Nikon Z 40mm f/2 lens review with samples 

I've been using this lens for over a month now (Seems like here in Germany we got it early). And I'm really enjoing it so far, as it is a good and lightweight companion for my Z6II. The plastic mount adds to that fact and since it is that lightweight I don't consider this a problem. It's a very interesting focal length, ideal for environmental portraits for example. Thanks Christopher for confirming my good choice ;-)

One of the best Nikon lenses for portraits and street photography. Just love it!

Small but nice! The lens handles bright lights surprisingly well, it is lightweight and I think the overall build quality is great. Compared to the old AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8 G I've been using for years, this new 40mm is in a whole different league in terms of image quality... virutally no color fringing, quiet and fast AF, great sharpness. I recommend using a cheap wide angle metal lens hood as it helps protecting the lens body as you put your camera in your bag, on tables, stonewalls... It is the ideal companion for a city trip.

Big win for nikon at this price range , nikon z50 or z5 shooters should look no where else , except for may be the long waited z 28mm f2.8 and we will be glad to see it in your hands

Every time I think of moving away from full frame bulk, weight and expense, its these compacts that keep me in the game. Just giving me what I need to get around and giving me some honest performance/value

This is a great lens. It has a bit more character than the absolute sharpness of the S primes, and doesn't have the fringing etc that the older generation of cheap primes had. Yes the mount is plastic but this is a VERY light lens, a metal mount would add weight and price for very little gain. Yes it is plasticy, but that same plastic keeps the weight down, and small + light was the goal of the lens - it has succeeded. It is rare to find a big brand AF lens at such a low price, especially with this optical quality. If you want a big and heavy lens, spend the money on an S prime. This lens might be light and plastic, but that doesn't mean it is badly made.

Great review, Christopher. I can see this budget lens in my bag in future together with the new 28mm 2.8 Z lens. Hoping Nikon will loan you the 28mm 2.8 Z lens for testing.

I literally just got back from the camera store with this lens and I see your review! Nice job 😁

This might just be the first actual Z lens I pick up for my Z6, looks great!

As a street hobbyist photo guy, this is the kind of lens that I would slap on the camera, stop down to f/8, and go hip-shooting the entire day without worry.

Man, if I shot Nikon I'd definitely use that lens. That kinda image quality for 300usd is really enticing imo.

Thanks again for this review that made me decide to buy it. It's so so good for me. Light weight like nothing on camera, useable at F2, wonderful at 2.8. It's my ultimate street/party lense now especially at night. Bokeh is very round and smooth. If you want a light weight fast lense for a starter price, this lense is a no brainer.

Best focal length, amazing f/2 aperture, excellent sharpness, all in a portable and cheap lens. This is the lens that lets me carry my full frame the way other people carry their Fujis. Best walk around lens bar none, I only wish I’d bought it sooner.

You're really hitting me with the DRTV nostalgia with that outro music.. goddamn I miss those days. Lens looks fantastic, this is honestly exactly what I was hoping from from one of the full frame mirrorless systems. Seriously considering ditching MFT for Nikon Z between this, the 24-70 f4 and Viltrox 85.

Impressive IQ for the price, but at the cost of build quality. Thankfully the lens is small and light, it should balance well on the camera. Hopefully the 28mm 2.8 reviews just as well, and I wonder if Nikon will round out the the small affordable lens kit with a 65mm f/2-2.8 or similar.

Amazing image quality for such a cheap lens. It appeals to me for its size and low weight. With the price there is not much to go wrong.

Lenses like this and the Samyang 45 really make the awful nifty 50s from Canon and Sony that much more embarrassing. Excellent review as always. This with a Z5 would make for a strong budget photography combo.

I been waiting for this one 😃 Thank you so much!!!!😎👍🏼

Could you please review the Nikkor 24-200 mm f4-6.3 Z Nikon lens? Excellent review as usual. What would you prefer 35 mm or 40 mm?

There’s no rubber mount gasket but I do think the lens is weather sealed based on Nikons promo documents. “Designed with consideration for dust and drip-resistant performance with a sealing that prevents dust and water droplets from entering the lens.”

I plan to buy one for my Z50! Thanks for the review :)

Thinking to swap one Lumix S camera for a Nikon Z6 just for this lens...just amazing!

In my opinion the corners at F2 or 2.8 aren't really a problem because there you most of the time have your subject in center and corners are blurry anyway because out of focus

Thank you Christopher for another great review. I was interested in this lens I only knew 28 mm which I rather enjoy but there's something appealing about this 40 mm. Thank you very much for the review.

Just got this lens, absolutely fantastic!

Great review, I have been waiting for this one! 👍 However because I am shooting Nikon Z50, may I ask you next time when you review Nikon lens to include also APS-C mode, same as you are doing for Sony (it will be probably too much to ask to redo the test). Many people will appreciate it! Thanks!

Would love to see a review of Nikons 28mm 2.8... especially on APSC :)

Wish Nikon would make a premium version of this lens with metal lens mount and weather sealing

I'm not really in the market for this lens, but something about it just seems great. Those are lovely optics given the price. Thanks for the review, Chris. Side note, ever since its announcement, I've been itching to learn more about the new Samyang 50mm, and I'm eagerly awaiting your review, assuming you cover it, of course.

nice little lens. I like the focal length much more than 50mm

The autofocus motor is dead silent. Better priced and much better than all of my previous canon cameras.

Excellent review, most informative. I like 40mm and have been waiting for this lens as my first native Z mount, yet so far I found nothing compelling about it, I now hesitate and have not pulled the trigger. Not a bad lens by the sound of it, but sadly it's less compact than my Hexanon with the adapter, the IQ is about the same, Hexanon is f/1.8 even, so $300 just to get AF over my current $100 Hexanon. I might just spend that money on an AF m-to-z adapter like the Techart or Megadap. (edit) Coming from the old-school lenses, I understand the complains about the plastic mount and agree that makes it sound like a cheap lens, but it doesn't bother me.

As I had said about the 28mm Z lenses, people need to keep their expectations in line with the price. For a $300 lens, this thing performs very well. It's obviously not up to the calibre perhaps of it's bigger sibling, the 50 1.8 S, but that lens is also 2x the price and about 2x the size (length). So for a $300 I could see this as a great street photography lens, partially because it its small and light weight, and on the APS-C bodies, it's an equivalent ~60mm lens which is also a great focal range for things like portraits.

for a budget lens this is amazing performance imo also considering the fact that there's very few 40mm options in mirrorless world overall

Got this lens just for size and weight. And 40mm is good for every day photography

I rewatched this video as I have been thinking about buying some Z glass. The one thing that I noticed is that you don't show what the bokeh is like when stopped down to f\4. I thought about this because this lens performs best at f\4, or at least that's what It seems like according to your testing. Other than that, I love watching your videos and I have made a number of purchases based on your tests. Bob

I would have happily paid 50€ more for a metal mount. Probably more psychological than anything, I admit. As occassional use only lens, this is a serious alternative to the 3x more expensive z35 f1.8. Thanks for the excellent and thorough report, as usual.

Nice review - short, crisp, to the point.

Nice review Chris. Can you please do a review on the new Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 ?

Regardless of the sharpness look at all that microcontrast! Reminds me of the Super multicoat Takumar 35 1.8

Thanks for this review. Do you have the brother of this one also in planning? The Z 28 f2.8? Looking forward to it.

Love your reviews! How would you think the performance of this lens might be different when used on the Z50?

Could you test this lens again on an APS-C camera like the z50 to see if it has corner sharpness wide open? Nikon talk to the benefit of using this as a portrait lens on crop sensor cameras and sell a "portrait bundle" with a flash. So it would be great to see how it performs on the highest resolution Nikon APS-C camera available (at the time of testing)

A street photography lens for Nikon Z cameras?

Great review! Bought this lense today 😊

Aaaargh. Price point. The camera reviewer's favourite expression. I think it means price

Are you going to test the Z 28mm F2.8 lenses? Would be awesome. Thank you.

Grabbed it on sale from Adorama. I’m going to be using this on my studio videos at f2.0.

Wow that af is realy fast! Quick question: I never see microcontrast as test matric in your reviews. Could you tell me why? I look mostly for lenses with high microcontrast and this lens seems to have it. This will make me switch from fuji to nikon. I love the high micro contrast lenses of fuji, unfortunately those lenses which have it (14 f2.8, 27 f2.8, 18 f2, 35 1.4, 60 f2.4, 56 f1.2 and 23 f1.4) all have slow autofocus, the only exception i can remember is the 50 f2 and 90 f2.... The new lenses of fuji have fast af, but are to large (imho) and to expensive!

This lens reminds me a lot of the Samyang 35mm f2.8 for Sony FE, boyh physically and in terms of sharpness distribution.

Cracking review, thank you. Following this review I am now going to purchase one.

So this lens is stupidly good at f/4 considering its price, weight and the fact that is full frame.

I tried the 40 mm on my Z50, a nice portrait lens.

Great review Chris I do like the 40 FoV - had the Pan 20/1.7 on m43 for many years - lovely and sharp lens. I had this 40/2 for a week and sent it back to Amazon. Maybe it was a bad copy but I don't think so: the resolution drifts away from the centre as you can see from the MTF and I found that I needed to stop it down to f4 ( and I am not picky in general ) to get decent-ish IQ. It did nothing for me in terms of any special quality - any old decent MF 50 like my Contax 1.7's bests it. Thom Hogan did say "old school" about it. It is a 200 quid lens after all and you get what you pay for. I think I actually preferred the 50/1.8 G. ( apart from the FL ). If I have to run at f4 or narrower then there is no point in an f2 optic. The kit 24-70/4 is not exactly huge and does a far far better job. If I need a fast lens and sharp over most of the frame then its my Z 50/1.8S even if it is bigger. Since I have the megadap EZ221, I did look at the Sony 40/2.5 g for a compact prime - superb resolution wide open but high LOCA unlike the Nikon which is a point in its favour. The Sony is also overpriced IMO. On the other hand, I thought the build quality of that Nikkor was fine - I have no issue with plastic mounts and see Roger Cicala view on them over on the Lens Rentals Blog. Many "metal" mounts are just a metal plate and screwed onto a plastic subframe.

i like that you are going for the z system, too.

Hi Christopher, I'd like to see the inclusion of short sound clips of lenses' AF motors. Otherwise, I really enjoy your videos!

Please review the Nikon 28mm f/2.8 SE! Thanks

Thanks for the review! The lens seems awesome, not sure about the plastic mount though. Still, it's great for the price.

Glad you said i should not hammer nails with this lens as this is way i normally do with my lenses ;) Great video, Chris!

Can you check out the Samyang 24-70 f2.8 parfocal for sony e mount?

I wonder how it conpared to canon's 40mm 2.8? I think its probably sharper at 2.8 still. It was sure sharper than the 50 1.8, and you mention this acts similarly to those, pwrhaps because nikons 50 1.8 is a premium optic instead of cheap one.

Wondering should I shoot for this or for the viltrox 35 or 50

While optical performance is clearly better than either 35/2 or 50/1.8 G lenses, the same could not be said for the build. It's a shame that Nikon didn't outfit this, and the 28/2.8 Z with metal mounts. Yes, these are budget (by today's standard), but not exactly cheap lenses. Handling the 40/2 and the 50/1.8 G, the 40 feels plain cheap.

Awesome review, I'm getting one 👍

Nice and small and better for carry than my optically excellent 50 1.8 Z lens. Optically good enough, but no match for 50 1.8

There is a mistake in your test setup. When validating corner sharpness you should use lcd view and zoom to the corner you want to test and focus exactly here. Either manually or using AF. Then you will really see how sharp the cornes can be. With so small DOF at F/2 and fosussing to the center, the corners are already out of focal plane.

Is there a chance you could re-review the sigma 18-35 F1.8? I think it would be popular among us aps-c viewers and would be much higher quality than the review using the 60D.

Another winning review! Cheers! 👍👍👍✌🏻😁📷

Great lens optical design from nikon, but you pay for it. It's just a small bit of precision glass compared and can't really be called exactly "cheap" in an absolute sense. If sigma could sell their dg dn small aps 30mm f2.8 cheaper so could nikon. But sigma have been going premium.

Nikon makes itself a seppuku with its "breakthrough" projects!

What a shame, no weather sealing.. Though it's so simple - just to include a rubber circle around the mount.

5.6 the sweet spot for land scape on this lens

When are you gonna get your hands on the new Samyang FE 50 F1.4 v2 lens?

Who cares if it's plastic? It's cheap and lightweight. I rather have something light for everyday walk around

Hi. In your opinion, Nikon Z5 Nikkor Z 40mm f2 or Nikon Z5 FTZ Nikkor AF-S 50mm 1.4 G

Viltrox 27mm f1.2 Nikon: See how much they sacrifice to mimic a fraction of our power

Please do review of sony 28-60 lens we need your review all them.

The plastic mount is surprising, I understand it’s a budget lens but other brands put metal mounts on on their budget lenses.

Is this a good replacement for a 50 1.8G in terms of sharpness and portrait photography

nikon f mount 50mm f1.8 vs z mount 40mm f 2 which is best lens for photography nikon z50 body

Hi guys! I have a Nikon D3300, will this lens work with this body? I'm such a noob to all of this sorry if it sounds silly.

Got Z6 and kit 24-70F4S, I'm still on the fence between this one and Viltrox 35 1.8Z.

Shame about the missing coma test though. Wide open at f2, the coma on this lens is outright terrible. Point light sources can produce heavily pronounced coma.

Thanks!

thank you

Does a cheap lens show slightly less dynamic range?

My Nikon Z 35mm F1.8 is faulty, can I use this lens to replace it.

Nice!

No brainer with the Nikon Zf

I always see that at wide open, corners are softer, but is it the right test? Should a test board be not flat for that test, because the distance to corners is greater than to center and due to narrow field of view, corners always be softer or I would say, out of focus?

I love the compactness but when it came to low light I was like bye ✌🏻haha. Its a wonderful lens for the price though!

While I think it’s good that Nikon releases cheap compact lenses, I wish that they would also release a similar compact 28 and 40mm f2 lens that has a better build quality - a metal mount and weather sealing.

Nikon was not able to squeeze out a metal mount? Cmon…

How top🤘

This lens is the perfect example of "good enough". Fairly cheap. Small-ish. Some sacrifices in build quality, but acceptable ones. IQ not optimal wide open, but improves stopped down. I think many primes in the S line are just too big and pricey; I only own the 50mm f1.8s in that line. The newer 26mm pancake lens tries to go further, but misses the mark with its price tag.

I was considering picking up the 35mm 1.8 to pair with my 85mm 1.8 S but it's a focal length I'm not sure I'd use that often except in instances I need to go a bit wider when shooting street. Was trying to justify the cost to myself for a lens that might not be used much... the 40mm seems like a great compromise though. Can see it being a great little street photography lens. Also the plastic composite mount doesn't bother me too much. I think it will be sturdy enough.

😍

Why corner is always less sharper compared to center in majority of lenses? I'm just trying to understand.

Please can you test zeiss batis 40mm CF

The nifty fifty