Introduction top
Compared
|
B&H Photo — Video — Pro Audio I buy only from . I can’t vouch for below. |
This Nikon Z 24~50mm is a tiny lens with great performance. Its pictures are flawlessly sharp, it handles wonderfully, collapses for carrying and focuses super fast. It’s almost entirely made of plastic in China.
It goes from sort of wide to normal, which is boring, but seeing how it’s not much bigger than a lens cap, if you want to travel light, here’s your lens.
Yes, it’s slow (f/4~6.3), but that’s what we get when we demand this level of optical performance in a lens this tiny. Unlike DSLRs which need faster lenses to ensure bright finder images, unless you’re trying to shoot handheld under moonlight, lens speeds don’t matter much anymore with mirrorless.
I got my 24-50mm at B&H. I’d also get mine at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
New
Nikon claims it’s the smallest and lightest full-frame mirrorless zoom, ever, otherwise,
Nothing else new; Nikon made an AF and then AF-D 24-50mm f/3.3-4.5 from 1987-2005, and no one noticed. Nikon also made the world’s first ultrawide zoom, the manual-focus 25-50mm f/4, from 1979-1985. Each of these lenses is so boring that even though I’ve owned them both for decades, I’ve never gotten around to reviewing either of them.
Collapses for carrying.
Programmable control ring.
Tiny.
Sharp.
Compact.
Weightless.
Bad
Offshored to China; not made domestically in Japan.
Plastic mount.
Pathetically small zoom range.
Overpriced for a Chinese plastic throw-away lens.
Canon makes a full-frame mirrorless lens with double the zoom range, a metal mount and responsibly made in a developed, free country for the same price.
Help Me Help You
I support my growing family through this website, as crazy as it might seem.
The biggest help is when you use any of when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and is this site’s, and thus my family’s, biggest source of support. These places always have the best prices and service, which is why I’ve used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.
If you find this page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.
If you’ve gotten your gear through one of my or helped otherwise, you’re family. It’s great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!
If you haven’t helped yet, please do, and consider helping me with a gift of $5.00.
As this page is copyrighted and formally registered, it is unlawful to make copies, especially in the form of printouts for personal use. If you wish to make a printout for personal use, you are granted one-time permission only if you PayPal me $5.00 per printout or part thereof. Thank you!
Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.
Home
Donate
New
Search
Gallery
Reviews
How‑To
Books
Links
Workshops
About
Contact
Recommendations top
Compared
I got my 24-50mm at B&H. I’d also get mine at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Although cheaply made in China and priced high, this 24-50mm is a very sharp, fast focussing and compact lens. It’s intended as an ultralight carry everywhere lens, and works brilliantly for this.
If you want even smaller, consider the wider-range Z DX 16-50mm and use it on the Z50.
I use a 52mm clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap so I’m always ready to shoot instantly. I only use a cap when I throw this in a bag with other gear without padding — which is never. The UV filter never gets in the way, and never gets lost, either.
The very best protective filter is the Multicoated Hoya HD3 52mm UV which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints. It’s expensive, but it will last forever long after this lens is gone.
For less money, the most classic filter to use on a Nikon lens is of course the Nikon 52mm NC. The B＋W 52mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated B＋W, the multicoated Hoya filters and even the most basic Hoya multicoated filter, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best.
Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD3 stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.
If I was working in nasty, dirty areas, I’d forget the cap, and use an uncoated 52mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting.
All these filters are just as sharp and take the same pictures, the difference is how much abuse they’ll take and stay clean and stay in one piece.
This 100% all-content website’s biggest source of support is when you use those or any of when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Nikon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on since you’ll have no way of knowing if you’re missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, , store demo or used plastic lens. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.
Thanks for helping me help you!
Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.
Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Specifications top
Compared
I got my 24-50mm at B&H. I’d also get mine at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or eventually used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Name
Nikon calls this the Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3:
NIKKOR: Nikon’s brand name for all their lenses.
Z: For Nikon’s mirrorless cameras.
Also has:
Stepper (Pulse) autofocus motor: silent and ultra fast.
Specially curved glass elements for sharper pictures.
Couples distance information to the 3D Matrix Meter.
for silent operation.
Magic Extra-low Dispersion glass for reduced secondary chromatic aberration.
Internal focusing; nothing moves externally as focused.
; has no aperture ring.
SIC: Nikon Super Integrated multicoating.
∅52: 52mm filter thread.
Optics
Nikon Z 24-50mm internal optical construction. Aspherical andED elements.
11 elements in 10 groups.
3 aspherical elements.
2 EDextra-low dispersion elements, which help reduce secondary axial chromatic aberration.
Nikon Super Integrated multicoating (SIC).
Nikon Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3. bigger.
7 rounded blades.
Electronically actuated.
Focal Length
24-50mm.
When used on an APS-C camera, it sees the same angle of view as a 35-70 mm lens sees when used on a full-frame or 35mm camera.
84º ～ 47º diagonal on FX.
61º ～ 31.5º diagonal on DX.
2.9″ ø maximum diameter × 2.1″ extension from flange.
73.5 mm ø maximum diameter × 51 mm extension from flange.
6.785 oz. (192.4 g) actual measured weight.
Rated 6.9 oz. (195 g).
Nikon’s Model Number
Price, U. S. A.
About $175 used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
July 2020 ~ July 2021
Sample Images top
Compared
More samples at , , , and .
These are just snapshots; my real work is in my Gallery.
These are all shot as BASIC ★ JPGs; NORMAL or FINE JPGs or RAW files were used or needed.
Iron Christmas, 3:20 PM, 29 November 2020. Nikon Z5, Nikon SB-400 flash, Nikon Z 24-50mm at 24mm at f/10 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation (LV 14.3), Perfectly Clear, perspective correction in Photoshop CS6. bigger, full resolution or camera-original JPG file.
Brilliant, sharp colorful images. For what more could you ask? Nikon’s perfect-for-mirrorless SB-400 flash helps emphasize the foreground wreath, which otherwise would have been in shadow. Of course any compatible (made in the past 10 or 15 years ) gives the same result.
Red 1961 Corvette, 3:51 PM, 30 November 2020. Nikon Z5, Nikon SB-400 flash, Nikon Z 24-50mm at 50mm at f/11 at 1/50 at Auto ISO 200 (LV 11.6), as shot. bigger or full resolution.
Nikon’s perfect-for-mirrorless SB-400 flash emphasizes the front of the Corvette (which otherwise was in shadow) and suggests a flaming comet fireball.
Moonrise, Seven Palms Oasis, 6:23 PM, 30 November 2020. Nikon Z5, Nikon Z 24-50mm at 24mm at f/4 for 30 seconds at ISO 125 (LV -1¼), 3,200K white balance, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original JPG file.
You can see the moonlight glinting off the palm fronds! For what better low-light performance could you possibly ask? , while the images are great.
Desert Turquoise, 12:22 PM, 01 December 2020. Nikon Z5, Nikon Z 24-50mm at 30mm at f/11 at 1/500 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 15.9), as shot. bigger or full resolution.
Even with my colors amped-up (VIVID Picture Control with +3 Saturation) I get accurate, meaningful renditions of difficult and subtle colors as in this turquoise building.
Bougainvillea Gone Wild, 12:24 PM, 01 December 2020. Nikon Z5, Nikon Z 24-50mm at 31.5mm at f/9 at 1/320 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 14⅔), as shot. bigger or camera-original JPG file.
I love what comes right out of my Nikons as JPGs, no need to «fix» or fiddle afterwards. I need my images to be client-deliverable right out of my camera.
Twin Arches, 12:37 PM, 01 December 2020. Nikon Z5, Nikon Z 24-50mm at 33mm at f/10 at 1/400 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 15.3), Perfectly Clear. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original JPG file.
Railing, Light and Shadow, 12:41 PM, 01 December 2020. Nikon Z5, Nikon Z 24-50mm at 35mm at f/8 at 1/250 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 14.0), perspective correction and other artistic interpretation in Photoshop CS6. bigger or camera-original JPG file.
