Nikon NIKKOR Z 28 75mm F 2 8 Review | 54 Data compared

The Photography Life review of the Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8 highlights the lens as a lightweight, affordable f/2.8 alternative that delivers excellent central sharpness, low distortion, and fast autofocus, making it a strong contender for travel and everyday shooting. Its strengths lie in a bright, constant aperture, compact design (565g), and robust weather sealing, particularly when found at a competitive price. However, the lens compromises on features, starting at 28mm rather than 24mm, and suffering from weak corner sharpness at longer focal lengths, busy bokeh, and poor flare resistance due to its based-on-older-design construction. It also lacks physical controls, including a dedicated AF/M switch or custom buttons, with the initial high launch price noted as a disadvantage.

The Nikon Nikkor Z 28-75mm f/2.8 is an affordable, lightweight alternative to traditional 24-70mm "trinity" lenses, offering a constant f/2.8 aperture and near S-line performance at virtually half the price. While the quirky focal length sacrifices some wide-angle coverage, it grants a bit of extra telephoto reach, which delivers excellent subject separation for portraits and sports photography. Optically, the lens boasts sensational center-frame sharpness across all focal lengths and apertures, minimal color fringing, and highly contained focus breathing, making it an excellent dual-purpose choice for both photographers and videographers. Furthermore, its quick, snappy, and quiet autofocus tracking easily keeps up with demanding, fast-paced action under dim lighting conditions. Despite these stellar attributes, the lens exhibits a few notable drawbacks. It lacks built-in image stabilization and a distance scale, relying instead on the camera's in-body stabilization for compensation. From a structural standpoint, its build feels noticeably less rugged and substantial than its premium S-line siblings, though it does feature weather sealing. Optically, corner sharpness is borderline disappointing when shooting wide open and requires stopping down to at least f/8 to become...

The Nikon Z 28-75mm f2.8 is a highly recommended, lightweight standard zoom lens for Nikon's mirrorless lineup, strategically positioned between the entry-level Z 24-70mm f4 S and the high-end Z 24-70mm f2.8 S. Priced at 990 EUR / 1197 USD, this non-S lens is based on the original Tamron first-generation optical design and cuts costs and weight dramatically, saving 30% (241g) over the professional Z 24-70mm f2.8 S. Notable strengths include full weather sealing, a fluorine front coating, a very close minimum focusing distance with 1:2.9 magnification at 28mm, and incredibly quiet autofocus operation during video. Testing also revealed excellent autofocus repeatability (99.3%) and minimal focus breathing.

The Nikon Nikkor Z 28-75mm f/2.8 is a lightweight, budget-friendly standard zoom lens designed for full-frame Nikon Z-mount cameras, earning a 4 out of 5-star rating. Priced under £1,000, it serves as a highly accessible alternative to the premium 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens for everyday walkaround use and travel. Key strengths include its fast, bright f/2.8 maximum aperture, which delivers excellent background bokeh and shallow depth-of-field effects. It features a lightweight 565g plastic build with a durable metal mount, internal focusing, and a customisable control ring. In performance tests, the lens delivered fast, quiet, and reliable autofocusing, making it particularly quiet and efficient during video recording. However, the lower price point requires several notable compromises. Unlike other Nikon Z standard zooms, its wide end is restricted to 28mm rather than a more versatile 24mm. Lacking the premium "S" designation, it omits specialized optical coatings like Nano Crystal and ARNEO, which leaves it vulnerable to ghosting and flare when shooting directly into the sun. There are no external buttons or switches on the bare lens barrel, meaning users must toggle AF/MF...

The ePHOTOzine review highlights the Nikon Nikkor Z 28-75mm f/2.8 as a lightweight, weather-sealed, and competitively priced standard zoom for Z-mount cameras, offering outstanding sharpness, fast AF, and excellent close-focusing capabilities. While delivering superb, low-distortion images with gorgeous bokeh, the lens relies on software for raw distortion correction and becomes somewhat front-heavy at 75mm.

The Imaging Resource review highlights the Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8 as a lightweight (565g), budget-friendly, constant f/2.8 aperture standard zoom, offering fast autofocus (STM) and good central sharpness, with a close 0.19m minimum focus at the wide end. It is praised for its compact, weather-sealed design (with fluorine coating) that provides excellent all-day carry convenience compared to S-line alternatives. Conversely, the lens compromises on build and features by omitting physical AF/MF switches and L.Fn buttons, and the zoom starts at a less-versatile 28mm rather than 24mm. While optically sound, it lacks the extreme edge-to-edge sharpness and superior bokeh of higher-end optics, making it a pragmatic choice for cost-conscious photographers.

The Nikon Nikkor Z 28-75mm F2.8 is a value-oriented standard zoom lens designed for Nikon’s mirrorless system that balances a bright aperture with a compact, carry-friendly design. Priced at $1,199.95, it is built with high-quality composite materials featuring dust, splash, and fluorine protections, weighing in at a manageable 1.2 pounds. On the test bench, the lens delivers crisp f/2.8 optics with strong contrast and sharp center resolution that peaks when stopped down to f/8. It is equipped with a quiet stepping autofocus motor that exhibits minimal focus breathing, making it well-suited for video work. Furthermore, it boasts an impressive 1:2.9 macro focus capability, allowing close-up shooting down to 7.6 inches at its widest focal length. To help tailor further imaging recommendations, it would be useful to know a few more details about your workflow. What specific camera body will you be pairing this lens with? What is your primary subject matter (e.g., portraits, travel, video, or landscapes)? Do you already own alternative lenses in this focal range?

The Nikon 28-75mm f/2.8 is an unexpectedly announced mid-range zoom lens featuring an optical design licensed from Tamron's first-generation model. It features a lightweight design weighing only 19.9 ounces (565g) and high aesthetic build quality with weather sealing. On the positive side, the lens delivers center sharpness that rivals the premium 24-70mm f/2.8 S at all focal lengths, and offers a fast, constant f/2.8 aperture in a body much lighter and cheaper than its S-line counterpart. It handles complex scenes and high-contrast environments well, performs strong at the telephoto end starting at f/4, and is well-controlled against flare. However, the lens comes with several clear compromises that separate it from top-tier native Z lenses. Its optical drawbacks include noticeable softness and fuzzy rendering in the extreme outer corners—especially between 28mm and 50mm—as well as prominent mustache-type barrel distortion, longitudinal chromatic aberration, and over 2.5 stops of vignetting wide open. Furthermore, out-of-focus highlights exhibit a busy, "onion-ring" bokeh structure rather than smooth rendering. It is also poorly suited for video work due to significant focus breathing and a non-parfocal design. While...

According to Ken Rockwell, the Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8 is a lightweight, affordable, and optically excellent mid-range zoom, offering sharp results with fast autofocus, great bokeh, and impressive close-focusing capabilities. While it performs well, the lens lacks a dedicated physical AF/MF switch and a physical focus ring, and its 28mm wide end provides less coverage than a standard 24mm lens.

The Nikon Nikkor Z 28-75mm F2.8 standard zoom lens is a value-oriented choice for Nikon Z-mount mirrorless cameras, earning a "Good" 3.5-star rating due to its mix of bright optics and affordable pricing compared to top-tier alternatives. Optically, the lens performs well, delivering crisp f/2.8 image quality that gathers twice as much light as f/4 variants, making it highly versatile for low-light conditions and creating smoothly blurred backgrounds. Additional strengths include a carry-friendly, lightweight build (1.2 lbs), quiet autofocus with minimal focus breathing for video, and physical weather sealing complete with a dust, splash, and anti-smudge fluorine coating. It also features impressive 1:2.9 macro capabilities, focusing as close as 7.6 inches at the wide end. If you'd like to explore alternative options, let me know if you prefer a wider focal range (like a 24-120mm), a lens with faster autofocus performance, or a specific budget target for your gear.

The LensTip.com review of the Nikon Nikkor Z 28-75 mm f/2.8 highlights it as a highly affordable, very good alternative to the premium Nikkor Z 24-70 mm f/2.8 S, priced about two times lower at roughly $900. Optically, the tester notes a striking resemblance and probable inspiration from the first version of Tamron's 28-75 mm lens. On the positive side, the lens delivers excellent image quality in the frame centre across its entire focal range, alongside sensible image quality and slight vignetting on APS-C/DX sensors. It also boasts properly corrected lateral chromatic aberration, negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration, freedom from serious astigmatism, and a fast, quiet, and accurate autofocus system. However, the reviewer points out several optical compromises where Nikon seemingly favored cost savings over maximum performance. The primary drawbacks include disappointing image quality on the edges of full-frame sensors and high vignetting when shooting full frame. Additionally, the lens suffers from too much coma and its performance against bright light leaves a lot to be desired, making it prone to flares and ghosting artifacts. Ultimately, LensTip concludes that while Nikon...

Despite these advantages, the lens comes with several optical compromises to maintain its lower price. It experiences noticeable softness in the outer corners of full-frame images and can produce nervous background bokeh. Strong flare and ghosting can also become an issue when a light source is placed near the middle of the frame. Furthermore, users looking for true wide-angle capabilities may find the 28mm starting focal length limiting, as it misses out on 4mm at the short end compared to traditional 24-70mm lenses, restricting the angle of view by 9 degrees.