{"id":12014,"date":"2023-09-05T12:22:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T17:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=12014"},"modified":"2023-09-05T12:22:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T17:22:52","slug":"review-nikon-nikkor-z-24-120mm-f-4-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-nikon-nikkor-z-24-120mm-f-4-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Nikon Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An f\/4 standard zoom has been an essential part of any system’s lineup for several decades now. Canon had their FD 28-85mm f\/4 from 1985. Nikon had a manual focus 24-50mm f\/4 starting way back in 1979. As zoom designs became more modern, the f\/4 standard zoom has expanded in range, with Canon settling on the 24-105mm range for its f\/4 zooms, while Nikon pushed out to 120mm, first with the AF-S 24-120mm f\/4 in 2010 and then leading directly to today’s reviewed lens, the Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S. Nikon has put the S-line badge on this lens, which it uses for high-end lenses on the Z system, but these wider range f\/4 zooms often have some compromises beyond just the f\/4 aperture. Has Nikon managed to buck that trend? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Nikon Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. \u00a0You won\u2019t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. \u00a0There are plenty of other sites that cover those. \u00a0I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool in real-world shooting.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction and Handling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nikon’s Z series lenses have a specific aesthetic, with a dark matte black finish that is simple, yet professional. The 24-120mm f\/4 S is constructed of a mix of metal and plastic, with a metallic ring at the base of the lens featuring the S-Line’s signature subtle silver accent. The remainder of the lens barrel is a high-quality polycarbonate with a slightly rough texture. The rear control ring is made of metal, while the zoom and focus rings have rubber grips. The overall impression of the lens is one of quality, as the 24-120mm f\/4S is very tightly assembled and solid, with no flex in any of the plastic coverings and no play in any of the rings. Like all S-Line lenses, the 24-120mm is weathersealed against dust and moisture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S on the Nikon Z8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Z 24-120mm f\/4 S is moderately sized for a lens of this range. It’s about a centimeter longer than Canon’s RF 24-105mm f\/4L, and roughly the same diameter as that lens. However, the Nikon 24-120mm f\/4 S is also moderate in weight for its size, at around 640g (60g lighter than the Canon). The lens extends significantly when zooming towards the long end, on a double-tube extension. While I am somewhat wary of two tube extending zooms, the 24-120mm is very solid, with absolutely no wobble or play in the lens, even at 120mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Z 24-120mm f\/4 S extends when zooming to 120mm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The focus ring turns smoothly with a nicely damped resistance, and the rear control ring turns without clicks and with a heavier damping. I do wish Nikon would add clicks to their control rings, as I find that the lack of tactile feedback makes them difficult to use for changing lens parameters with any degree of precision, and it also makes them prone to accidental changes. I have the dedicated control rings turned off on all my Nikon lenses that have them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The zoom ring moves smoothly, but with higher resistance than one might expect. This makes it harder to make very fast zoom changes, but does prevent any lens creep. Overall, I find the build of the Z 24-120mm f\/4 S to be on a very high level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S with its included lens hood in place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lens comes with a plastic petal-shaped lens hood with the same matte black finish as the exterior of the lens barrel. The hood locks on securely (and perhaps with a bit too much resistance to lock it in place) and reverses for storage. Along the side of the lens are two controls: a switch for changing between autofocus and manual focus, as well as a lens function button, which can be programmed to a number of options in the camera settings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autofocus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Z 24-120mm f\/4 S features dual stepping motors that are near silent and quite quick. There are faster autofocus motors out there, but the 24-120mm is still quite snappy. Accuracy has been excellent in my testing. The lens is also able to track action fairly well, even on lower end bodies like the Z5. I have absolutely no complaints about the focus performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Running – Nikon Z5 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S @ 120mm, f\/4, 1\/2500s, ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The lens can focus down to a rather impressive 0.35m throughout the focus range, yielding 0.39x magnification at 120mm, allowing the lens to also pull duty as a near-macro lens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing missing from the 24-120mm is an optical stabilizer, as the lens relies on the in-body VR found in the majority of Nikon’s mirrorless cameras. I found the IBIS to work well with this lens, so I don’t really miss the optical VR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Image Quality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Until now, the best f\/4 expanded range standard zoom I’d used was Canon’s RF 24-105mm f\/4L<\/a>. That lens was an excellent overall performer, with good sharpness, nice color and contrast and a very convenient range. The Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S has an even larger 5x zoom range, and while 15mm at the long end doesn’t sound like a lot, in use it meant that I had to reach for a telephoto lens less often. I was also surprised to find the Z 24-120mm to be a little better than the Canon with regards to image quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharpness<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On the whole, the 24-120mm f\/4 S is a very sharp lens. Starting right at f\/4, the lens shows very good to excellent sharpness across the majority of the frame, at all focal lengths. The edges and corners are a little softer here as you’d expect, but still decent. Stopping down brings the center to excellent levels and the edges and even corners to very good levels of sharpness. Only at 24mm in the extreme corners are things just a touch softer, but I’ve found that with a stable platform, even there, corner sharpness is completely usable. Below is an image at 27mm and f\/9 on the Nikon Z8. Click here for a full size version<\/a> (and click to zoom in to 1:1.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Columbus in the Morning – Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 24-120mm f\/4 S @ 27mm, f\/9, 1\/125s, ISO 64<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s worth noting that the lens retains very good sharpness even near its minimum focus distance, so if you do use the 24-120mm for close up work, you’ll be pleased with reasults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bokeh<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Moderate aperture standard zooms are not usually the lens that one picks for subject isolation, but especially with a 120mm focal length, one can certainly get blurred backgrounds with this lens. Overall, I think the 24-120mm f\/4S does a very nice job with how it renders out of focus areas. Bokeh is predominantly smooth and pleasing. Specular highlights are mostly evenly lit, though a bit of a bright ring can creep in towards the long end of the zoom range. Perhaps the most objectional thing about the bokeh is that mechanical vignetting on specular highlights near the corners can take on a bit of an odd gumdrop shape. However, overall, the lens performs quite well with regards to bokeh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hibiscus – Nikon Z7 II with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S @ 120mm, f\/4, 1\/100s, ISO 100<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Color, Contrast and Chromatic Aberration<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The 24-120mm f\/4 S shows excellent levels of contrast throughout the aperture range, and that’s maintained even close up. The lens shows clear tonal separation without being too heavy-handed. Color is also excellent, with no obvious color casts, and rich color throughout the focal range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 24-120mm can show slight traces of lateral chromatic aberration that are very easily corrected in any RAW conversion software. Longitudinal CA is very well controlled, with essentially no color fringing visible in front or behind the focus point. However, in one weak spot, the lens can show purple fringing on high-contrast backlit edges, such as bright sky through tree branches. Interestingly, this shows up more prominently when developing with Lightroom than it does with Capture One. In Capture One, the standard Chromatic Aberration correction completely corrects any purple fringing automatically. It’s still correctable in Lightroom fairly easily, but must be done manually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distortion, Flare and Vignetting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Like most wide-range standard zoom lenses, the 24-120mm f\/4 S has somewhat significant distortion at the extremes of the zoom range, though most users will never see it. Distortion corrections are turned on by default in the camera, and they can’t be disabled. The correction profile is also baked into the RAW file, so Lightroom users have no option do disable it. As such, for most people, they will see essentially perfectly corrected lines. Opening files in Capture One and disabling corrections, however, shows the 24-120mm to display moderate to high barrel distortion at the wide end, and relatively high pincushion distortion at the long end. Thankfully, the profiles correct these well enough to not be a bother, and sharpness remains high even after correction, so in all, it’s not much of an issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pickerington Ponds at dawn – Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S @ 120mm, f\/16, 1\/200s, ISO 64<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A lot of standard zoom lenses like this show pretty mediocre performance with regards to flare, but the Nikon 24-120mm f\/4 S puts in a great performance here. Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coatings are not just marketing fluff, as the 24-120mm shows virtually no flaring or ghosting in almost all situations. There is a slight reduction in contrast surrounding the bright light source, but the rest of the frame is unaffected. Ghosting is also almost completely absent, except when the sun is in a very specific position at certain focal lengths, where some small multicolored ghosts can appear. Even in these situations, it’s unobtrusive. Such performance makes the 24-120mm very well suited to landscape photography. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like distortion, vignetting is taken care of with a built-in profile. However, this profile doesn’t have to do a lot of heavy lifting, as native vignetting is mild to moderate throughout the zoom range, except at 24mm and wide open, where it’s a little more significant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the Nikkor Z 24-120mm f\/4 S shows a very strong optical performance, especially considering the wider than average zoom range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pros<\/h4>\n\n\n\n