What to look for…

Save money without sacrificing quality

AUTO OR MANUAL FOCUS

Autofocus is undeniably convenient but, with the focus peaking option of mirrorless cameras, manual focusing is a breeze when using either the electronic viewfinder or the rear screen.

AUTOFOCUS TYPE

Only the own-brand Nikon lenses in this big test group have AF. They’re all powered by ‘pulse’ stepping motors that are rapid for stills, but smooth and virtually silent for movie capture.

BUILT-IN ELECTRONICS

The manual-focus lenses on test have no built-in electronics, so you need to set the aperture manually via each lens’s control ring, but you get a live preview of exposure settings.

VIBRATION REDUCTION

With no in-lens electronics, body-based stabilization in FX cameras is disabled for ‘manual’ lenses, but you can enable VR by entering the ‘non-cpu lens data’ in the camera’s setup menu.

FOCAL LENGTH

It’s good news that FX and DX format Z-series cameras have identical lens mounts. The 1.5x crop factor of DX cameras can give very useful ‘effective’ focal lengths for FX lenses.

SIZE MATTERS

All but the Laowa Ultra Macro on test have a very compact and lightweight build, for their respective types of lens. This fits perfectly with the ‘compact system camera’ ethos.