My goal here is to remove technical friction so you can focus on what matters: taking pictures. Whether you’ve just unboxed your camera or are simply eager to start shooting without getting lost in complex menus, this guide is designed to get you up and running as quickly as possible.

Getting Started: Your First Steps

The first thing you are going to want to do when you get your new Nikon Z50II is to check that you have everything that is supposed to be included. Sometimes this varies by region. My Z50II was bought in a kit with the Nikon Z 16-50mm kit lens and is official UK stock bought from Amazon. Here is what’s included:

• Nikon Z50II camera body with lens cap.
• Nikon EN-EL 25a rechargeable battery with plastic battery cap.
• NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR lens and white plastic rear lens cap.
• Official Nikon Camera Strap
• USB-C Charging Cable
• Official Nikon warranty paperwork

The Nikon Z50II does not come with a separate charger so unlike older models, you will have to charge it via the USB-C cable before your first use.

Both the battery and SD card fit into the same compartment at the bottom of the camera, underneath the camera grip.

Ensure that you put the SD card in with the sticker side facing towards the outside of the camera as is shown below. Don’t force the card as it should fit in perfectly and you will feel a gentle click as it correctly fits in to place.

Once you have slotted in your memory card, check the orientation of the battery by aligning the metal pins with those inside the camera.

Slot into place and you will feel the battery catch within the latch. Then close the battery compartment door and you will again feel a click as the door locks in to place.

Now it’s the bit all photographers hate, charging up the camera and being patient. Make sure you fully charge the camera before first use as that maximises the power and battery condition, ensuring it performs as well as possible.

Simply plug the supplied USB-C cable in to a USB-C compatible charger and the other end in to your camera. On the left hand side of the camera you will see a small orange light indicating that the camera is charging. When the light goes off, the camera is fully charged.

Once the camera is fully charged you will need to attach your lens to it in order to access all shooting menu options.

If you haven’t done this before then it’s a simple process. Loosen the rear (white if you have the kit lens) lens cap so that you can take it off one handed. leave the lens face down in a safe accessible place.

The best way to put a lens on your camera in order to minimise getting dust on the sensor is to have the camera held in your right hand, front of the camera facing towards the floor.

Now press the lens release button on the camera (I find using my left thumb for this easiest). It’s located to the left of the lens mount as you hold the camera (you can see it in the picture above, just above where I’ve marked up the photo saying ‘lens mount marker’) . As you press the lens release button, turn the plastic lens cap on the camera to the left (counter clockwise as you hold the camera) until the white dot on the lens lines up with the white dot on the lens mount of the camera. The lens cap will then come off if you gently pull it away from the camera body.

Now remove the rear lens cap from the lens, and line up the white dot on the rear of the lens with the white dot on the camera’s lens mount. You will know when you have them lined up correctly as the lens will sit flush to the camera lens mount. Once lined up, simply turn the lens to the right (clockwise as you hold the camera) until it clicks in to place. Your’e now ready to power up your camera for the first time. One tip, always switch the camera off before changing lenses to avoid dust being attracted to the sensor by the electrical charge of the camera.

Understanding your Shooting Modes (The PASM Dial) Before turning the camera on, set the shooting mode by turning the top-right PASM dial. Here is a quick breakdown of what they do:

• M (Manual): You have full control over Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO (if not using Auto ISO).
• A (Aperture Priority): You control the Aperture and ISO (if not using Auto ISO), and the camera adjusts the shutter speed to get the correct exposure.
• S (Shutter Priority): You control the Shutter Speed and ISO (if not using Auto ISO), and the camera controls the Aperture.
• P (Program): The camera controls Aperture and Shutter Speed, while you control ISO (if not using Auto ISO).
• SCN (Scene Mode): The camera controls all settings based on a specific scene you select (e.g., food, portraits, landscapes).
• Auto Mode: The camera controls almost everything. Note that many advanced functions—like manual White Balance or custom AF modes—are locked here.
• C1–C3: These are custom slots for your saved settings. Ignore these for now; I’ll cover how to set these up in my advanced guide.

My Recommendations: If you are just starting out, P mode is a great place to begin. The camera handles the heavy lifting of exposure, but it finally lets you make adjustments and access the menus restricted in Auto mode.

If you want to get creative but don’t want to be overwhelmed, Aperture Priority (A) is where you should head next. Controlling the aperture allows you to creatively manage your depth of field (how much of your frame is in focus) while leaving the camera to handle the shutter speed. It’s a very fast way to get the professional-looking results you want while being able to shoot quickly.

Turning the camera on for the first time

Nikon has the best on/off method in the industry. Simply flick the switch located around the shutter button to the on position. It’s the best as it allows you to quickly turn the camera off and on one-handed.

To navigate through Nikon’s menu system use the multi-selector 4-way controller located around the OK button. Of course you can always use the touch-screen if you prefer.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the controls:

Multi selector buttons:

• Enter – Right on the multi selector or press the OK button
• Back – Left
• Return to main menu – Press the Menu button
• Resume shooting – Half press the shutter button

The first thing you will need to do is set the time and date for your camera. This is located in in the setup menu denoted by the spanner icon on the left hand side of the menu page).

I’m in the UK so I set it to:

• Timezone: London
• Date format: DMY

Next, we will set up the basic camera options in the Photo Shooting Menu (denoted by the Camera Icon on the left hand side of the menu page.

I’m not going to recommend changing too many settings here initially as the aim is to get you shooting as quickly as possible. If I haven’t mentioned it below, then I don’t think it’s worth changing at this stage.

If you’re a beginner and don’t want to spend too much time editing photos after you have taken them then the settings below will get you great results.

Select Image quality > Jpeg/Heif> Fine: The best image quality straight out of the camera. By shooting in Jpeg, the images the camera produces won’t need heavy editing. They are a final product, ready to use. They will have had color and sharpening applied to them and are ready to share or print. You can still edit them in an app further if you wish with small adjustments to exposure, adding filters for film looks etc. Note: The Z50II has a dedicated picture control button on the top right of the camera where you can manually select your preferred Picture control profile. Why Nikon calls them that rather than just color profiles I don’t know. Anyway, although it’s totally subjective, I tend to use Standard for color shots and Deep Tone Monochrome for black and white images.

Why not shoot in RAW? Every “expert” will tell you to shoot in RAW format for the best possible quality. While that is technically true, when you are just starting out, the last thing you want to be doing is spending hours editing every single photo in software. Unedited RAW files look inherently flat and lifeless. Often, you will struggle to make a RAW file look better than a “straight out of camera” JPEG, so why not save yourself the time? Despite what you’ll often hear, you can still edit JPEG files if you want to apply a creative look, and they are perfectly usable even if you never touch a piece of editing software.

Select Image Size > Large: This gives you the maximum resolution from the Nikon Z50II. 5568 × 3712 pixels or 20.9mp.

Next we are going to set up the ISO settings of the camera so that it will change this for you automatically. Think of ISO as the ability of the camera to brighten or darken the image based on your other exposure settings. It’s a little more technical than that but for now, just understanding this will be enough to get started.

We want the camera to choose the ISO setting so you don’t have to keep changing it whenever the light changes but we want to give the camera certain parameters to work within so that you always get sharp photos.

Select ISO sensitivity settings > Auto ISO Sensitivity control ON and then under Minimum shutter speed select Auto and click again. Now select Faster +2 setting. This ensures that the camera will give you a fast enough shutter speed to get sharp shots based on your focal length. I set Maximum sensititvity to 12800 as thats about the limit of what I consider to be acceptable image quality from the Nikon Z50II.

Next we’re going to make sure you have white balance set to auto so that the color of your photos will be correct even when the light changes. We’re going to make a tweak to the white balance behaviour though to keep pictures looking natural.

In the Photo Shooting Menu select:

• White balance
• Auto1:Auto
• Keep overall atmosphere

They are the only changes in the Photo Shooting Menu I would recommend making if you are brand new to the Nikon Z50II as a beginner. But next we need to take control of the autofocus because as good as cameras are these days, there are still times when you need to overide what the camera is trying to focus on or you will end up very frustrated.

Autofocus setup for beginners

I’m going to keep this section as simple as possible and offer the two best autofocus options for when you’re just starting out. This isn’t the complex “pro” setup I use, but that level of configuration simply isn’t necessary—or helpful—when you are still learning the ropes.

To focus the Nikon Z50II, simply half-press the shutter button to start the autofocus system. If you take your finger off the button, the AF system stops. To take the photo fully depress the shutter button after obtaining focus (indicated by a green AF box in the viewfinder or on-screen.

My recommendation for general photography is to start in Auto-area AF. This allows the camera to scan the scene and identify the subject, and the Z50II does an excellent job of selecting the right focus point.

To set this up: In the Photo Shooting Menu, select AF-area mode > Auto-area AF.

If the camera struggles to choose the right subject, you’ll want to take control. The easiest way to do this is by switching to 3D tracking mode.

The fastest way to switch: Press the i button, select the AF-area mode / Subj. detection icon, and use the rear control dial to select 3D-tracking. It’s just one click to the left.

How to use 3D-tracking: Once active, place the autofocus box over your subject and half-press the shutter button. While keeping the button half-pressed, you can move the camera to “recompose” your shot exactly as you wish. The Z50II will “stick” to your subject and retain focus, even as you shift your framing. It’s that simple—no complex button configurations required.

While I use other focusing modes, this setup keeps things simple and still allows you to get great results while not overwhelming with complicated setups and simply allows you to focus on taking pictures. When you eventually do want more control you can come back here to see how I have set up my own personal Z50II including the full configuration and customisations.

Viewing images

The last thing we are going to do is customise the playback operation and settings so that you can see useful information when you look back over your images.

By default, the Nikon Z50II gives very little information in when you look at the images you have taken. At the very least, we want to be able to see basic shooting information so you know what settings were used as well as ensure that your photo was correctly exposed.

To do this choose the playback Icon in the main menu. It’s a play button in a rectangle (4th from the top on the left hand-side.

Select playback display options and check the following:

• Exposure info
• Highlights
• RGB Histogram

Then press the Menu button to let the camera know you’re done.

Now when you look back through the photos that you have taken, you can cycle through the information by pressing display or the up and down buttons on the multi-selector. You will be able to see your exposure settings, any blown highlights (areas that are too bright) which will be flashing black and also a full histogram which represents the tonal values in your image, from dark on the left, to bright areas on the right.

Next, I always turn picture review off because it becomes irritating when it constantly shows you the photo that you have just taken and it interrupts your flow when taking multiple photos quickly. Select:

Playback menu> Picture review> Off

That is it for the basic setup of the Nikon Z50II. With the settings above you will be free to go out and start taking photos and get great results. To get those photos quickly on to your phone and to update the camera’s firmware to the latest version to ensure maximum performance, you should also download the Nikon Snapbridge app and connect your camera to it. I’ll walk you through that below.

Connecting the Nikon Z50II to Nikon Snapbridge

Firstly, download the Nikon Snapbridge app to your device. I use an Iphone and Ipad so I go to the App store. If you’re on Android then get it from the Google Play store.

Once downloaded, open up the app. On the home screen, you will see a cog icon at the top right of the screen, tap on this and click Add camera. Select the correct type of camera (Z50II) which is the second option under mirrorless camera section.

Next select Pairing (Bluetooth) and then:

On your camera’s menu, navigate to the Network Menu (second from bottom on the left)and select Connect to Smart device now select pairing (bluetooth) and then Start Pairing.

Your camera should now show as a bluetooth connection option in the Snapbridge app. Click on it. You will see a screen saying connecting to camera and then this screen may show for what seems like an eternity. Be patient as eventually your camera will show up on the select an accessory page.

You will eventually see your camera ( i just did mine again for this article and it took about 1 minute for the camera to show up) in this list.

Select the on-screen options to pair and also confirm the pairing on the camera and you are done. A screen should pop up in the app saying ‘pairing complete, connected to camera. hit ok and you’re app and camera are now paired.

From the app you can download photos, update the firmware and control the camera remotely. There is also a feature called Easy shooting setup where you can download settings for specific shooting scenarios where it will load what Nikon deems the best settings for that shooting scenario.

Pro tip: Keeping SnapBridge connected also allows your phone to sync GPS location data to your photos—a lifesaver when you’re out in the Scottish Highlands and want to remember exactly where you took a particular shot.

The app will automatically tell you when there is new firmware for the Z50II and you can simply press the notification and follow the on-screen instructions to update your cameras firmware wirelessly via the app. Just make sure you have plenty of battery power remaining on your device and camera. I’ve updated the firmware on my Nikon Z cameras many times and it works flawlessly.

The Nikon Z50II is a fantastic camera when just starting out. it’s light years ahead of the camera I learned photography on and as I continue using it here in Scotland, I’ll be writing more articles about it, publishing more advanced custom setup guides as well as putting it through its paces for a wide variety of subjects. I hope you found this setup guide useful but if there’s anything that I missed or that you would like to see included then please feel free to comment down below.

Last night, I’d had enough of the kit lens, so I took it off and put the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S lens on instead. Stupidly, I forgot about the Dx crop factor which results in the 50mm lens giving a 75mm field of view. Yes, my head is elsewhere at the moment. So after a couple of shots where things didn’t feel quite right, I realised my mistake and adjusted to the more narrow 75mm field of view.

The Nikon Z50II is touted as one of the best cameras for beginners, it usually comes up in people’s lists but I’m finding that while it may be a ‘beginners camera’, or at least a camera that is a good choice for beginners, it’s actually just a really capable little camera. To start to test my hypothesis about this camera, I decided that it’s time to roll out my selection of high quality Nikon Z lenses and see if the Z50II started to show any limitations.

Struggling with your Z50II settings? If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the menus or aren’t sure you’ve got your camera configured for the best results, I’ve put together a dedicated Nikon Z50II Quick Start Setup Guide. It covers the essential configurations I recommend to get you shooting with confidence—minus the complex technical jargon.

At the moment, there is a fair amount of turmoil in our house as we are navigating visa options for my wife, so my focus wasn’t really on subjects, so much as the beautiful evening light we were getting. Sofia and I have taken to regularly walking a neighbour’s two dogs in our local park as she is sadly, no longer capable of doing so herself. As well as doing something nice for the dogs and their owner, which I always feel is a good example to show Sofia, it gives me the perfect excuse to get out a little later in the evening and witness the beautiful late summer evening light that we get here in perthshire.

Teddy (Yorkshire terrier) and Poppy ( Cairn/Yorkshire terrier cross) happily walked alongside Sofia and my mum while I had the Z50II + 50mm 1.8S attached to my Peak Design Camera Leash. The 50mm is substantially larger than the 16-50mm kit lens but it pairs well with the Z50II and the balance feels excellent thanks to the camera’s decent grip.

As I followed behind the dog walkers, pockets of light amongst the woodland kept catching my eye. Patches of woodland spot-lit by the Sun breaking through, huge Scots Pine tree trunks partially lit, partially in shadow and open fields with sheep grazing amongst patches of light. It was the perfect evening to capture the warm, Instagram esque colors of summer.

However, my youngest daughter Izzy, who we have developmental concerns over and have been having assessed since she arrived in Scotland, and in fact was the whole reason that we moved here, is leaving Scotland tomorrow with my wife, at her insistance.

My wife has to obtain a long term visa from her home country. A rule implemented by the UK Government that seems totally illogical in our situation,. So both the frustration and exhaustion of dealing with this over the last few months, as well as the conflict over what’s best for Izzy between my wife and I meant I was in no mood to capture pretty colors or the beauty of summer. I shot in dark, moody black and white using Nikon’s Rich Tone Monochrome picture profile, reflecting my mood as I prepare for Izzy to leave for an unkown length of time.

The Z50II and 50mm 1.8S combination easily coped with the harsh highlights and shadows of the evening. I found myself often reaching for the exposure compensation button, which is placed exactly as it is on my full frame Nikon Z cameras. The only ergonomic annoyance was the lack of a joytstick, which thanks to my muscle memory being used to having one, on a few occasions slowed me down. But for this kind of shooting, it didn’t really matter that much.

In this kind of light, with heavy shadows, the lack of IBIS (in body image stabilisation) was a factor that meant I had to keep my shutter speed at 1/100 or more. That’s not usually the case for me, but I tested how low I could go with the 50mm giving a 75mm field of view and as I dropped the shutter speed to 1/60, I found I was introducing motion blur. I think someone with a steady hand could manage slower shutter speeds than I did last night, their blood pressure may be a little lower than mine currently is.

As we sat by the now empty lake on the estate, the evening light raked across the landscape and after taking a few shots of Sofia, we just sat there for perhaps half an hour. I put the camera down, and we just enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation with the Sun warming us, dogs by our side. ‘So this is what it feels like to simply be‘, I thought to myself. I need more of that and photography, again, along with Sofia, act as the facilitators for that.

So how does the Nikon Z50II perform when you put a high quality lens on it like the Z 50mm 1.8S? Exceptionally well. Over the coming months I anticipate having a lot more time to dedicate to this website and photography as Izzy leaves us for 6-12 months. My images may well become darker for a time, but I hope that through photography, I can start to see the light again and bring more value through articles, photos and, if I can gather enough energy, Youtube. If you are interested in what’s next then you can subscribe to my newsletter down below. I don’t send out emails very often as I value your inbox.

As I wanted the day to be about her and not photography, I took the Nikon Z50II and the diminutive 16-50mm kit lens to keep things small, light, and unobtrusive. In the morning, I checked the camera over; everything was fine, the battery had only one bar depleted after it’s last outing, and the memory card was inserted and formatted. I attached it to my Peak Design Leash camera strap, and we headed out to Auchingarrich Wildlife Park.

I thought I was prepared for a relaxed day of shooting. It didn’t quite turn out like that.

Struggling with your Z50II settings? If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the menus or aren’t sure you’ve got your camera configured for the best results, I’ve put together a dedicated Nikon Z50II Quick Start Setup Guide. It covers the essential configurations I recommend to get you shooting with confidence—minus the complex technical jargon.

As we walked around the park, shadowed by two particularly greedy young goats, Sofia’s mood seemed to lighten. I could tell she was really enjoying the interactions with the animals as she fed them the contents of the little animal snack bag we had bought.

After around 10 minutes of walking, I’d estimate I had taken 20 photos when, to my surprise, the camera’s battery warning light started flashing at me. How could that be? At home, it had shown only one bar depleted. I turned it off and on again; the indicator briefly returned to white, but within seconds, it went back to flashing red. Despite the battery issues, I still rate the Z50II as a great camera for beginners. You just have to be aware of your battery level throughout the day and perhaps buy a spare.

‘Okay, it’s Sofia’s 10th birthday. It’s important, and I want some memories of the day‘, so I switched into battery management mode. I reduced the number of photos I took and picked my moments a little more, making sure to switch the camera off after every single opportunity.

I only have the battery that came with the camera, so I knew it was unlikely I’d be able to shoot through the day unless I seriously restricted my shot count. Instead, I decided to focus on the experience and spend time with Sofia, even more than I’d planned.

I watched on as my little girl—now a ‘big girl’ at 10 years old, as she likes to tell me—smiled as a meerkat approached her until it was literally on the other side of the glass. Sofia moved her hand slowly towards it, I’m certain wishing she could stroke it. She has an unbreakable love of animals, and this was exactly the kind of medicine she needed today.

We continued around the park, seeing owls, searching for the elusive Scottish Wildcat (who never made an appearance), and walking amongst wallabies and emus in the Australian section, before heading for a delicious lunch at the restaurant. Sofia’s mood had perked up, and I’d still managed to avoid the dreaded black screen of death by carefully managing the battery level.

At lunch, I remembered I had an Anker Nano powerbank with an integrated USB-C cable in the car, so I nipped back and retrieved it. I expected to have to leave the camera and powerbank in my pocket for at least half an hour, but in the end, I managed to rig it up so that the camera could remain around my neck and the powerbank could stay in a chest pocket of my waterproof jacket, allowing the cable to reach without having to put the camera away.

After lunch, now with me feeling more relaxed knowing I could continue capturing moments, we enjoyed wandering the park, which is actually half wildlife experience and half working Scottish farm. The highlights weren’t actually the exotic animals but the interactions Sofia had feeding sheep, donkeys and Fallow deer which shes dreamed of seeing up close for a long time. Our day ended with Sofia spending plenty of time stroking and fussing the beautiful resident sheepdog of the farm before letting her choose a soft toy in the giftshop to add to her collection.

So how did the camera perform for a day of family photography?

I actually found the camera really good; it was light and fast to focus, although I miss a focus joystick as using the rear 4-way controller is not as intuitive. Autofocus with my setup—which I’ve configured to replicate my Nikon Z8 and Z6III—worked well.

The 16-50mm lens is competent and sharp in the centre, but it feels a bit meh. It’s interesting, actually: you can’t use shallow depth of field as a crutch, which makes you work a little harder for compositions. On a day out where spending time with family is the priority, that resulted in fewer keepers, as I didn’t want to keep re-taking shots and delay the day. Having to always unlock the lens is also irritating, but the incredibly small size and weight is a trade-off I think is fair.

I didn’t use the rear LCD screen even once during the day. I found the viewfinder adequate for shooting; it’s not the best at 2.36 million dots, but it never felt like a deal-breaker. It does the job well enough to function, and that’s what I care about. A better viewfinder is always nice, but I’d take this over not having one at all.

When I got home, after eating a slice or two of the cake my mum had made for Sofia, I took the opportunity to view the photos I’d taken. I shot 117 photos throughout the day and ended up with 12 that I thought were worth editing. Some are nice; others I edited simply because I liked Sofia’s expression or because they serve as a record of the time we spent together—especially during what has been the hardest three months of our lives. A few were edited specifically to give me more insight into how the Z50II RAW files behave in post.

Overall, considering the lens used, I was happy with the files. They felt like Nikon files in terms of color and dynamic range, and I was even able to shoot a couple of indoor shots at ISO 12800 that turned out to be perfectly usable—one of which I converted to black and white just to see how the result looked.

Would I have gotten ‘better’ images using a full-frame Nikon Z camera with a prime lens? Almost certainly. But would I have even taken it with me on a day meant for Sofia? I doubt it. That is what I took away from today regarding the Z50II: it’s just like a Nikon, only smaller.

Nikon Z 35mm 1.8S vs 24-120mm f/4S

Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S vs 24-120mm f/4S

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. This means that if you click on them and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend equipment that I have personally used and tested.

Today was my Mum’s birthday ( I wont say her age or she will kill me) so I took her out for lunch at a lovely pub not so far from where I live. For those visiting Perthshire I can highly recommend the Smiddy Haugh (great food and service). I brought along the Z6III (full Nikon Z6III review here) and 85mm 1.8S (for more details see my Nikon 85mm 1.8S review) to get some memories. I chose the Z6III over the Z8 for its smaller size and weight as photography wasn’t the point of the outing but still, when you’re a photographer the camera always comes along.

I’ve shot the 85mm 1.8S in the Philippines and here in Scotland. I’ve always been impressed with its optical quality. Today was no different. But given that I own the 24-120mm f/4 (see my Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S review for more details) and most of my portraits these days are for family projects, is it really worth having an $800 lens in addition to the zoom or is the zoom good enough?

To test the lenses fairly, I set up my Z8 (which I reviewed in full here) on a tripod, found the minimum focusing distance of the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S and shot a test subject from wide-open to f/8. I then swapped lenses and mounted the 24-120mm f/4S and zoomed to 85mm and replicated the same process. I then shot the 24-120mm at its minimum focus distance to show the difference and I also shot both lenses wide-open from approximately 6 feet away to give an idea of the look you can get from typical portrait distances.

Size and Weight

The Nikon Z 85mm 1.8s is noticeably larger than both the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8S and 50mm 1.8S that have featured in the previous comparisons. The weight of 470 grams feels fine when shot on any of the Nikon Z bodies with a decent grip (see my roundup of the best Nikon Z cameras). It’s more the size that is noticeable in terms of its length. Nikon have opted for a lens that is longer and thinner than something like the Fuji 56mm 1.2WR for example. I have two thoughts on this, one is that I prefer a chunkier but shorter lens in terms of looks but the extra length of the 85mm 1.8S does give plenty of room for your left hand to support the lens from and space to manually focus comfortably if you wish (I never do). While the 24-120mm f/4S is hevaier at 630 grams and takes a larger 77mm filter compared to the 85mm’s 67mm filter ring, it doesn’t feel like it’s in an altogether different size and weight category. In my opinion, size and weight savings aren’t substantial enough to choose the prime over the zoom in this case. Both lenses feel well made, are weather sealed and focus quickly and accurately.

Image Quality

When both lenses are shot wide-open two things are apparent, one is that the depth of field of the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S at f/1.8 is very narrow and secondly, at f/4, the Nikon Z 24-120mm is sharper. Both lenses are more than sharp enough for any normal use.

When the 85mm 1.8S was stopped down to f/2.8 it sharpened up a little and the depth of field became more manageable, allowing for more of the subject to be in the critical plane of focus. Both lenses are now very comparable in terms of sharpness and when viewing the photos at full screen, both look pin sharp. When zooming in to 100% crops, the zoom still has a very slight edge in terms of sharpness.

At f/4 both lenses are essentially identical in terms of sharpness. Even zoomed in to 100% I cannot meaningfully tell the difference in terms of sharpness.

When stopped down from f/4 to f/5.6, the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 at 85mm doesn’t really show any improvement in terms of sharpness. It’s already bitingly sharp at f/4.

After shooting these test shots at the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S’ minimum focusing distance of 80cm, I moved the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S in until I reached its minimum focus distance of a claimed 35cm. I then took a shot to show the difference between the two, which is not insignificant.

At this point I should note that there is a differrence between the marked 85mm position and what the camera states is 85mm on the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S. I found that I had to zoom in past the position marked as 85mm on the zoom lens in order to obtain what the camera and Lightroom reports as being 85mm focal length. Even with the additional zoom, at an indicated 85mm as shown in the Lightroom screenshots, the zoom shows a slightly wider field of view than the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S prime lens at this focus distance.

After these tests, I then paced out approximatley 6 feet from the subject and shot both lenses wide-open in order to give a more realistic real-world shooting distance and show the difference between f/1.8 and f/4.

At this distance, it is now the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S lens that is giving a slightly wider field of view. The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S is exhibiting some variable focus breathing which is depending upon the distance to subject.

When shooting close in to the subject, the f/4 aperture of the zoom lens gives decent subject separation, that for a lot of people will be more than enough to give their subjects enough pop to separate them from the background, once the distance to subject increases, as in the shot above, the background at f/4 becomes quite distracting. The larger aperture of the prime lens starts to show its advantage in scenarios like this. If you can’t control your background, distance to subject or you simply want the ability to use shallow depth of field creatively, the prime lens starts to show its value.

Verdict

If you shoot portraits, family photos creatively or value depth of field control highly, then yes, the prime lens is worth adding to your kit as it truly can create photos that stand out. It’s very sharp, has excellent bokeh and is in my opinion, the best portrait lens for most people, for the Nikon Z mount. Not to mention the low light benefits of f/1.8 vs f/4, which for portrait subjects where you usually need a minimum shutter speed of 1/160 or more can be critical.

But what if you own the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S, are a general photographer who shoots a bit of everything, including your children and family. Is it worth buying the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S too?

It really depends on how much value you put on those photos. For me personally, shots like the one above make it worth keeping the 85mm in my bag because in confined spaces, where I don’t have total freedom to move subjects, my position and the environment, it gives me the ability to capture moments and keep them looking special. Would I buy the prime again, now that I have the 24-120mm f/4S, probably not as it’s not a focal length I use that often so I would either work within the zooms constraints in terms of aperture or opt for a more flexible prime in the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S which can capture a wider variety of subjects and therefore represents a better value proposition. Let’s not forget that you can also zoom the 24-120mm f/4S in to 120mm which will naturally give you more subject separation if you have the distance to move back and still frame your shot as you want to. If i was shooting portraits for a living or as my main subject, then yes, the prime is absolutely worth it.

You can check out the latest price for the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S here.

You can see the latest price for the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S here.

For a bit of context, if you have not read my site before, I shoot with the Nikon Z8 (full Z8 review here) , Z6III (full Z6III review here), and Zf (full Nikon Zf review here). I’ve been using Nikon cameras for over 10 years, dating back to the DSLR days, and I’ve also shot a lot of different systems, including Fuji, Canon, Sony, OM Systems, and Panasonic, as well as the Ricoh GR series. I started off with entry-level cameras before moving to my first full-frame Canon 5D MK II while working as a professional landscape photographer before moving toward travel photography. My writing comes from the point of view of someone who is used to using professional-level tools.

Struggling with your Z50II settings? If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the menus or aren’t sure you’ve got your camera configured for the best results, I’ve put together a dedicated Nikon Z50II Quick Start Setup Guide. It covers the essential configurations I recommend to get you shooting with confidence—minus the complex technical jargon.

Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you

My Nikon Z50II + 16-50mm lens arrived from Amazon on Monday; I paid £851.44 (just over US $1100). I don’t remember the exact price of my Canon 450D, but I recall it was somewhere in the region of £400 (just over US $500) back in 2008. These are my initial thoughts, from my notes, after having unboxed it, set it up, and taken it out for a couple of hours on a local walk in the countryside. I’ll be writing much more on the Nikon Z50II as I continue to use it as I did at Sofias birthday recently and when I finally took the kit lens off.

It doesn’t, for the most part, feel like a beginner camera; it feels more like a miniaturized proper Nikon Z camera, almost like a miniature Z6III. The ergonomics feel familiar, with only a few things noticeable, one being the smaller battery, which on a two-hour walk with intermittent shooting, dropped one bar. Other differences include the memory card slot not being on the side of the grip but within the battery compartment, and the Z50II having a dedicated picture mode button on the top of the camera. The PASM dial also has an extra scene mode and is located on the right-hand side of the top plate where, on my Z6III and Z8, the top LCD screen would normally be.

Handling Impressions

In terms of handling, it feels incredibly light and compact. Combined with the 16-50mm kit lens, I hardly even noticed it when it was clipped onto my Peak Design Capture clip, attached to my backpack. At a combined weight of 685 grams (or about 1.51 lbs), it’s getting into compact camera territory.

First thoughts about the ergonomics are that they are way above what I was expecting; the grip is deep, really ergonomic, allowing my hand to get great purchase on the camera. The on/off switch is in the usual Nikon place, wrapping around the shutter button, and the top plate features the familiar 3-button setup just behind the shutter button—Record, ISO, and exposure compensation—exactly as my Z8 and Z6III. There are some other slight variations in button feel; they are not quite as solid as the higher-end cameras, but it feels very similar and coherent with the rest of the Nikon Z line.

Setup

I already did an initial custom setup to replicate my Z8 (I detailed my Z8 settings for wildlife here) as closely as possible in terms of button functions so that I can swap pretty seamlessly between my full-frame Nikon Z cameras and the Z50II. The fact that this is even possible surprised me, and it shows Nikon’s intent to make the Z50II more than just an entry-level camera.

I initially set the display button on the rear of the camera to activate single-point AF but found that the button is slightly awkward to activate due to the position my hand sits in. So, I am changing that customization and swapping that function to the AE-L/AF-L button instead, as that’s easier to reach more naturally. In terms of ergonomics, this is a world away from how I remember my beginner camera, the Canon EOS 450D. It feels refined, well-built, and capable. Surprisingly so, if I’m honest. I didn’t expect quite this level of customizability and feel from a camera aimed at this level.

My First Outing

For my first outing, I took the Z50II with just the 16-50mm kit lens on a walk where beavers are located. We knew we wouldn’t see them in the daytime, but I wanted to show Sofia their lodges. The walk there initially cuts through some farmland with beautiful ancient trees lining a narrow path before entering woodland and signs of beaver activity all around.

We got slightly off-track due to the incredible amount of fern growth which has sprung up since the last time I was here. We ended up having to find our way through dense woodland, across the pools and bogs that the beaver activity has created. Eventually, and after pushing through foliage that dwarfed Sofia, we got back on track and made our way toward the lodges. All along the walk, I was picking out shots and getting a feel for what this camera and lens combination could do.

I’ve set the autofocus up exactly as I have it on my other Nikon Z cameras for familiarity. A couple of things immediately impressed me with the Z50II, the first being that it was even possible to so closely replicate the functionality and setup of professional-level Nikon Z cameras. The fact that Nikon has allowed this, rather than differentiating the Menu system between a beginner-level camera and pro-level cameras, is an inspired choice in my opinion. It allows someone like me, who uses top-of-the-line gear, to pass down my experience from those cameras and use it with the Z50II. I never got the feeling that the camera had been dumbed down, which in turn gave me a feeling not of “ah god, this is restrictive and basic,” but more so that Nikon genuinely set out to make a smaller, cheaper version of their pro-level bodies. It feels every bit a Nikon Z camera of this generation.

My subjects were mainly trees, farmland, and the odd shot of Sofia, so I didn’t get to test out autofocus tracking, subject detection, or the more advanced AF elements yet. My default AF mode is Wide-Area AF S on all my Z cameras and so I set the Z50II up in exactly the same way. It feels responsive in my limited testing so far, but I will dig deeper into that in future outings.

A lot of the time I used my custom setting button to activate Single-point AF to ensure accuracy when photographing the landscape and ensuring the correct depth of field in shots. Speaking of which, due to the smaller APS-C sized sensor, depth of field is naturally deeper than my full-frame Z cameras which makes it easier to get front-to-back sharpness with larger apertures, something quite useful for landscapes. So instead of shooting at my usual f/8, I found myself at f/5.6 more often. One issue of course is the variable aperture of the Nikon Z 16-50mm kit lens, which when zooming through the focal range, sometimes makes f/5.6 impossible. At the long end, you’re at f/6.3.

Another factor I had to keep reminding myself of was that the Z50II does not have In-Body Image Stabilisation, so I had to remain aware of shutter speed so as to not introduce any camera shake into images. I rarely dropped below 1/30–50 of a second for this reason, and so on a couple of shots, the camera was at a higher ISO than I would normally have chosen.

Image Quality: Initial Impressions

Still, the image quality seems excellent, especially considering this is a kit lens. My initial instinct, although I will test this properly later, is that the lens is sharp in the centre, may soften slightly as you zoom towards the extreme end of its focal length, but as someone who uses some of Nikon’s top Z lenses, I never felt like the lens was terrible; in fact, for its tiny size, I was pleasantly surprised.

I should mention that the weather for this walk was pretty grey and overcast for the most part with drizzle turning to more persistent rain as we headed back towards the car. The Z50II has weather sealing and so I simply left it out in the elements, either on my Capture clip or in my hand, and continued to shoot.

When I got home, I went through some of the files and applied my usual editing style in Lightroom on my iPad. The files look good; they seem to offer the same ability to edit in terms of colour, dynamic range, and malleability that I’ve come to expect from Nikon. Technically, I haven’t tested them side-by-side to the full-frame photos coming off my Z6III or Z8, and will do so in due time, but as an initial impression, they seem to be in the same ballpark, if you allow for the sensor size difference. Overall, so far, my initial impressions of the Nikon Z50II are that it’s every bit a modern Nikon Z camera, in a smaller package, not a stripped-down beginner camera. That’s what impressed me the most when I first unboxed it and after taking it out on an initial shoot.

You can see the latest price for the Nikon Z50II kit I bought here.

In the first article, I ended up concluding that for general shooters, the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8S probably isn’t worth the expense as that focal length doesn’t really take advantage of a primes benefits in terms of depth of field. If you are interested in how the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S performs against the 24-120mm f/4S see my latest article in the series.

However in this second article, we are starting to get in to the type of focal length where depth of field naturally becomes more important. Often 50mm is recommended as the best first prime to start with as it gives a natural field of view that closely replicates the human eye, is much more flattering for portraits and allows you to focus on subjects with less context. All these types of shots are areas where depth of field control can be important.

I grew up in a time when primes were considerably better than zooms optically. I remember seeing the difference between Canon professional zooms such as the 17-40mm f/4L and primes like the Zeiss Otus line. However with Nikon in particular producing some incredibly sharp zooms in their Z lens lineup, does this still hold true or not?

This article contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend gear that I have personally owned and used extensively.

Methodology

Because I own both of these lenses, this comparison is based on thousands of frames shot in the real world. However, to provide a fair, head-to-head comparison, I headed to my local testing ground to conduct controlled tests.

For these, I mounted my Nikon Z8 to a tripod to ensure total consistency.

• Mid-Distance Sharpness: I shot my standard test scene with the Z 24-120mm f/4 set to an indicated 50mm, stepping through its aperture range from f/4 to f/8. I then swapped to the Z 50mm 1.8S, shooting from its wide-open aperture of f/1.8 through to f/8.
• Minimum Focus Distance: To evaluate close-range performance, I repeated the process at the minimum focusing distance for each lens, again ranging from wide-open to f/8.
• Portrait Distance & Depth of Field: Finally, to illustrate the practical difference in subject isolation, I shot both lenses at a common portrait distance of approximately 6 feet, with each lens set to its respective maximum aperture (f/1.8 for the prime and f/4 for the zoom).

Size and weight and Handling

The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 is not a small lens. At 630 grams, it feels substantial and is well-matched to my Nikon Z8; it also handles well on my Z6III. On my Zf, however, it’s horrible. That said, it remains below the point where I feel the size and weight become a major factor. When mounted on the Z8, it balances well, doesn’t feel front-heavy, and I happily clip it onto my Peak Design Capture Clip when hiking. It features a telescopic zoom design that extends the barrel as you zoom, but even fully extended, it never feels unwieldy. It also uses a 77mm filter thread, a standard size that lets me use my existing filter kit.

The Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S is a different story. At 415 grams, it is lighter than the zoom, though it’s worth noting it is roughly 45 grams heavier than the 35mm 1.8S I tested previously. It is quite a substantial lens for a 50mm f/1.8; it is definitely not a “plastic fantastic” like the old Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 I bought many years ago. However, the performance is in a completely different league compared to those older lenses. While it’s not as compact as some legacy primes, it still feels relatively compact on Nikon bodies like the Z6III and Z8.

I won’t dwell on this too long, as it’s clear that you are paying a size and weight penalty in return for the flexibility of the zoom. Whether that trade-off suits your shooting style is subjective; neither lens is “too heavy” or “too small,” they are simply designed for different priorities.

Image Quality

The first thing to note is that unlike in the 35mm comparison, the Zoom at 50mm and the prime give effecteviely the same field of view.

At 50mm, the shallower depth of field of the 50mm 1.8S is quite noticeable, giving a much smoother background which I find less distracting. There is some noticeable vignetting at 1.8 on the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S. It’s easily corrected in Lightroom with the use of lens profiles though.

When I look at the images side-by-side in Lightroom’s comparison tool, without zooming in, both look very sharp, with good contrast.

Once I zoom in to 100% , both lenses give sharp crisp details with a slight edge going to the zoom at f/4 over the prime at f/1.8.

Once the 50mm 1.8S is stopped down to f/4 to match the zoom, it becomes slightly sharper than the 24-120mm f/4. It’s not a night and day difference though. For normal use, I’d honestly say the difference is essentially irrelvant.

Once both lenses are stopped down to f/5.6, I struggle to see any meaningful difference, even when zooming in to 200% in Lightroom.

When I have to zoom in to a 200% crop to be sure of the differences, it shows just how close in performance the two lenses are in terms of sharpness in the centre of the frame.

At f/5.6 the extreme edge, performance from both the 24-120mm f/4 and 50mm 1.8s is essentially identical. So for landscapes and general use, I really see little difference between them in terms of pure sharpness.

It’s the same story when both lenses are stopped down to f/8 and beyond so I wont bore you with further examples at those apertures.

Next up I wanted to test how each lens at minimum focus distances. Nikon quotes the 24-120mm as having a 35cm minimum focus distance compared to the 40cm of the NIkon Z 50mm 1.8S. So to compare, I shot both lenses at the closest focusing distance I could obtain with the prime lens, from wide open to f/8.

At this point I want to note that Lightroom is telling me I hit exactly 50mm on the zoom lens this time and it does result in a marginally tighter field of view than the 50mm 1.8S prime, due to focus breathing in the 24-120mm f/4S as it focuses closer.

When shot wide open, the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4s is slightly sharper than the 50mm 1.8S. The differences are tiny but can be seen once you crop in 100% on the images.

In my opinion the difference in subject separation and background blur is fairly significant. The background blur on the 50mm 1.8s lens is significantly smoother and less distracting. The definitiion of the highlights in the background on the 24-120mm f/4s image are distracting. However, subject placment, distance between the background and subject will all have a major effect on this and to be quite honest, the background on the 24-120mm image is already out of focus to a degree where it is already sperating the subject well. Just how out of focus do I need my backgrounds is the question I’m asking here.

I then took a test shot with the 24-120mm f/4 at its minimum focus distance to show how it affects things.

The comparison above shows that the zooms closer minimum focus distance makes quite a difference and a side-effect of this is that it pushes the background more out of focus compared to the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S.

Finally, I took shots with both lenses wide-open at their respective apertures from a distance of 6 feet to show the difference in subject separation and bokeh from a fairly standard shooting distance.

The larger aperture of the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S shows much more subject separation at f/1.8 than the f/4 of the zoom.

Verdict

Honestly, as I’m writing this I am really torn on the value of the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S lens if you already own the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4. For landscapes and general shooting, the zooms flexibility combined with excellent sharpness are basically a no brainer. I’m genuinely surprised that the 50mm 1.8S didn’t easily beat the 24-120mm f/4 in terms of sharpness. If you’re simply looking for better image quality than the Zoom, in the real world, where we aren’t pixel peeping, I just cannot recommend spending the money on the prime lens if you aleady own the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4.

Is there still a case for owning the prime? Absolutely, but it has little to do with sharpness any more. Nikon with their Z line, seem to have really closed the gap that used to exist between primes and zooms. The conventional wisdom that primes are significantly better optically than zooms, no longer seems to hold up. So what’s the point in the prime? Well beyond the ability of teaching you to see in a certain way, which I’ve talked about many times before, and giving creative constraints which can help your photography improve, I was genuinely struggling to justify the prime lens.

The saving grace is the last test image showing shots at a fairly standard portrait distance. The prime is not a little better here, it is orders of magnitude better if you really need the ability to isolate subjects and throw backgrounds out of focus. Not just that, but it allows greater depth of field control which can be used as a way to guide viewers around a photo.

But these are either quite advanced or quite niche use cases and so, even though the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S is one of my favourite Nikon Z lenses, and the one where I thought the primes would start to justify themselves more, I have to conclude by saying that if you own the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4s lens, are a general photographer rather than a specialist, then unless you absolutely want that f/1.8 aperture, to isolate subjects, or you simply prefer working with primes, then it’s simply not worth spending the money on the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S.

You can see the latest price for the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S here.

You can see the latest price for the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S here.

As part of that series, I took the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S lens out on a local walk through the Perthshire farmland near my home yesterday with the intention of seeing how it changed the way I shoot, the images I could make and whether I could make it work for the wide-open countryside near my home. You can see how the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S compares against the 24-120mm f/4 here.

It was a beautiful sunny, summers day which sounds lovely, and it was, but it’s not my preferred weather for trying to shoot landscapes.

The high contrast light means that you have to carefully watch your exposure, ensure highlights aren’t clipped and it tends to flatten everything. That combined with being faced by a wall of green at this time of year has resulted in me looking more for interesting pockets of light across the landscape where it creates more depth than simple flat looking sunny scenes.

The 50mm focal length changes the way I shoot, It gives a feeling of peering in to the landscape rather than being immersed in it. The images often end up feeling more intimate. I tend to look for foreground elements that can frame a subject which sits deeper in the image.

I started out the walk, up an old railway path, looking for exactly these kind of compositions, peering through leaves and branches toward something that caught my eye. The light was a mix of bright sunshine, and the ocassional cloud rolling across the sky which would briefly cast shadows on to the land below.

Initially, I was still looking for similar compositions as I would normally, perhaps some foreground interest, leading towards the subject, framing it or leading in to it. To be honest, whether it was having my wife with me as I’m teaching her to create videos, or it was simply that I didn’t adjust my thought process enough, I was struggling to get anything other than snapshots of a nice subject.

One such location was a beautiful field of crops, blowing in the wind, creating swirls and patterns as the tops of the crops swayed during each gust. It immediately caught my eye and I headed down off the path to get closer. My instinct was to place the crops right up front in to the foreground and find a point of interest in the distance that could act as an anchor to the frame.

The problem, I found was that the 50mm focal length, didn’t allow me to get in close enough to feel immersed in the stems and seeds of the crop, while allowing enough depth of field and space in the frame to include the beautiful Oak tree in the distance that I had picked out as the anchor. I moved around, changed angles, raised the camera, lowered it, moved in closer, further out and stopped down my lens to f/16 but no matter what I did, it just wasn’t working. The second issue I was having is that I really wanted to capture the movement of the (wheat or barley, I think) as it swayed in the wind, almost as one organism rather than individual crops. Sadly, I hadn’t brought an ND filter and so in the bright sunshine, I couldn’t slow my shutter speed enough to capture the movement.

In the end, I got some shots, but they weren’t any good and didn’t capture the vision I imagined when I spotted the scene.

The 50mm is a fantastic lens that combined with any of my Nikon Z cameras, offers great image quality and performance. But having a fixed focal length meant I had to adapt my shooting style, which so far on the walk just wasn’t happening because of my pre-conceived ideas of the shots I would try and capture.

Thats was, until we continued walking along the path and to my right were tracks weaving thier way through the exact same field. I couldn’t resist trying to use these tracks in a photo as they created a beautiful S-curve through the crops.

Normally, I would have moved off the elevated path overlooking them and tried to get in close, using a similar thought process as my last unsuccessful attempt.

Instead, I saw clouds moving towards us which might offer some interesting shadows on the field. This could be the cherry on the cake of any image, if I could snap my brain in to thinking a little differently than it curretnly was.

This time I decided to stay on the elevated path as it gave a good vantage point over the field, emphasizing the shape of the leading lines of the path. In the distance, a beautiful row of trees framed the farmland. Knowing that I could use the compression of the 50mm focal length to pull the background closer, I framed up the shot multiple ways to see which worked best. The 50mm in this case, was actually giving me more sky in the frame than I wanted, but before the crop field was dead land, that was ugly and which I definitely didn’t want in the frame.

This is where a fixed focal length forces you to try multiple compositions and really think, often having to try multiple positions and framing options before settling on the one that works best. It forces you to really explore a scene and consider what it is that you want to show. Of course, the reverse of that is that sometimes, you have to make compromises you wouldn’t necessarily have to with a zoom.

In the end, I shot in portrait orientation to better align the frame with the flow of the tracks leading through the frame. In landscape orientation, there was too much dead space on the right of the frame that looked out of place. I decided that this was the best compromise, including more sky, rather than more field. Then, I simply waited for those clouds to move in and create some light pockets over the field that would bring out the texture and add a little more depth to the shot.

There are a few scenes on this walk that remind me of the time I spent in Tuscany, Italy and so I edited the image with that in mind. I go in to more detail on my thought process and techniques when shooting and editing on my personal website.

The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 isn’t quite in the same category in terms of how it is viewed. It’s not Nikon’s premium zoom option but it is a really good one that covers an incredibly useful focal range. So the question here isn’t whether the zoom is as good as the primes, it’s not, but whether it’s worth buying the primes for those of us who own the 24-120mm. How much better is sharpness, how much difference does f/1.8 make vs f/4 actually make, and are there other benefits that make it worth spending the money to add primes to your kit. You can see how the zoom compares against the Nikon Z 50mm 1.8S here and against the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S here.

I purchased all the lenses mentioned in this article with my own money. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you decide to buy through them.

I’ve been shooting the 24-120mm f4 for months, I’ve owned the 1.8S primes for well over a year. I bought the primes while I was still living in the Philippines and used them for candid travel photography , family photos and some street photography. I’ve reviewed them all individually. In my collection I own the 20mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses. I also own the 14-30mm f/4 and 24-120mm f/4. I previously owned the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 (the original one) and found it to be an exceptional lens but sold it a couple of years back as I felt it sat in the middle ground between the more practical 24-120mm with its really useful focal range and the primes with their ability to isolate subjects and shoot in low light.

Now that I’ve been living on the edge of the Scottish Highlands for nearly 6 months, I’ve found myself appreciating good zoom lenses more than in recent years. So the aim of this series of articles is to see whether I would buy the primes again, if I had to start over and more importantly, whether it’s worth it for most people.

Size and weight

The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 is not a small lens at 630 grams, it feels substantial, and really well matched to my Nikon Z8, it also handles well on my Z6III, on my Zf, it’s horrible. However, it is below the point where I feel the size and weight become a major factor. When it’s mounted on the Z8, it balances well, doesn’t feel front heavy and I happily clip it on to my Peak Design Capture Clip when hiking. It has a telescopic zoom design which extends the barrel as you zoom through the focal ranges but even fully extended, it never feels unweildy.

It has a 77mm filter size which is pretty common and allows me to use my existing filters.

The 35mm 1.8S lens on the other hand feels compact, considerably smaller and lighter than the zoom at 370 grams and in general is in a different ballpark altogether in terms of handling. However, both feel equally well made, being S line lenses.

I’m not going to add much to this as it’s pretty obvious that you’re paying a size and weight penalty in return for the flexibility of the zoom. Whether it suits your shooting style and priorities is very subjective but neither is too heavy nor too small, theyre just obviously different.

Methodology

To test the lenses I’ve looked through my Lightroom catalogue at the various shots I’ve taken with each lens over the last year as well as shot some test images for more technical comparisons. The test shots were taken on my Nikon Z8, on a solid tripod (Leofoto Summit LM-364C). I started by focusing the 24-120mm as close as I could to the test subject, then shooting images through the aperture range. I then replicated this with the 35mm lens at the same distance before testing the prime at it’s minimum focus distance. Finally, I shot them both from approximately 6 feet away from the subject in order to see whether this affected sharpness and also to show an actual example of the difference that f/1.8 vs f/4 makes in terms of subject isolation and bokeh at a mid-range focusing distance.

Image Quality

The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S lens is a sharp zoom, even wide-open at f/4, its decently sharp. Stopping down to f/5.6 it gets sharper still where I’d call it excellent, not quite on the level of the f/2.8 pro zoom but still more than good enough for everything from posting online to prints. At f/5.6 there is more detail and contrast. Viewed at 100% in Lightroom, the differences are quite obvious. At normal viewing distances on anything less than an A2 sized print and I doubt most people would be able to tell.

What surprised me somewhat is that the 35mm 1.8S is noticeably sharper at f/1.8 than the 24-120mm f/4 is at f/4. Unlike the Fuji comparisons I recently wrote, there is a noticeable difference in centre sharpness between the zoom and the prime lens. I also noticed that even though I didn’t get the Zoom bang on 35mm (it was 33.5mm), the prime is giving a wider field of view. I double checked this and confirmed it was the case.

Once the 35mm 1.8S lens is stopped down to f/4, it sharpens up even more and increases the gap between itself and the 24-120mm lens. The prime is substantially sharper at f/4 than the zoom, showing a lot more detail and contrast.

Once the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 is stopped down to f/5.6 it sharpens up and closes the gap to the prime. At f/5.6 sharpness is excellent for the zoom and pin sharp with the prime. In my personal opinion, once we are at these levels of sharpness, which one wins almost becomes irrelevant as they’re both sharp enough to look great on screen or in print.

Nikon quotes the 24-120mm as having a minimum focus distance of 35cm compared with 25cm on the 35mm 1.8S. 10cm doesn’t sound much on paper and it’s hard to visualise the difference by looking at the numbers alone, so here is a comaprison of them both shot wide-open at their respective minimum focus distances.

I think the difference, when you actually see it in a shot is much more dramatic than the numbers would suggest. The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S, at roughly 35mm focal length simply will not focus as closely as the 35mm 1.8S. This has a profound effect, combined with the larger aperture of the prime on it’s ability to thow backgrounds out of focus in a way that the zoom cannot get anywhere near. I would note that the zoom is considered to have an impressive minimum focus distance, and of course you can zoom in further to throw the background out of focus more, if of course, you are able to step back and shoot from further away.

This kind of test is useful but how often do you shoot at such close distances? I can’t think of many times in the last 20 years that I’ve done this. So to see what f/1.8 vs f/4 looks like in a more likely scenario, I moved the tripod back to 6 feet away from the subject and shot both lenses wide open to give a more realistic idea of the difference.

Judge for yourself, but the 35mm 1.8S is able to isolate the subject and throw the background more out of focus than the 24-120mm. That was always going to be the case but at this kind of mid-range shooting distance, I’m actually a little underwhelmed with the difference between the two. Yes the prime looks better but I still wouldn’t exactly call it a blown out or creamy background. My thoughts on this are that it shows that the distance to subject and between the subject and background, would have more effect on the ability to blur backgrounds than simply going from f/4 to f/1.8.

Verdict

These two lenses are designed for completely different roles, but where they overlap, the prime is clearly better in terms of shrapness, ability to islolate subjects and of course, will perform better in low light. That was always going to be the case, but how much sharper it is was the real take-away from my testing. However, if you shoot landscapes, general photography, travel, then in this focal range, if you already own the zoom, I don’t see the case for saying the prime lens is worth it. Stopped down to f/5.6, the zoom is already showing excellent sharpness. 35mm is a storytelling focal length where often, we want all of the scene to be in focus so the brighter aperture isn’t as much of a benefit as it may be at longer focal lengths. And, of course, you can always shoot the zoom at a longer focal length in order to give more background separation if you want to. For landscapes, the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 is already good enough if like me, you usually stop down to f/8 and beyond. In this particular comparison, the prime simply doesn’t offer enough of an advantage in every day shooting scenarios to justify the additional cost.

See the latest pricing for the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4S

However, if you are a prime shooter, value all the things that primes offer, then the 35mm 1.8S is incredibly sharp, nice and compact, well built and can create photos that are not possible with a zoom. I really enjoy mine, particularly when I was shooting travel photography abroad but for most people, who own the zoom, I’d say save your money and consider a different focal length, if you are looking to compliment your zoom with a prime.

So would I buy the prime again now that I own the zoom? Well yes I would, but that’s because of my particular style of shooting, where I often prefer to slow down, simplify and shooting with prime lenses allows me to do that. 35mm also happens to be one of my favourite focal lengths.

See the latest pricing for the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8S.

I’m going to get the key specs out of the way as some of them directly relate to my experience but the specs really don’t tell the story with these two cameras, well at least not with the Zf.

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Firstly, lets talk about the design because theyre fundamentally different and because much of the Zf’s appeal is based on its beautiful retro design, and it is beautiful. I have the the silver Zf (see my full Nikon Zf review) , normally I tend to go for the black versions these days but only the silver one was available when I bought it in the Philippines. It’s a stunning camera. I’d probably rank it alongside my OM system OM-3 as the best looking camera I own. The silver finish isn’t too light or bright and the dials remind me of film cameras of years gone past. The Z8 on the other hand is purely functional, it’s basically a modern D850 DSLR (See my full Nikon Z8 review), nothing about it is designed to wow you or appeal to nostalgia. Well, unless you’re nosatgic about the DSLR era I suppose.

So on design alone, the Zf objectively has to be declared the winner but that doesn’t tell the whole story because not everyone wants a retro looking camera and when I look at both of them sat next to each other on my OCD shelf (I call it that as everything has its place, lenses in focal length order, cameras in size order etc) I don’t see them in the same way. Yes the Zf is undoubtedly the conventionally better looking camera but the Z8 calls to me because it screams, im going to get out of your way, get the job done and be really comfortable and easy to use while getting your shots. There’s an appeal to me in a camera that means business, is solid and leaves me knowing it can handle anything I throw at it. So lets just say, I don’t see one as the ugly duckling and the other as the beauty queen. One’s a Ducati 748, beautiful and will get you around the track quickly, the other is a Honda Fireblade, still looks good but is built to get the fastest possible lap time first and foremost. I like both.

What’s surprising is how close they are in weight and even size when you hold them. Although the Z8 is clearly bigger, its not night and day. The Zf feels very wide, almost too wide for it’s height and out of the box, it lacks any grip whatsoever making it awkward to hold. I’ve improved this by adding the Smallrig grip (full accessories for the Nikon Zf article) but even with that, the weight of the Zf pulls to the left, and the grip doesn’t offer enough extra purchase to stop the camera feeling like it wants to drop to the left which eventually, fatigues your hands more than I’d like.

The Z8 sits a lot taller and substantially deeper but that’s offset hugely by its really good grip.

If I’m packing for travel and I need to minimise space then the Zf definitely packs down smaller whereas the Z8 is more of a squeeze in my Peak Design Everyday Sling 10L once I attach the 50mm 1.8S, pack an additional prime like the 35mm 1.8S, spare batteries, memory cards, cleaning kit and my Ipad Pro 13″.

But in actual use, they don’t really feel like a completely different class of camera in terms of weight because the grip on the Z8 is so deep and well designed that it makes holding the camera with any lenses larger than the 40mm f/2 more comfortable than the Zf with anything more than the 28mm/40mm f/2 sized lenses.

If im packing light, going to wear the camera on a strap or keep popping it in and out of my bag all day, the size advantage of the Zf makes more sense and the grip of the Z8 is less of a factor. But if I’m going to have the camera in my hand most of the day, the Z8 is much more comfortable to hold.

The other major difference is the controls. The Nikon Zf has physical dials for shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation. The dials work well when you’re in full manual mode and are a pleasure to use for slower paced or creative photography. Where it differs from the implementation on my Fuji X-T5 (full review here) is that the dials on the Zf are dependant on which mode you put the camera in on the MASP switch (the Zf’s equivalent to standard PASM dials). In manual mode, every dial works as expected, but because most Nikon Z lenses don’t have an aperture ring (although you can program it to the control ring if your lens has one) you have to use the front command dial to change aperture.

In Aperture priority mode, the shutter speed dial becomes inactive. The system makes sense but If you’re going to give me a physical control for shutter speed, I want that dial to overide the MASP setting. I’d say it feels incomplete because of a lack of aperture rings on Nikon Z lenses and, slightly disjointed because you have to mix using physical controls for shutter speed and ISO with command dial use for aperture as it comes out of the box. I’ve set up the lens control ring to function as the aperture dial on my Zf and while it works fine, it lacks the tactile feedback of having a physical aperture ring on a lens as there’s no clicks.

The Z8 uses a PASM based system. I shoot it almost exlusively in manual mode with auto ISO. I then use the front dial to control aperture and the rear dial for shutter speed. It’s very quick in use to adjust settings.

The next major difference is that with 45mp resolution, the Z8 basically doubles every lens you have, to give a usable FX and DX variant as DX still gives you 20mp files. Practically I consider 24mp to be plenty for normal use in most situations. I tend to think in terms of ‘is something enough’, rather than ‘is it the best available’, especially for resolution as I remember printing 30×20″ gallery prints from my Canon 5d mk II (which only had 20mp) and the quality was excellent.

But in use, the ability to turn every lens that you have in to two usable focal lengths has two main benefits that I’ve found could almost justify the cost difference between the Zf and Z8 alone.

I often travel with one camera and two prime lenses to keep things light. Usually I’d pick a 35mm and a 50mm lens to take with me, to cover normal wide and mid range. these are my most often used focal lengths for travel.

If I take the Zf with both lenses I get 24mp files for everything and the total weight is 1.6kg. But if i take the Nikon Z8 with just the 35mm 1.8S (reviewed here)and use it in FX mode for the 35mm focal length and in DX mode to get an equivalent 50mm field of view. I can leave the 50mm 1.8S lens behind (reviewed here) and get 45mp shots in FX mode and still only lose 4mp against the Zf with 20mp files in DX mode. The total weight for the Z8 and 35mm 1.8S is 1.28kg and I’m gaining a lot of resolution in Fx mode and only giving up minimal resolution in Dx mode. Yes, the 35mm 1.8S wont give quite the same subject separation or look as using the native 50mm lens but it’s close enough that at those focal lengths the differences probably wont make or break a shot.

The Z8 combination ends up being arguably more capable yet lighter.

If you still want to carry two lenses, with the Z8 you now have four focal lengths to use.

So if I’m talking purely about weight and functionality, the Z8 gives a lot of extra flexibility thanks to its higher resolution sensor. Ultimatley the Zf does pack down smaller if your kit is the same and that can be important for travel but it’s not a clear win for the Zf as there’s lots of different factors to consider.

Where the Zf does make more sense is for hobbyists and as a second camera for Nikon Z shooters. There’s no getting around the fact that the Zf offers a completely different shooting experience from the DSLR style of the Z8. The physical control dials make me feel more like an artist than a photographer, they slow me down, slow my thinking down and make the whole experience feel more tactile and about the joy of shooting as much as getting the shot. There’s also something to be said for using a beautiful camera, I know that sounds shallow but for someone like me, who’s professional life revolves around photography, having a camera that makes you feel pride in its appearance, even perhaps get the odd complimentary or inquisitive comment, is a pleasure. And, the third point I would definitely say is a factor for travel, is that turning up in some far flung location with a camera that looks like the Zf changes the way you are perceived and often, the reactions that you get when you point it at people.

The Zf definitely gives off the ‘harmless tourist vibe’ rather than the ‘professional photographer look’ which often allows you to get photos without disturbing the people you are shooting, which results in less stares, less changes in the way people behave in front of the camera and generally, more natural candid photos. I should say though that more than the camera you are using, how you interact and behave when you’re photographing a place has more impact on the reactions you get.

Finally, for a photograhy first camera, the Zf has a few strange design choices in my opinion, the first being the inclusion of a fully articluating screen. There’s nothing wrong with it but for photography, and especially if you’re trying to take advantage of the Zf’s more discreet nature, having to pull out the fully articulating screen and have it stick out of the side of your camera in order to shoot at the hip or shoot from higher or lower positions makes little sense.

The Z8’s screen is by far my preferred choice for photography as you can simply flip it up or down in-line with the camera which is much quicker to do and more discreet. The Z8 doesn’t make for much of a selfie camera because of this, but I reckon that probably loses Nikon about 2 sales a year.

Most of the article so far has been based on travel photography because, that’s really one of the main use cases I can see for the Nikon Zf. For landscape and general photography for most people, the Z8 simply makes more sense, if you can afford it.

As I’ve now moved to Scotland, where I’m shooting landscapes more so than travel photography, my own use has switched to heavily preferring the Nikon Z8 over the Zf. In fact, apart from shooting for reviews, I honestly haven’t picked up the Zf for a couple of months until today.

Verdict

I’m sat here now, holding the Zf and asking myself why that is because it’s a really capable camera and one that is fun to use.

I think the answer is this: The Zf is very good but the Z8 is better in almost every area and with basically no weight penalty. I look at the Zf and think that looks lovely but it doesn’t make me want to pick it up becausue it’s not particularly comfortable to use and the implementation of the physical control dials feels half hearted, so I don’t get the full experience of aperture, shutter speed and ISO control that I would want from a camera like that.

For me personally, when I want to shoot in that way, my Fuji cameras still do it better and when I want to shoot Nikon Z, I’m doing so because the ergonomics and performance are what I need and the Z8 simpy performs better in those areas.

There is one area though where I would be much more likely to choose the Nikon Zf over both the Z8 and my Fuji cameras, and that’s family photography (the Nikkon Zf is recommended in my article discussing the best cameras for family photography). After years of shooting my kids, I’ve learned that how they react to the camera changes massively depending on what the camera looks like. If i stick a pro looking DSLR in their face, they stop what they’re doing, tighten up, change their expressions and stop acting naturally. If I use a camera that looks like the zf, they largely carry on with what theyre doing, especially if I put one of the smaller Z lenses on the camera such as the 40mm f/2SE (reviewed here). Although I do shoot a lot of my family photos on Fujifilm cameras, I’ll be the first to admit that the Zf’s autofocus is faster and more reliable which makes it easier to get shots of children racing around. So if I was choosing between buying the Z8 and the Zf purely to have a camera with me to take photos of my family, at home, special events, vacations or anything else, I’d pick the Zf, save the money and get an extra lens or an extra vacation.

That’s about the only use case where I can realistically see myself picking the Zf over the Z8 and on that note, I have to go and take Izzy’s first British passport photo….. and I’m still reaching for the Z8.

If you’ve decided which camera is right for you, you can check the latest prices here: Nikon Zf | Nikon Z8.

Instead, I’ve found myself using it not for traditional wide vistas and expansive views of the Highlands, but on local walks through ancient woodland and farmland. Rather than using it to capture grand landscapes, I’ve been using it to explore a different way of seeing and composing photographs.

As a result, this lens has spent far more time on my camera than I ever expected.

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More Than Just a Landscape Lens

Initially, I took the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S out on my Z6 III during a particularly stressful period.

I wanted to walk my local woodland, clear my head and spend some time outdoors. To simplify things, I deliberately chose a prime lens. Removing the option to zoom meant one less decision to make, while the bright f/1.8 aperture would help keep ISO levels under control on the dull, rainy days that are so common in Scottish woodland.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to come home with any great photographs. The goal was simply to get out of the house and decompress.

What I found while exploring local farm tracks and ancient woodland was unexpected.

The 20mm focal length encouraged me to really look and see in a way that zoom lenses often don’t. Its wide perspective forced me to pay close attention to every element in the frame, move closer to subjects, and think carefully about the relationship between foreground and background.

At the same time, the lens offered an unusual combination: I could get physically close to a subject while still including a strong sense of place and context. A patch of grass, a weathered fence post or a small group of trees could become the focal point of an image without losing the surrounding environment that gave it meaning.

As a result, composing photographs became a far more immersive experience. Sometimes it was challenging. Often it required more thought than simply zooming in on a subject. But when everything came together, it was also incredibly rewarding.

That experience is a large part of why the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S has spent far more time on my camera than I originally expected. It encouraged me to shoot it more on my Nikon Z8 too.

Build Quality

Like the rest of Nikon’s S-Line prime lenses, the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S feels exceptionally well made.

Constructed from a combination of high-quality plastics and metal, the lens strikes an excellent balance between durability and weight. At 505g, it isn’t the smallest wide-angle prime available for the Nikon Z system, but it is light enough that I’ve happily carried it for several hours while exploring local woodland and farm tracks.

It takes 77mm filters which is a standard filter size and happens to be one of the two sizes of filters that I managed to salvage from the Philippines when I moved to Scotland this year. That allows me to share filters between it and some of my other lenses such as the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4.

Mounted on both the Nikon Z6 III and Nikon Z8, the lens feels well balanced. It’s substantial enough to inspire confidence without ever becoming burdensome, which is particularly important for a lens that often encourages longer walks and slower, more deliberate photography. The design is similar to the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8S lens in that Nikon have opted for a more narrow and long design rather than fat and short. I prefer fat and short but that’s very subjective.

The weather sealing is also reassuring. Much of my early use of the lens took place during typical Scottish weather, where damp conditions, drizzle and muddy paths are often part of the experience. I never felt the need to baby the 20mm f/1.8 S when shooting outdoors.

Image Quality

The Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S delivers excellent image quality and is one of those lenses that quickly disappears as a limitation when you’re shooting.

Wide open at f/1.8, the lens is impressively sharp in the centre of the frame whether mounted on the Nikon Z6 III or the higher-resolution Nikon Z8. Corner sharpness does soften slightly at wider apertures, but in practice I rarely found this to be an issue. If I’m shooting at f/1.8, my attention is usually on ensuring the subject is sharp rather than critically assessing corner performance.

Stop the lens down and the performance becomes even more impressive. Between f/5.6 and f/11, the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S produces excellent detail across the frame, including the corners. On the 45.7MP Nikon Z8, images remain highly detailed even when viewed at 100%.

One aspect of the lens that particularly impressed me during woodland photography was its control of chromatic aberration. Backlit trees against bright skies are one of the harshest tests for any lens, yet the 20mm f/1.8 S handled these situations exceptionally well. Even in scenes with extreme contrast, I saw virtually no distracting colour fringing.

Flare resistance is similarly impressive. Nikon’s coatings do an excellent job of maintaining contrast when shooting into challenging light, while the supplied lens hood provides additional protection from stray light. Although no lens is completely immune to flare, the 20mm f/1.8 S performed very well in the situations I encountered.

As with any ultra-wide-angle lens, distortion is something you need to be aware of. Keeping the camera level is important if you want to avoid converging verticals and exaggerated perspective effects. Fortunately, Nikon Z camera’s built-in level makes this easy, and any remaining distortion is quickly corrected in Lightroom using the lens profile. In real-world use, I found the optical distortion to be relatively well controlled.

What stands out most about the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S, however, isn’t its sharpness, lack of chromatic aberration, or flare resistance—impressive though those qualities are.

What makes this lens special is the way it encourages you to see. Its wide field of view pushes you to think more carefully about composition, relationships between subjects, and the use of foreground elements. It demands more attention than many lenses, but it also rewards that effort. The excellent optical performance simply ensures that when you do find a compelling composition, the resulting image lives up to the vision you saw in the field.

Autofocus Performance

Autofocus performance is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Nikon’s S-Line prime lenses. Focusing is fast, accurate and essentially silent.

In my use, which has mainly consisted of woodland photography, countryside walks and general outdoor shooting, the lens has never given me reason to think about autofocus at all. Focus acquisition is quick, subject detection works as expected, and accuracy has been consistently excellent on both the Nikon Z6 III and Nikon Z8.

Ultimately, autofocus is one of those areas where the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S simply gets out of the way and lets you concentrate on making photographs.

Final Thoughts

I bought the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S as a relatively lightweight wide-angle lens for those occasions when my Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S wasn’t quite wide enough.

What I didn’t expect was how much I would enjoy using it.

While the optical performance is excellent, with impressive sharpness, excellent control of chromatic aberration and strong flare resistance, those aren’t the reasons this lens has spent so much time on my camera.

The real appeal of the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S is the way it encourages you to photograph differently. It rewards photographers who are willing to slow down, pay attention to the relationships between elements within a scene and think carefully about composition. In return, it offers a perspective that is difficult to replicate with other lenses.

It won’t be the right lens for everyone. Many photographers will be better served by the flexibility of the Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 S or 14-24mm f/2.8 S, while others may find a 35mm or 50mm prime more useful for everyday photography.

However, if you enjoy working with a fixed focal length, appreciate the immersive perspective of a wide-angle lens and want something capable of far more than simply capturing expansive landscapes, the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S is an easy lens to recommend.

For me, it has become one of the most enjoyable lenses in my Nikon kit.