farther away. So, buildings, flagpoles, or NBA players appear to be falling backward. While this kind of apparent distortion (it’s not caused by a defect in the lens) can happen with any lens, it’s most apparent when a wide angle is used. The “falling back” look is particularly troublesome with subjects that actually do get narrower towards the top, such as pyramids and the worst-case scenario Nova Scotia lighthouse seen in Figure 7.9.

Figure 7.9 Tilting the camera back produces or accentuates this “falling back” look in architectural photos.

• Steady cam. Hand-holding a wide-angle lens at slower shutter speeds, without vibration reduction, produces steadier results than with a telephoto lens. The reduced magnification of the wide-lens or wide-zoom setting doesn’t emphasize camera shake like a telephoto lens does.
• Interesting angles. Many of the factors already listed combine to produce more interesting angles when shooting with wide-angle lenses. Raising or lowering a telephoto lens a few feet probably will have little effect on the appearance of the distant subjects you’re shooting. The same change in elevation can produce a dramatic effect for the much-closer subjects typically captured with a wide-angle lens or wide-zoom setting.

Avoiding Potential Wide-Angle Problems

Wide-angle lenses have a few quirks that you’ll want to keep in mind when shooting so you can avoid falling into some common traps. Here’s a checklist of tips for avoiding common problems:

• Symptom: converging lines. Unless you want to use wildly diverging lines as a creative effect, it’s a good idea to keep horizontal and vertical lines in landscapes, architecture, and other subjects carefully aligned with the sides, top, and bottom of the frame. That will help you avoid undesired perspective distortion. Sometimes it helps to shoot from a slightly elevated position so you don’t have to tilt the camera up or down.
• Symptom: excessive foreground. The tendency of very wide angle lenses to make foreground subjects appear large can be a problem with landscape and architectural photographs. Your landscape may have majestic mountains in the background, but most of your frame may be filled with the nearby terrain. Limited space forced me to use a wide-angle lens to capture Église Sainte-Marie in Nova Scotia, at 184 feet the tallest wooden building in North America. With my back at the edge of the roadway that passed in front of the structure, the edifice’s parking lot occupied an excessive amount of space in my original uncropped shot (see Figure 7.10).
• Symptom: color fringes around objects. Lenses are often plagued with fringes of color around backlit objects, produced by chromatic aberration, which is produced when all the colors of light don’t focus in the same plane or same lateral position (that is, the colors are offset to one side). This phenomenon is more common in wide-angle lenses and in photos of subjects with contrasty edges. Some kinds of chromatic aberration can be reduced by stopping down the lens, while all sorts can be reduced by using lenses with low diffraction index glass (or ED elements, in Nikon nomenclature) and by incorporating elements that cancel the chromatic aberration of other glass in the lens.
• Symptom: lines that bow outward. Some wide-angle lenses cause straight lines to bow outward, with the strongest effect at the edges. In fisheye (or curvilinear) lenses, this defect is a feature. When distortion is not desired, you’ll need to use a lens that has corrected barrel distortion. Manufacturers like Nikon do their best to minimize or eliminate it (producing a rectilinear lens), often using aspherical lens elements (which are not cross-sections of a sphere). You can also minimize barrel distortion simply by framing your photo with some extra space all around, so the edges where the defect is most obvious can be cropped out of the picture. Some image editors, including Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and Nikon Capture NX-D, have a lens distortion correction feature.
• Symptom: dark corners and shadows in flash photos. The Nikon Z6’s optional external electronic flash are generally designed to provide even coverage for lenses as wide as 17mm. If you use a wider lens, you can expect darkening, or vignetting, in the corners of the frame.

Figure 7.10 Wide-angle lenses can overemphasize the foreground in landscape and architectural shots.

Using Telephoto and Tele-Zoom Lenses

Telephoto lenses also can have a dramatic effect on your photography, and Nikon is especially strong in the long-lens arena, with lots of choices in many focal lengths and zoom ranges. You should be able to find an affordable telephoto or tele-zoom to enhance your photography in several different ways. Here are the most important things you need to know. In the next section, I’ll concentrate on telephoto considerations that can be problematic—and how to avoid those problems.

• Selective focus. Long lenses have reduced depth-of-field within the frame, allowing you to use selective focus to isolate your subject. You can open the lens up wide to create shallow depth-of-field, or close it down a bit to allow more to be in focus. The flip side of the coin is that when you want to make a range of objects sharp, you’ll need to use a smaller f/stop to get the depth-of-field you need. Like fire, the depth-of-field of a telephoto lens can be friend or foe. Figure 7.11 shows a photo of a bird shot at the 200mm focal length setting of my 70-200mm zoom, and a wide f/2.8 f/stop to de-emphasize the distracting background.
• Getting closer. Telephoto lenses bring you closer to wildlife, sports action, and candid subjects. No one wants to get a reputation as a surreptitious or “sneaky” photographer (except for paparazzi), but when applied to candids in an open and honest way, a long lens can help you capture memorable moments while retaining enough distance to stay out of the way of events as they transpire.

Figure 7.11 A wide f/stop helped isolate the bird against a distracting background.

• Reduced foreground/increased compression. Telephoto lenses have the opposite effect of wide angles: they reduce the importance of things in the foreground by squeezing everything together. This compression even makes distant objects appear to be closer to subjects in the foreground and middle ranges. You can use this effect as a creative tool to squeeze subjects together. You’ll find the effect used all the time in TV shows, where the hero dashes toward the camera while racing between slow-moving automobiles, seemingly each just a foot or two apart.
• Accentuates camera shakiness. Telephoto focal lengths hit you with a double whammy in terms of camera/photographer shake. The lenses themselves are bulkier, more difficult to hold steady, and may even produce a barely perceptible see-saw rocking effect when you support them with one hand halfway down the lens barrel. Telephotos also magnify any camera shake. It’s no wonder that vibration reduction is a popular feature when using longer focal lengths.
• Interesting angles require creativity. Telephoto lenses require more imagination in selecting interesting angles, because the “angle” you do get on your subjects is so narrow. Moving from side to side or a bit higher or lower can make a dramatic difference in a wide-angle shot, but raising or lowering a telephoto lens a few feet probably will have little effect on the appearance of the distant subjects you’re shooting.

Avoiding Telephoto Lens Problems

Many of the “problems” that telephoto lenses pose are really just challenges and are not that difficult to overcome. Here is a list of the seven most common picture maladies and suggested solutions.

• Symptom: flat faces in portraits. Head-and-shoulders portraits of humans tend to be more flattering when a focal length of 85mm to 105mm is used. Longer focal lengths compress the distance between features like noses and ears, making the face look wider and flat. A wide angle might make noses look huge and ears tiny when you fill the frame with a face. So stick with 85mm to 105mm focal lengths, going longer only when you’re forced to shoot from a greater distance, and wider only when shooting three-quarters/full-length portraits, or group shots.
• Symptom: blur due to camera shake. Use a higher shutter speed (boosting ISO if necessary), consider an image-stabilized lens, or mount your camera on a tripod, monopod, or brace it with some other support. Of those three solutions, only the first will reduce blur caused by subject motion; vibration reduction/image stabilization or tripod won’t help you freeze a race car in mid-lap.
• Symptom: color fringes. Chromatic aberration is the most pernicious optical problem found in telephoto lenses. There are others, including spherical aberration, astigmatism, coma, curvature of field, and similarly scary-sounding phenomena. The best solution for any of these is to use a better lens that offers the proper degree of correction, or stop down the lens to minimize the problem. But that’s not always possible. Your second-best choice may be to correct the fringing in your favorite RAW conversion tool or image editor. Photoshop’s Lens Correction filter offers sliders that minimize both red/cyan and blue/yellow fringing.
• Symptom: lines that curve inward. Pincushion distortion is found in many telephoto lenses. You might find after a bit of testing that it is worse at certain focal lengths with your particular zoom lens. Like chromatic aberration, it can be partially corrected using tools like the correction tools built into Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, and the Distortion and Perspective tools in the Z6’s Retouch menu (see Chapter 13). You can see an exaggerated example in Figure 7.12, especially at the edge; pincushion distortion isn’t always this obvious.
• Symptom: low contrast from haze or fog. When you’re photographing distant objects, a long lens shoots through a lot more atmosphere, which generally is muddied up with extra haze and fog. That dirt or moisture in the atmosphere can reduce contrast and mute colors. Some feel that a skylight or UV filter can help, but this practice is mostly a holdover from the film days. Digital sensors are not sensitive enough to UV light for a UV filter to have much effect. So, you should be prepared to boost contrast and color saturation in your Picture Controls menu or image editor if necessary.
• Symptom: low contrast from flare. Lenses are furnished with lens hoods for a good reason: to reduce flare from bright light sources at the periphery of the picture area, or completely outside it. Because telephoto lenses often create images that are lower in contrast in the first place, you’ll want to be especially careful to use a lens hood to prevent further effects on your image (or shade the front of the lens with your hand).
• Symptom: dark flash photos. Edge-to-edge flash coverage isn’t a problem with telephoto lenses as it is with wide angles. The shooting distance is. A long lens might make a subject that’s 50 feet away look as if it’s right next to you, but your camera’s flash isn’t fooled. You’ll need extra power for distant flash shots. The Nikon SB-5000 and SB-910 Speedlights, for example, can automatically zoom coverage to illuminate the area captured by a 200mm telephoto lens, with three light distribution patterns (Standard, Center-weighted, and Even).

Figure 7.12 Pincushion distortion in telephoto lenses causes lines to bow inward from the edges.

Telephotos and Bokeh

Bokeh describes the aesthetic qualities of the out-of-focus parts of an image and whether out-of-focus points of light—circles of confusion—are rendered as distracting fuzzy discs or smoothly fade into the background. Boke is a Japanese word for “blur,” and the h was added to keep English speakers from rendering it monosyllabically to rhyme with broke. Although bokeh is visible in blurry portions of any image, it’s of particular concern with telephoto lenses, which, thanks to the magic of reduced depth-of-field, produce more obviously out-of-focus areas.

Bokeh can vary from lens to lens, or even within a given lens depending on the f/stop in use. Bokeh becomes objectionable when the circles of confusion are evenly illuminated, making them stand out as distinct discs, or, worse, when these circles are darker in the center, producing an ugly “doughnut” effect. A lens defect called spherical aberration may produce out-of-focus discs that are brighter on the edges and darker in the center, because the lens doesn’t focus light passing through the edges of the lens exactly as it does light going through the center. (Mirror or catadioptric lenses also produce this effect.)

Other kinds of spherical aberration generate circles of confusion that are brightest in the center and fade out at the edges, producing a smooth blending effect, as you can see at bottom in Figure 7.13. Ironically, when no spherical aberration is present at all, the discs are a uniform shade, which, while better than the doughnut effect, is not as pleasing as the bright center/dark edge rendition. The shape of the disc also comes into play, with round smooth circles considered the best, and nonagonal or some other polygon (determined by the shape of the lens diaphragm) considered less desirable.

If you plan to use selective focus a lot, you should investigate the bokeh characteristics of a particular lens before you buy. Nikon user groups and forums will usually be full of comments and questions about bokeh, so the research is fairly easy.

Figure 7.13 Bokeh is less pleasing when the discs are prominent (top), and less obtrusive when they blend into the background (bottom).

Nikon’s Lens Roundup

The following section represents my personal recommendations on Nikon F-mount lenses, based on the more than four dozen lenses I owned in the past and the more than 30 lenses that remain in my collection today. What follows are just my opinions, and descriptions of what has worked for me. If you want lens testing and more detailed qualitative/quantitative data, you’re better off visiting one of the websites devoted to providing up-to-date information of that type. I recommend Bjørn Rørslett’s original Nature Photograph website (which no longer receives updates, but has a lot of information about older lenses) at www.naturfotograf.com, and the newer www.nikongear.com, as well as DPReview at www.dpreview.com.

Here, my goal is simply to let you know the broad range of F-mount optics available and help you narrow down your choices from the vast array of lenses offered. Not all of the lenses I mention will be currently available new from Nikon, but all can be readily found in mint used condition.

Generally, I’m not going to cover non-Nikon lenses. I expect it will be awhile before Tamron, Sigma, or Tokina begin to offer Z-mount lenses. As for adapted third-party F-mount lenses, your results may be hit-or-miss, as there were reports of incompatibilities among lenses that should have been usable on the Z6. In addition, I have always concentrated on Nikon optics in my books, primarily because I have stuck to Nikon products for most of my career. While Nikon lenses aren’t always the best in their focal length/speed ranges, they are always near the top and have proved to be dependable and consistent. I’m not going to provide a lot of exact pricing information, as you can easily Google that, and prices have been trending upward for some time. One of my favorite lenses, which I purchased new for $1,300 now lists at $1,800!

The Magic Three

If you cruise the forums, you’ll find the same three lenses mentioned over and over, often referred to as “The Trinity,” “The Magic Three,” or some other affectionate nickname. They are the three lenses you’ll find in the kit of just about every serious Nikon photographer (including me). They’re fast, expensive, heavier than you might expect, and provide such exquisite image quality that once you equip yourself with a member of the Trinity, you’ll never be happy with anything else. One big advantage of these lenses is that they are all full-frame lenses, and so usable on both Nikon full-frame and DX cameras, and the hefty price you must pay for this collection won’t be wasted.

Over the years, Nikon has gradually replaced the original members of the Magic Three with new lenses, and upgraded the middle lens—the 24-70mm f/2.8—to VR status. The 24-70mm Z-mount kit lens is both less expensive and arguably sharper than its counterpart F-mount lens, so you should stick to that one, unless you already have an F-mount 24-70mm lens in your collection. (See Figure 7.14.)

• AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED. I own this lens, use it on the Z6, and its image quality is incredible, with very low barrel distortion (outward bowing at the edges) and very little of the chromatic aberrations common to lenses this wide. Because it has full-frame coverage, it’s immune to obsolescence. It focuses down to 10.8 inches, allowing for some interesting close-up/wide-angle effects. The downside? The outward-curving front element precludes the use of most filters, although I haven’t tried this lens with add-on Cokin-style filter holders, including one very expensive ($200) Lee Kit-SW150 Super Wide Filter Holder, which uses 150mm × 170mm and 150mm × 150mm filters. Usually, lack of filter compatibility isn’t a fatal flaw for most users, as the use of polarizers, in particular, would be problematic at wider focal lengths. The polarizing effect would be highly variable because of this lens’s extremely wide field of view.
• AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR. This lens seems to provide even better image quality than any of its predecessors, especially when used wide open or in flare-inducing environments. (You can credit the new internal Nano Crystal Coat treatment for that improvement.) I recommend the Z-mount 24-70mm f/4 optic (and the promised 24-70mm f/2.8 Z-mount version) over this one, but if you already own one, it can be used on your mirrorless Nikon.

Figure 7.14 The reigning Magic Three.

• AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR. Not a lot to say about the latest version of this lens, introduced late in 2016 with a price tag of about $2,800. It replaces the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, introduced in 2009, and which is still available at reduced prices from some retailers. The latest edition adds fluorite lens elements and improved VR, and exhibits less focus breathing than its predecessor, which is a worthy representative of the telephoto zoom range in this “ideal” trio of lenses. It does have better performance in the corners on full-frame cameras, but most of its other attributes remain the same.

Nikon also offers an additional “affordable” replacement for its 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom. The Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/4G ED VR lens, priced at about $1,400, is a slower, lower-cost zoom with the same zoom range. It does focus down to 3.3 feet, but, unlike virtually all of Nikon’s “pro” lenses, takes 67mm filters instead of the standard 77mm diameter filters. Plan to buy yourself a 67mm-77mm step-up ring.

Wide Angles

Among its FX lenses, Nikon has an interesting collection of wide-angle prime lenses and zooms, both old and new, that range in price from a few hundred dollars to around $2,000. Here’s a list of some of the key lenses that are readily available. I’ll describe the zooms and prime lenses separately.

• 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED. This lens is still offered, and, unless you find a mint used copy, isn’t even that affordable. It’s an excellent lens, but the internal autofocus motor has been known to fail over time.
• 16-35mm f/4G ED VR AF-S. A tiny bit slower with a constant f/4 maximum aperture, this lens includes VR if you also use it for an F-mount Nikon, and the Z6 will automatically substitute its own IBIS. For hand-held shots, that means you won’t miss f/2.8 at all. Instead of 1/60th second at f/2.8, you can shoot at 1/30th second at f/4 and expect the same sharpness.
• 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S. This is a $750 ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for those who don’t want to spend the bucks for the 17-35mm and 16-35mm VR optics. It’s small and light (at just under 14 ounces), and has three aspherical and two ED elements for great image quality.

Many photographers build a nice kit of lenses using only primes rather than zoom lenses. Most of these lenses are compact, light in weight, and fast, with an f/2.8 or better maximum aperture. A large number of us grew up using only prime lenses—we’re the folks you might have seen a few decades ago with two and three cameras around our neck, each outfitted with a different prime lens. We learned quickly how to use “sneaker zoom” to move in closer or to back up to change our field of view without swapping optics. Not all of these lenses are ancient; Nikon has introduced an affordable 28mm f/1.8 lens, and two wide-angle f/1.4 lenses in 24mm and 35mm focal lengths are fairly recent additions.

• 20mm f/1.8G AF-S ED. This is an $800 full-frame wide angle that works well on the Z6, giving you a large maximum aperture that provides a little more selective focus control despite the wide depth-of-field found in lenses of this focal length. In other words, you can throw your backgrounds and/or foregrounds out of focus if you shoot with this lens wide open.
• 24mm f/1.4G AF-S ED. Oh, the howls of anguish and outrage could be heard world-wide, especially among photojournalists, when the predecessor of this lens, a 28mm f/1.4D AF optic, was discontinued without a replacement some years back. The old lens had a list price of about $2,000, and reportedly cost Nikon a lot more than that to make (which is why it was axed), and soon sold for up to $4,000 on the used market. This new, sharp, fast lens is a worthy successor, and a must-have for architectural photographers, photojournalists, and street shooters. Its roughly $2,000 price tag seems cheap compared to the prices commanded by the old 28mm f/1.4 lens.
• 24mm f/1.8G AF-S ED. Introduced in September 2015, this lens gives you a mild wide-angle view and fast f/1.8 maximum aperture for a mere $750. It’s a suitable substitute for the pricey f/1.4 version.
• 28mm f/1.8G AF-S. If a maximum aperture of f/1.8 is fast enough for you, at $700, this lens is an amazing bargain at roughly one-third the price of its new 28mm f/1.4 cousin (described next) or the wider/faster 24mm f/1.4 optic listed above. It’s got all the latest features, including the Nano Crystal lens coating found on most other recently introduced Nikkors for reduced flaring and ghost effects. Light in weight at 11 ounces, it focuses down to less than one foot. Unfortunately, unlike most of Nikon’s “pro” lenses, it takes 67mm filters instead of 77mm filters. You may be able to find a very thin step-up ring that allows you to mount the larger filters without vignetting.
• 28mm f/1.4E AF-S ED. Apparently, Nikon feels you can never have enough f/1.4 lenses in your lineup. Introduced in 2017, this lens commands a premium $2,000 price. It has nine diaphragm blades for smooth out-of-focus highlights (bokeh), and Nikon claims it has “stunning sharpness, edge-to-edge clarity and virtually no distortion or aberrations.”
• 35mm f/1.4G AF-S. If you need a fast f/1.4 aperture and a slightly narrower field of view, this lens should fill the bill. It, too, takes 67mm filters, and is priced a few hundred dollars south of $2,000. Most photojournalists you know, and more than a few architectural photographers, probably own this lens.
• 35mm f/1.8G AF-S. Again, I recommend the current Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S lens over this one, but if you already own one, you can get by just fine with this F-mount version. Only one-half stop slower than the f/1.4 wide angle above, this lens costs about $700, and is a good performer as a fast wide-angle prime. It includes one aspheric and one ED element to provide excellent image quality, and focuses down to about 10 inches. Its chief drawback is the odd-ball 58mm filter size; if you want to avoid buying yet another polarizer or neutral-density filter set, you’ll need an adapter ring that doesn’t cause vignetting with your current filters. Don’t confuse this with the older, less-expensive 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Nikkor, which is not a full-frame lens.

Wide to Medium/Long Zooms

There aren’t too many “do everything” walk-around lenses for the Z6, other than the 24-70mm Z-mount lens, but this list offers some useful alternatives.

• 24-120mm f/4G ED AF-S VR. I mentioned this lens earlier in the chapter as a basic walk-around optic. I really love the newest version of this lens. But, caveat emptor! Nikon has offered three different lenses in this focal length range, and this latest model is the good one. Accept no substitute! As I noted earlier, the original 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-D lens was produced from 1996 through 2002, and was replaced in 2003 with a version having similar specs, but an internal AF-S motor and vibration reduction. Neither lens was the sharpest optic in the drawer, but they were popular because of their useful focal length range. This latest version has a constant f/4 aperture, and produces much better image quality, with the VR making it an excellent walk-about lens for hand-held exposures. Priced in the $1,100 range it’s almost a bargain for what it does: giving you everything from moderate wide angle to short telephoto focal lengths.

  Last winter, when I moved my office to the Florida Keys temporarily to escape the brutal weather, I found myself unexpectedly needing to do some product photography on a seamless background. I was amazed to find that this lens functioned quite handily as a macro lens. It was even more versatile than I’d thought.

• 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G AF-S ED VR. Introduced in June 2012 with a current affordable $500 price tag, and intended as a “cheap” full-frame lens for Nikon’s new low-end FX cameras like the D610, this zoom works just fine on a Nikon Z6. It’s shorter and lighter than the 24-120mm zoom.
• 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S ED VR. This is the closest thing Nikon offers to an “all-around” lens for F-mount and (adapted) Z-mount cameras. It’s shy of two pounds at 28 ounces, fairly compact, and features the second edition of Nikon’s vibration reduction technology. At a little less than $1,000, it’s fairly affordable, too.

Telephoto and Normal Lenses

The “normal” to medium telephoto range is useful for photojournalism and street photography in situations where you have room to back up and don’t want the apparent distortion that wider lenses can add when some elements are particularly close to the lens. Wide-angle and perspective distortion is just fine when you want to use it as a creative element, but if not, you’ll want to consider one of these lenses. They’re also good for portraits for the same reason: objects that are closer to the lens (such as human noses) aren’t rendered disproportionately large, with more distant objects (ears) too small (which can be the case with wide-angle lenses). Humans look more natural when photographed with lenses in this range, as longer lenses (150mm and above) tend to “flatten” faces and make them appear wider.

“Normal” is defined as focal lengths roughly equivalent to the diagonal of the image frame, which in the case of a full-frame camera is about 45mm (43.3mm precisely), and about 30mm on a DX camera like the Z6. The AFS-DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens would correspond to an inexpensive, non-FX normal lens for your camera. The FX lenses in this category qualify as normal for any full-frame camera that might be in your future, and should be considered short telephotos for your Z6. (Which makes them perfect as portrait lenses.)

• 50mm f/1.2 AI-S. I’m including this older-design, manual focus lens because quite a mystique has developed around so-called “super speed” optics, including the remarkable (and remarkably expensive) F-mount Nikon 58mm f/1.2 Noct (which can cost upward of $3,000 on the used market) and the upcoming Z-mount reboot with the $6,000 price tag. While both Nocts are sensational wide open, this one is merely good at f/1.2, but it’s quite usable (and really sharpens up by f/2) and a lot more affordable at around $700. If you must have the fastest lens available, consider this one. Given the very shallow depth-of-field at wide apertures, you probably would want to focus this one manually, anyway. I own one, and tend to use it more on my Nikon Df rather than with the Z6, because its true-retro design looks cool on the neo-retro Df.
• 50mm f/1.4G AF-S. This is the replacement for the D-version of this lens. It’s reasonably sharp, and costs more at around $450, but offers faster AF-S focusing. If you have a large collection of 52mm filters (which fit many old and new Nikon prime lenses), they won’t fit on this lens without a step-down ring. It takes the larger 58mm variety.
• 58mm f/1.4G AF-S. If you think that eight extra millimeters of focal length can’t possibly make this lens worth an extra grand more than its 50mm f/1.4 cousin described above, you’re missing the point. This one is, quite simply, one of the sharpest F-mount lenses Nikon offers, even wide open, besting its 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm f/1.4 stablemates at maximum aperture. That’s what you’ll be paying roughly $1,700 for, and if you’re a photojournalist or wedding photographer, you’ll think it’s worth it. Although it’s an AF-S lens, autofocus is a bit on the slow side. I already own an old 58mm f/1.4 manual focus Nikkor, and the two lenses have nothing in common—including filter size. My 1960s-era 58mm takes Nikon’s then-standard 52mm filters, and this one has a 72mm filter thread (not Nikon’s 77mm “pro” size).
• 50mm f/1.8G AF-S. Nikon updated the older D-version of this lens, adding an internal Silent Wave motor for faster focusing, deleting the useful aperture ring, and almost doubling the price to $220. This version makes sense for entry-level Nikon cameras, but is suitable for the Z6 only if you need a fast 50mm lens and can’t afford the tariff on the Z-mount version.

Medium to Long Telephoto

I tend to shoot either ultra-wide, with fisheyes or lenses (for landscapes, interiors, exteriors, street photography, and for perspective exaggeration), or use this medium-to-long telephoto focal length range (for portraits, sports, fashion, and isolating subjects using selective focus). Probably 80 percent of my images are made using lenses in one of those two categories. So, I tend to lump all the lenses in this group together in my mind. They all do about the same thing and, surprisingly, almost all equally well. Here are some brief descriptions of your choices:

• 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF. This is the low-end, bargain lens in the group, which can be found for a couple hundred bucks. It’s slow, lacks VR, but you can’t beat the versatility it gives you at this price.
• 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E AF-P ED VR. New in 2017, and now priced at about $600, this lens replaces the older 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR, which is still available for about $750. Either of these lenses are a better choice for most than the AF lens listed above, because they add AF-S focus and vibration reduction.
• 70-200mm f/2.8G ED AF-S VR II. Anyone who can afford this lens will never regret their purchase.
• 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR. If you’re looking for a telephoto zoom with a long focal length range, and have an extra $2,100 you don’t need, Nikon may tempt you with this optically improved version, more road-hugging weight in its large frame (47 ounces), closer focusing (about 5 feet vs. 7.5 feet), and flare-thwarting Super Nano Coat. Those in the prime of life willing to sling 5 pounds of Z6 and lens around their necks will find this to be a supremely versatile optic.

Medium Telephoto

One advantage of medium telephoto prime lenses is that they are all quite fast, with maximum apertures of f/1.4 to f/4, which makes them an excellent choice for portraits, sports, animals, and other subjects that don’t call for a really long lens. Their large f/stops are great for selective focus and allow you to use faster shutter speeds for hand-held shooting.

• 85mm f/1.4G AF-S. In its never-ending quest to upgrade its older AF lenses to AF-S, Nikon introduced this highly rated G version of the Cream Machine at $1,600. It’s excellent, and offers a bit more autofocus speed, but if you own the older lens, there’s no pressing reason to upgrade.
• 105mm f/1.4E ED AF-S. What a dream lens for the portrait shooter! I cut my teeth on a Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 manual focus lens many moons ago, and used it for most of the portraits I shot until I purchased the 85mm f/1.4 and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. This lens ($2,200) should go to the top of any people-shooting photographer’s wish list. It has superb sharpness wide open at f/1.4, great bokeh, and I find that its focal length is great for head-and-shoulders portraits when you want to defocus the background, or even part of your subject. (See Figure 7.15.) The tendency of this focal length to “flatten” faces isn’t noticeable with the type of subjects I shoot. It could be a good lens for intimate street photography and some sports, too.
• 300mm f/4D AF-S IF-ED. This lens isn’t really a “medium” telephoto, but it is a prime lens, and I didn’t want to toss it in with the more exotic lenses in the section that follows this one. I love this lens. Although I once shot sports professionally full-time, I only manage two or three events for each of my favorite sports these days (soccer, football, basketball, motor sports, hockey, volleyball, baseball, and track), and can’t justify keeping the wonderful 300mm f/2.8 lens in my collection. This one is a more reasonably priced ($1,000–$1,500) alternative. It works fine with my Nikon teleconverters, so I can transform it into a 420mm f/5.6 (with the 1.4X converter) or 510mm f/6.3 (1.7X teleconverter) with ease. You’ll probably use this lens mounted on a tripod or monopod most of the time, and, if so, you should be aware that the factory tripod mount flexes. I replaced mine with an improved mount from Kirk, and get sharper images.
• 300mm f/4E AF-S PF ED VR. We Nikon users are starting to get spoiled by the camera-freezing powers of vibration reduction, so the introduction of this replacement for the older 300mm f/4D lens was no surprise. Neither was the $2,000 price tag. VR makes this lens much more usable hand-held than its older sibling: you can often get shake-free images at 1/250th second or even slower, something generally not possible with the non-VR version.

Figure 7.15 A lens with an f/1.4 maximum aperture is perfect for portrait photography.

Exotic Long Lenses

These are the lenses that most of us borrow, or lust after, and usually end up purchasing a car or a house with the funds instead. I see photographer friends hefting the 500mm f/4 or 600mm f/4 around sporting events all the time, and as I watch them huff and puff my envy evaporates. But if you’re heavily involved in wildlife photography, sports, or double-naught spy activities, you can probably justify at least one of these. All are very fast, with constant maximum apertures of f/4 or better, feature the latest internal Silent Wave focus motors, and VR.

• 200-500mm f/5.6E ED AF-S VR. Given a focal length range that tops out at 500mm, this is theoretically an “exotic” long lens. But its $1,200 price puts this super-zoom within the reach of the average Nikon-loving spendthrift. It’s got vibration reduction (if you’re also using it on an F-mount camera), focuses down to 7.2 feet, and has a constant maximum aperture that doesn’t vary as you zoom from 200mm to 500mm. What’s not to like? Well, its largest f/stop—f/5.6—is the main fly in the ointment, limiting sports shooters to daytime photography in many cases. Its best f/stops are f/8 and f/11, and even with VR you’d want to use shutter speeds of 1/2,000th second or better (unless you’re after some subject motion blur to represent movement). That translates into typical settings of 1/2,000th second at f/11 and ISO 1000—in broad daylight. Wildlife photographers would probably want to use this lens mounted on a tripod, and low-light photography of any sort would call for higher ISO settings and/or a tripod. Even so, a 200-500mm zoom at this price is quite exciting, and is a reasonable substitute for the 200-400mm lens described next.
• 200-400mm f/4G AF-S ED VR II. This is an amazing lens, and one that a great many photographers who probably couldn’t justify a copy end up mortgaging their houses to buy (at around $7,000). At least, that’s what I glean from the forum postings by photographers who are agonizing over being forced to sell this lens to keep the wolf at bay. It’s sharp, more than 14 inches long and seven pounds in heft, and one of the most versatile lenses in this group for wildlife and sports photographers. And, it’s one of the few Nikon lenses that comes with its own “protective” filter, what Nikon calls a “dedicated protective glass” (which itself is furnished with a separate case). You can slip actual 52mm filters into a slot in the rear of the lens, though. The newest version, introduced in 2010, has the nano coating for reduced flare. This is another lens that almost demands a third-party replacement for the factory tripod collar. This lens is heavy enough that you’ll be using it on a tripod or monopod most of the time.
• 200mm f/2G AF-S ED VR II / 300mm f/2.8G AF-S VR II IF-ED. This pair of lenses is fast and primarily useful for sports photography under waning light conditions (both are a bit too short for wildlife in the wild). Priced in the $6,000 range, both are fast enough to be used with Nikon’s 1.4X, 1.7X, or 2X teleconverters.
• 400mm f/2.8E AF-S FL ED VR / 500mm f/4E FL ED VR / 600mm f/4E FL AF-S ED VR / 800mm f/5.6E ED VR. A set of these four lenses, all of the new E (electronic aperture control) type, will deduct more than $50,000 from your wallet, but they are the ultimate sports or wildlife lenses, or for capturing images of the Great Wall of China from the International Space Station. The 500mm and 600mm lenses are new versions introduced in 2015, replacing earlier models with similar performance (and price tags).

Perspective Control/Special Lenses

My first perspective control lens was a 35mm f/3.5 PC-Nikkor that I still own. It was manual focus, manual exposure, manual aperture, shifted but didn’t tilt, and I had to machine down part of the sliding mechanism so it wouldn’t bump against the metering head of my Nikon film camera. In those days, PC lenses were used primarily for architectural photography and some product photography to allow keeping the focal plane of the camera parallel with a subject to avoid a tilted/distorted effect.

Things have changed! Today shift/tilt photography is so popular that Nikon and other vendors are building a faux perspective/focus control capability right into the camera as a “Miniature Effect” retouching aid. While lenses like Nikon’s PC-E line are still useful for their original purpose—perspective control—I’ve seen some absolutely brilliant portrait and wedding photography that uses tilt/shift capabilities as a dreamy focus control. Wedding guru Parker Pfister comes to mind (although he’s a Canon guy; don’t hold it against him), but you can find this tool used everywhere you look. The lenses currently in the Nikon lineup are listed next, along with one additional “special” lens, an odd-ball fisheye that fit nowhere else in this chapter’s discussions. A new 19mm PC-E lens is rumored, but was not introduced at the time I wrote this book.

• 19mm f/4 PC-E ED. The latest addition to the Nikon perspective control line is this $3,400 19mm ultra-wide-angle lens. When applied to architectural applications, the wider the shift/tilt lens the better, and this one beats the previous Nikkor 24mm champ, described next. It shifts plus or minus 12mm, tilts plus/minus 7.5 degrees, and has a minimum focus distance of less than 10 inches.
• 24mm f/3.5D PC-E ED. Priced in the $2,200 range, this 24mm lens shifts plus or minus 11mm from side to side and plus or minus 8.5-degrees tilt. The mechanism rotates 90 degrees in two directions so you can apply the corrections/distortions from virtually any angle. It focuses down to about eight inches, so you can use its effects for close-ups and product/model photography. The big surprise for those who aren’t old-timers is that this can be used as a pre-set lens. You set the f/stop you want to use on a ring and focus with the lens wide open. Then, when you’re ready to shoot, press the aperture button and the lens stops down to the selected f/stop. However, Nikon has included an electronic auto aperture mechanism that can provide automatic stop-down with the Z6. The shifting/tilting mechanism precludes autofocus.
• 45mm f/2.8 PC-E ED Micro Nikkor. With the same amount of shifting/tilting available, this $2,000-plus lens (and its 85mm counterpart, next) is classified as a macro lens, focusing down to about 10 inches and providing a half-life-size image on the sensor.
• 85mm f/2.8D PC-E Micro Nikkor. This is the PC-E lens you’d want to use for your dreamy wedding portraits. Priced at about $2,000, it shifts and tilts the same amount as the other, and focuses down to 1.3 feet.
• 16mm f/2.8D AF Fisheye-Nikkor. Okay, I admit I’m the world’s most avid fisheye user. I owned Nikon’s exotic 7.5mm f/5.6 fisheye back in the days of film, and would have it today except that the lens required locking up the mirror and using an auxiliary viewfinder in a mode quite incompatible with any of Nikon’s digital cameras. (Nikon later introduced fisheyes that didn’t require mirror lock-up.) I still own Nikon’s 16mm f/3.5 manual focus/pre-AI fisheye, as well as a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom, a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 autofocus fisheye, and a Rokinon 12mm f/2.8 manual focus fisheye. This full-frame (non-circular image) autofocus model, which can be purchased for about $1,000, is probably the most practical of the bunch. It fills the FX frame with lines that exhibit a gloriously frightful amount of barrel distortion. When I travel overseas, I take along my two “main” lenses (17-35mm f/2.8 and 28-200G zoom) and a fisheye “fun” lens like this one.

Macro Lenses

Some telephotos and telephoto zooms available for the Nikon Z6 have particularly close focusing capabilities, making them macro lenses. Of course, the object is not necessarily to get close (get too close and you’ll find it difficult to light your subject). What you’re really looking for in a macro lens is to magnify the apparent size of the subject in the final image. Camera-to-subject distance is most important when you want to back up farther from your subject (say, to avoid spooking skittish insects or small animals). In that case, you’ll want a macro lens with a longer focal length to allow that distance while retaining the desired magnification. Nikon also makes a range of full-frame lenses that are officially designated as macro optics. The most popular include:

• AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED. This type-G lens supposedly replaces an older type-D lens, adding an internal Silent Wave autofocus motor that should operate faster. It also has ED lens elements for improved image quality. However, because it lacks an aperture ring, you can control the f/stop only when the lens is mounted directly on the camera or used with automatic extension tubes. Should you want to reverse a macro lens using a special adapter (the Nikon BR2-A ring) to improve image quality or mount it on a bellows, you’re better off with a lens having an aperture ring. This lens is an excellent choice if you want to capture 35mm slides using the Nikon ES-2 film digitizing adapter, which, as I write this, has been sent back to the factory, but may be available in 2019 when this book is published. It’s been rumored that this macro lens itself is being revamped and will be replaced in the not-too-distant future.
• AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED. This G-series lens did replace a similar D-type, non-AF-S version that also lacked VR. I own the older lens, too, and am keeping it because I find VR a rather specialized tool for macro work. Some 99 percent of the time, I shoot close-ups with my Z6 mounted on a tripod or, at the very least, on a monopod, so camera vibration is not much of a concern. Indeed, subject movement is a more serious problem, especially when shooting plant life outdoors on days plagued with even slight breezes. Because my outdoor subjects are likely to move while I am composing my photo, I find both VR and autofocus not very useful. I end up focusing manually most of the time, too. This lens provides a little extra camera-to-subject distance, so you’ll find it very useful, but consider the older non-G, non-VR version, too, if you’re in the market and don’t mind losing vibration reduction features.
• AF Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D IF-ED. With a price tag of about $1,800, you’d probably want this lens only if you planned a great deal of close-up shooting at greater distances. It focuses down to 1.6 feet, and is manual focus only with the Z6, but provides enough magnification to allow interesting close-ups of subjects that are farther away. A specialized tool for specialized shooting.
• PC Micro-Nikkor 85mm f/2.8D. Priced about $2,000, this is a manual focus lens (on any camera; it doesn’t offer autofocus features) that has both tilt and shift capabilities, so you can adjust the perspective of the subject as you shoot. The tilt feature lets you “tilt” the plane of focus, providing the illusion of greater depth-of-field, while the shift capabilities make it possible to shoot down on a subject from an angle and still maintain its correct proportions. If you need one of these for perspective control, you already know it; if you’re still wondering how you’d use one, you probably have no need for these specialized capabilities. However, I have recently watched some very creative fashion and wedding photographers use this lens for portraits, applying the tilting features to throw parts of the image wildly out of focus to concentrate interest on faces, and so forth. None of these are likely pursuits of the average Nikon Z6 photographer, but I couldn’t resist mentioning this interesting lens.