Nikon NIKKOR Z 85mm F 1 8 S Review | 54 Data compared

The Photography Life review deems the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S an optical marvel, highlighting its exceptional center sharpness, vibrant color rendering, and smooth bokeh at f/1.8, alongside fast, accurate autofocus. While physically robust and fully weather-sealed, the lens is noted for its increased size and weight compared to its F-mount predecessor, utilizing a plastic barrel construction, and exhibiting noticeable wide-open vignetting.

The Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S is a highly dependable, weather-sealed portrait prime lens that balances professional-grade build quality with manageable handling at 470g. Optically, the lens excels by delivering extreme sharpness wide open at f/1.8, exceptional micro-contrast, and neutral, accurate colors without any color shifting. Its 9-blade rounded diaphragm produces exceptionally smooth, clean bokeh with round highlights and minimal onion-ring patterns. Additionally, it features a fast, virtually silent autofocus system that locks on confidently in challenging backlight, boasts excellent flare resistance via Nano Crystal coatings, and offers a surprisingly close minimum focusing distance of 0.8 meters for tight detail framing. On the downside, the reviewer notes that the lens is a bit of an "ugly duckling" due to a long, relatively narrow barrel design that looks slightly odd compared to more compact, traditional 85mm primes. There is also a small amount of vignetting when shooting wide open at f/1.8, though it is easily correctable in editing software, and the lens produces typical "cat's-eye" bokeh shapes toward the very edges of the frame. Despite these minor quirks, the lens represents...

The Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S is a highly recommended moderate telephoto portrait lens for Nikon's full-frame Z-mount system that delivers exceptional optical performance. Its primary strengths include very high sharpness and resolution across the entire frame straight from its maximum f/1.8 aperture, which improves to excellent levels at f/4 and f/5.6. The lens offers very well-controlled lateral chromatic aberrations, fast and quiet autofocus via a stepping motor, and a sturdy dust- and moisture-sealed build primarily made of aluminum. Furthermore, it features a smooth background bokeh with evenly filled out-of-focus highlights and a customizable, electronic control ring. However, the review highlights several downsides, including visible native vignetting of about 1.5 stops at f/1.8 that is not fully resolved even by the camera's "high" in-camera correction setting. It also exhibits minor focus shifting due to residual spherical aberration when stopping down, alongside typical longitudinal chromatic aberration (bokeh fringing) at wide apertures. Mechanically, its out-of-focus highlight circles deteriorate toward the image edges, and the aperture blades unexpectedly become visible at f/4, causing highlights to lose their circular shape. Finally, the lens produces...

Ken Rockwell calls the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S "Nikon’s highest-performance 85mm lens of all time," citing near-perfect corner-to-corner sharpness at f/1.8 that rivals expensive manual-focus optics. The lens offers premium, pro-tier optics, a silent, fast stepper autofocus motor, and a durable, weather-sealed design with a 9-rounded-blade electronic diaphragm. Ken Rockwell However, the lens is noted for being the largest and heaviest f/1.8 85mm in Nikon's history, prioritizing performance over compact portability. It features a primarily plastic exterior barrel and is made in China, which contrasts with older, metal-constructed Japanese lenses, along with minor instances of focus breathing.

The Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S is an excellent short telephoto prime lens designed for the Z mirrorless camera system, offering outstanding edge-to-edge optical resolution and sharpness even when shooting wide open at f/1.8. Priced at $799.99, it provides photographers with a pleasingly shallow depth of field and beautiful, smooth defocused highlights due to its circular aperture design. The lens features quick, quiet autofocus, robust dust and splash protection, and a close focusing distance of 2.6 feet, which yields an 1:8.3 life-size magnification ratio. While the lens lacks internal optical stabilization, it pairs efficiently with the stabilized image sensors found in Nikon’s full-frame camera bodies like the Z 6 and Z 7. Despite its high-quality construction and stellar photographic performance, the lens has notable drawbacks, particularly for videographers and manual control users. A primary complaint is that the control ring system is overly sensitive, causing accidental setting adjustments from minor friction against clothing and making intentional adjustments jump too drastically. Additionally, Nikon omitted a grease-repelling fluorine coating on the exposed front element, which is otherwise expected for premium lenses...

The Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S is a highly capable full-frame portrait prime lens designed for the Z-mount system, showing strong performance even on demanding high-resolution bodies like the Nikon Z 7. On the positive side, the lens delivers impressive optical quality with natural-looking bokeh, no curvilinear distortion, and effective handling of chromatic aberrations via its embedded profile. Its dual-unit synchronised autofocus system operates quickly, smoothly, and silently, which proves highly effective for eye-detection portraiture and video recording. Mechanically, it boasts weather-sealed construction, a smooth and customizable control ring, and an 80cm minimum focus distance that allows for tight framing. However, the lens lacks optical image stabilization, meaning users pairing it with non-stabilized bodies like the DX-format Z 50 will need to maintain fast shutter speeds to prevent handshake blur. Additionally, it omits premium structural features found on other high-end primes, such as a focus distance window, an L-Fn button, or an electronic display panel. While it shows excellent peak sharpness across the frame when stopped down between f/5.6 and f/8, it suffers from vignetting at its maximum f/1.8...

The Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S is a highly praised, short-telephoto prime lens built specifically for Nikon's mirrorless Z-mount system. It serves as an excellent workhorse lens for portrait, wedding, fashion, and event photographers. Its standout pro features include phenomenal and impeccable center sharpness, especially when shooting between f/2.8 and f/8, as well as exceptionally minimal chromatic aberration and distortion. Additionally, its lightning-fast autofocus system and customizable focus ring—which can control exposure compensation or aperture—make it highly versatile for both photographers and videographers. Despite its high marks, the review identifies a few drawbacks to consider. On the con side, some users might find it a bit heavy and bulky at 470g, which actually makes it heavier than its older DSLR F-mount equivalent. Photographers looking for an ultra-wide f/1.4 aperture may also be disappointed, as the lens maxes out at f/1.8, though the review notes this choice keeps the size manageable and still delivers a beautifully shallow depth-of-field. Lastly, while it is reasonably priced compared to higher-end Z-mount zooms, it remains a notable financial investment that could be cheaper for a...

The ePHOTOzine review awards the Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S an "Editor's Choice" rating for its outstanding, high-resolution sharpness across the frame from f/1.8 to f/16 and virtually zero chromatic aberration. This dust- and moisture-resistant lens offers silent, custom-programmable, and lightweight performance at a premium, justifying its price with exceptional image quality rather than maximum aperture speed. The primary drawback identified is its high price point for an f/1.8 lens, alongside a 0.8m minimum focus distance that offers only modest macro capability. Nevertheless, the review deems the performance, which includes excellent flare resistance, as worth the investment.

Despite its strengths, the lens has several notable drawbacks that may impact specific shooting scenarios. For videographers, it exhibits a significant 13% increase in magnification when pulling focus, indicating very visible focus breathing, and the non-linear gearing of the control ring makes smooth manual focus pulling nearly impossible. Optically, the extreme corners remain somewhat soft at infinity unless the lens is stopped down substantially. Furthermore, its close-up magnification ratio of 1:7.2 is disappointing compared to other native Z-mount lenses, the included lens pouch is flimsy and lacks secure drawstring closures, and it lacks standard distance scales or depth-of-field markings.

The Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S is an outstanding short telephoto prime for Z-series cameras, offering edge-to-edge sharpness at f/1.8, rapid autofocus, and weather-sealed construction suitable for portraits. While delivering excellent image quality, the lens exhibits noticeable focus breathing and features a non-linear manual focus system that may challenge videographers.

The DXOMARK review rewards the Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm F1.8 S with an outstanding overall score of 49 when tested on the 47 MP Nikon Z7 camera body, praising it as a top-tier prime lens that rivals more expensive models. The primary pros highlighted are its exceptional and highly uniform sharpness across the entire image field at all apertures, along with excellent light transmission measured at T1.9. Additionally, its complex optical design utilizes two ED elements to keep lateral chromatic aberration remarkably low, while suppressing distortion to a negligible 0.1% pincushioning and curbing maximum corner vignetting to just -1.1 EV wide open at f/1.8. On the downside, the review identifies a few notable cons regarding its physical and economic attributes. Priced at approximately $799 / 849€, it is considered somewhat expensive for an f/1.8 maximum aperture lens, especially when compared to direct rivals like the Sony FE 85mm F1.8 which retails closer to $600. Additionally, optical performance does take a very minor hit at f/8 with a tiny drop beneath the 80% acutance mark, and diffraction becomes clearly noticeable when...