Z 24mm f/1.8 S
Another stellar prime for Nikon mirrorless
The Nikon Z 24mm f/1.8 S has modest-sounding specs by today’s standards, but there’s nothing wrong with that. While some lens manufacturers have been bulking up their offerings and creating heavy f/1.4 optics and faster glass, Nikon has stuck to a more modest f/1.8 aperture rating for the primes in its Z-mount S-line stable. The Nikon Z 58mm f/0.95 Noct is a notable exception but the rule of thumb is that, while the 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm f/1.8 lenses certainly aren’t small, they’re quite compact and lightweight. This makes them look and feel a perfect match for the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 full-frame bodies. Sharing the same 72mm filter thread as the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S standard zoom, the 24mm is also a similar size and weight. As usual for Z mount primes, there’s a switch for auto/manual focusing and the large manual focus ring is electronically coupled to the stepping motor that drives AF. You can also customize the action of the focus ring during autofocus, to silently control the aperture value or apply varying amounts of exposure compensation.
The optical path is based on 12 elements in 10 groups, and includes four aspherical elements and an ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element. The overall aim is to maximize sharpness and contrast while keeping distortions and chromatic aberrations to a minimum. Nano Crystal Coat is also applied to minimize ghosting and flare, and to retain good contrast even when shooting into the light.
Build and handling
High-quality plastics and a metal mounting plate combine to give the lens a solid and sturdyfeel. Every joint and moving part of the lens’s exterior is fitted with a weather-seal, from the focus/ control ring and frontal areas to the A/M switch at the rear. There’s also Nikon’s usual rubber ring around the mounting plate.
The manual focus/control ring is comfortably large but, typically for an electronically coupled ‘fly by wire’ mechanism, gives practically no mechanical feedback. Even so, it operates smoothly and enables very precise manual adjustments.
Performance
There’s little point in having a fast, wideaperture lens if sharpness and contrast drop off horribly when shooting wide-open. To its credit, the Nikon Z 24mm delivers spectacular sharpness and contrast even at f/1.8, right across the frame. It reaches even dizzier heights of sharpness at apertures of between f/2.8 and f/5.6, returning to excellent values from f/8 to f/11. Shooting wide-open at or near the shortest focus distance, you can shrink the depth of field sufficiently to make close foreground objects stand out against a blurry background.