Introduction
The Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 is a fast, moderate wide-angle prime lens for Nikon’s range of full-frame mirrorless cameras.It will also work with APS-C sensor cameras or if you use it in the DX crop mode, with an effective increase in focal length to 52.5mm due to the 1.5x crop factor. The optical construction features 11 elements in 9 groups, including two aspherical elements that help to reduce aberrations and distortion.A fast and quiet STM stepping motor internal focusing mechanism is included and it is weatherproof thanks to all moving parts of the lens barrel being carefully sealed.It has a 9-blade diaphragm which creates an attractive blur to the out-of-focus areas of the image and offers a close focusing distance of 0.27m and a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.18x.The Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 lens is available now priced at £649 / $599 in the UK and USA, respectively. It is made in China.
Ease of Use
Weighing in at 415g (14.7oz), the Z 35mm f/1.4 weighs just slightly more than the slightly slower Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S lens (370g), which is really its one and only rival.Build quality is excellent, with a sturdy and high-quality feel, plus a metal lens mount. Overall, the size and weight matches very nicely with the Nikon Z7 II camera that we tested it with.It’s possible to use the Z7II with this 35mm lens with just one hand, but you’ll probably find it more comfortable to use a second hand for a better handling balance.The Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 has a sealed dust and moisture resistant design that should withstand rain showers, but you’ll need to protect it in more inclement weather.This lens does not feature built-in Optical SteadyShot image stabilisation, instead relying on the in-body stabilisation system that the majority of Nikon camera bodies have.The wide, ridged manual focus ring and the slim, knurled control ring are the two main external controls of note. The manual-focusing ring around its middle takes up the main bulk of the lens. It’s ridged to help you get a good grip on it. There’s just enough to give to make precise focusing possible, while not feeling too stiff or too loose.There are no hard stops at either end of the focusing range, making it a little more difficult to set focus at infinity. Polariser users should be pleased that the 62mm filter thread doesn’t rotate on focus.There are also no indicators on the lens itself to help you judge distances, but it stands a good chance that the vast majority of people using this lens will be doing so with autofocus.With autofocusing switched on, focusing is extremely quick and quiet, making it a good lens to use when shooting both stills and video.The focusing ring is click-free, which also means you can pull focus from one subject to another without any distracting noise.We didn’t experience very much “hunting” at all, either in good or bad light, with the lens accurately focusing almost all of the time.Manual focus override is activated at any time by simply turning the dedicated focus ring. It provides very precise manual focus when turned slowly and proved very useful for focusing close objects which the AF system sometimes missed.A thin, ridged ring sits towards the base of the lens. This is a control ring which can be set to a few different functions via the main menu.It will have a default option, for example adjusting aperture in aperture priority, but you can also assign it to exposure compensation or ISO sensitivity if you prefer. You can even set it to have function whatsoever, which might be helpful if you were worried about accidentally knocking it and changing a setting.The Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 has a metal lens mount and it accepts 62mm filters via plastic threads.It is commendably supplied with a good quality plastic circular-shaped lens hood (HB-115) that locks into place by twisting it, plus front and rear lens caps. There’s no case included with this lens.
Focal RangeThe fixed length of 35mm offers an angle of view of 63 degrees in FX (full-frame) format. In DX format or on an APS-C cropped-sensor camera, the angle of view is 44 degrees.
Chromatic AberrationsChromatic aberrations, typically seen as blue or purple fringes along contrasty edges, were not very apparent in our test shots, only appearing in very high contrast areas.
VignettingWith the lens set to its maximum aperture of f/1.4, there is some obvious light fall-off in the corners, requiring you to stop down by 3 f-stops to completely prevent it.
DistortionAs we’d expect from a lens of this focal length, distortion is kept to an absolute minimum, aside from if you’re shooting very close up to your subject and are actively trying to create a distorted effect.
MacroThe Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 offers a minimum focusing distance of 0.27m (0.89ft) and a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.18x. The fast aperture allows you to create shallow depth of field effects making it suitable for typical macro subjects such as flowers.
BokehBokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc.In the Z 35mm f/1.4 lens, Nikon employed an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades, which has resulted in appealing bokeh.We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we’ve included several examples for your perusal.
SharpnessIn order to show you how sharp the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following page.
