Nikon NIKKOR Z 28mm f/2.8 SE

I bought this lens for my Nikon z5, it makes it neat with a slight retro look which I like. A nice quality feel lens, immediate silence autofocus and very sharpe images with great colour rendering. It’s a shame Nikon doesn’t make a 50mm pancake in the same style.

Good Points: Very light lens. Excellent performance for the price point.

Good Points: The authentic look and lightweight Improvement Points: I.S

I wanted to try a compact Z system with the 28 and 40mm lenses but ended up sending everything back because of the lenses. Neither the 28 or the 40mm impressed me. Of course I didn't expected perfect optical quality for the price but these lenses were a step beyond anything I've used on full frame. The 28mm is light, build quality seems good enough for the price and sharpness was acceptable in the center but it had noticeable decentering, blurry edges even stopped down and colors looked dull. It's a small affordable lens, but I was deceived by image quality. It's worse than a basic 50mm f/1,8G and worse than the Voigtlander 28mm f/2,8 which is sharper and has much better colors and contrast. I thought about sample variation but the 40mm I got at the same time was also quite poor. I think it doesn't make sense to buy an expensive Z body to use with these lenses. Those performances would be acceptable from a $100 third party glass but not from Nikon, even if the price is attractive.

The Nikon Nikkor Z 28mm F2.8 lens sacrifices a bit of build quality to meet a reasonable asking price, but it captures pleasing images and offers lots of value.