Nikon Z DX 18-140mm f/3.5-6.3 VR

£629/$597 A kit lens revamped for mirrorless cameras

This Z DX lens doesn’t quite have the extravagant zoom range of most superzooms, but still delivers a useful ‘effective’ 27-210mm in full-frame terms. It’s a mirrorless makeover of Nikon’s AF-S DX 18-140mm VR kit lens for DSLRS but with a smaller, more lightweight build. It has a plastic mounting plate and no weather-seals, but build quality feels good.

Given that the DX format Z 50 and Z fc don’t feature in-body stabilization, the highly effective 5-stop optical VR is a major bonus. Handling is refined and alternative functions can be assigned to the manual focus ring when in autofocus mode. However, there are no physical auto/manual focus or VR on/off switches, requiring settings to be changed via in-camera menus.

Performance

The stepping motor-based AF is fast and near silent, enabling smooth transitions during video capture. Sharpness is impressive through most of the zoom range. Like many recent lenses designed for mirrorless cameras, this one relies on in-camera correction for distortions.

N-photo verdict

Good rather than great, it’s a versatile lens for Z DX format mirrorless cameras but the zoom range is limited. Sharpness Impressive sharpness drops off a bit in the 70-140mm sector of the zoom range, but it’s very good overall. Fringing Lab scores for colour fringing are flattered by in-camera correction, which cannot be disabled. Distortion The almost complete lack of distortions is purely down to compulsory in-camera correction.