Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S

£749/$847 This lens makes the most of Z-mount design

The most expensive 35mm lens in the group, this one nevertheless has a modest f/1.8 aperture rating, shared by most other primes in Nikon’s Z-mount line-up. But it’s more hightech than Nikon’s F-mount 35mm lens, taking the count of aspherical elements from one to three and doubling up on ED elements. It features Super Integrated Coating and Nano Crystal Coat, for minimizing ghosting and flare.

The stepping motor-based autofocus system is fast and virtually silent, while enabling smooth and precise manual focusing via its electronically coupled control ring. When in AF mode, you can customize the function of the control ring. Typical of most stepping motor lenses, there’s no focus distance scale.

Performance

Image quality is fabulous, with particularly stunning centre-sharpness. As with other Z-series lenses that we’ve tested, the relatively large-diameter mounting plate helps to enable superb image quality across the whole frame, while sharpness in handheld shooting is boosted by in-camera stabilization with FX mirrorless bodies.

N-photo verdict

Superb image quality, sturdy build quality and great handling and performance make this a real winner.

Sharpness

It beats every other lens in the group for centre-sharpness, but is more average when it comes to the corners.

Fringing

Even in the extreme corners of the frame, lateral chromatic aberration is entirely negligible.

Distortion

It’s close to being a distortionfree lens, with just a touch of pincushion that’s very difficult to spot.