Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S lens review 

This lens is my latest addition to my equipment and it has quickly become my favourite lens. Sure, as shown in the video, corners aren’t the best at 200, but I have never noticed that before watching this video. The VR is simply insane. I literally just handheld a shot earlier today at 200 with 1/2 sec shutter speed on my z7.

I think the "not so sharp" corner is really sharp enough for any practical applications.

I have had this lens since its release almost and I still find myself marvelling at the quality images I can get with this. With every penny!

There should be an award for the longest running soundtrack on a YT channel. And I don't even get bored of hearing it.🤩

The angles are better than on 95% of prime! VR is stellar!

This is a timely review, I just got mine the other day. I’m personally blown away by this lens for the little shooting I have done. Sharpness and overall image quality is astounding. On the Z9 it doesn’t miss a beat. Easily my favourite Z lens so far.

Although it might be overkill, this is my favorite lens for landscape photography. The insane VR lets me not have to use a tripod in almost all situations, I've been getting razor-sharp shots all the way at 200mm shooting at 1/30 of a second.

Brutally, optical stabilization is incredible

What a amazing lens with internal zooming!

Amazing piece of glass that goes with me everywhere as it’s so versatile. I use it with a 1.4x TC and find very little if any image degradation. That 200mm looks pretty good to me and so did the flare resistance at the same focal length. 🤷‍♂️

That 200mm corner looked very similar to RF 70-200 and other tele lens you’ve reviewed recently where you gave praise…

I recently got this lens from a quality used and tested retailer for £1700, its a phenomenal lens, Nikon's finest

NO Chromatic aberration on the aberration test. very impressive.

I've owned this lens for over a year now and I can say it's an absolutely outstanding piece of kit. I like the size and weight of it although I am 6'5" and 120kg so it's subjective. I find smaller lenses can feel a little flimsy. Would absolutely recommend to anyone in the Z ecosystem

Nikon colors are sooo Beautiful 😍🤌🏼

Another brutal lens from Nikon! Sharpness in angles are better than all other Canon/Sony 70-200 f2.8 models, so I don't know why such negativity. The others are even worse except the f4 version!

Wow! Stellar performance! Lucky Nikon folk!

I've been using this lens on a Z6ii for the last 2 years, mostly at 200mm, f2.8, mostly in concerts or similar settings - it has been a legend! It's heavy, but has brilliant image quality - corner sharpness has never been a problem, but I don't often do landscapes with it. It's a lovely bit of kit.

I waited longer for this lens than I did the Z9 and D850 combined when it was originally released. Well worth the wait. Performance with TC's does not drop off all that significantly.

I just got the lens, it is simply incredible and worth the money. Sharpness and contrast is just stunning !

what a masterpiece❤❤❤ Nikon should name this one like plena! This is a gem for multi row pano

I have this lens and it's about the best a lens can be. It's imperfection in few ways takes nothing away from this beauty.

This is one lens you've reviewed that I actually own! It's my most used lens as I shoot a lot of rodeo's here in the states. Well worth the investment.

For sports the internal zoom and fact it can take teleconverters is a big plus over the Canon RF. Canon went a long ways to make both their 70-200s light and compact though.

I have the impression that the imaging performance of the Nikon Z 70-200 f/2.8 VR S is better than that of the Canon RF 70-200 f/2.8.

Love the internal zoom! External is too gimicky. Canon really made a HUGE mistake with their's.

Flare is always more difficult to correct for at longer focal lengths, so I'm not surprised it does worse at 200mm than 70mm. The low focus breathing is impressive though, that always used to be a huge issue on Nikon and Tamron 70-200/2.8 lenses of old.

This lens sharpness is excellent but what makes me really happy is the VR, 95% of my photos at 200mm 1/15 sec are very sharp, even managed to get 1/5 secs handheld

I have this lens and I think it's one of Nikon's highest quality lenses. I'll take a little length for better quality any day.

I was really debating between the r5 and z8, and the len offering. Both the rf 70-200 and rf 100-500 seem to be much better than the z equivalents imo. Love frosts video!

I've been using mine for sports photography, it's brilliant.

Great lens, for some pockets... heheh please review the 24-200 when you can... THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

excellent review as always, thanks!! By the way a video comparing all 70 200 lenses in the market would be interesting!

Wish you would test the 1.4x and 2.0x TCs with this lens, a popular combo. I rented the 1.4x and it was amazing, left it on the whole time when I did a big road trip out west. Too bad it's not very obtainable!

Wow. An APO zoom. Seldom we get to see an Apochromatic zoom lens.

I don't understand why Nikon won't Arca-swiss the mount leg..

I’ve been waiting for this one!

I used to remember you identify the "not so great" corners to be very sharp even 5 years ago.

Fantastic lens, the only thing I don't understand is the flare resistance, on Z lenses it's incredible, I see absolutely nothing wrong in the video, I don't understand?

I'm tired of judge lenses by the clinical sharpness corner to corner at 400%, it's getting insane.

I'm waiting for the 70-180. I'm into light gear

Can you test Nikon Z 24-200mm please?

It's three times more expensive than my Tamron f2.8 70-200 I use on my D850. Would like to see a comparison...

Chris, another great video! Thank you. Can I have lens Vr without the IBIS, or vice versa, or, when you shut off the VR from the menu, all VR (lens VR and IBIS) turn off all together?

I like that the Nikon lenses barely have any focus breathing unlike the Canon RF lenses.

i tested the lens when shopping for a nikon af-s 70-200 2.8 VR II replacement. at that time only z6 and z7 cameras were available and i think those cameras arent that great, i still couldnt leave that 70-200 2.8S untouched. to make it short: quite simply the best 70-200 2.8 lens i had in my hands, period. image quality corner to corner is excellent, across the whole focus and zoom range, it focuses ultra close for a 70-200 2.8 lens (which is really handy for shooting a wedding start to finish), operation is quick and silent. there are two things i dont like about that lens tho. zoom ring position at the front makes no sense, but everyone hopped on that stupid trend. that position is bad for balance and really awkward when coming from the VR2 lens, which has hands down the best ergonomics in the class (for nikon). secondly the focus by wire and oled screen are both horrible to use and thus useless. nikon doesnt put the oled screen on newer lenses anymore, so they kinda figured it out already. this lens is the strongest argument for nikon Z - but it balances terribly on z6/z7 class bodies. the lens really needs a z9 or z8 to come alive properly. i havent made the switch to nikon z because nothing on Z is worth upgrading from a d850 so i ended up buying the sigma 70-200 2.8s, which i found to be clearly superior in image quality to the nikon 70-200 2.8E VR. whenever nikon offers an upgrade from a d850 on Z, the 70-200 2.8s will be the first lens to buy tho.

Just find that Nikon's antiflaring always kills Canon, my rf 70200 performs so bad against strong light at night

When I go to shows I carry a 105 z macro in my bag but honestly this would probably suffice and take me much further. Only thing is it's 3 inches longer. But considering I'm used to putting the macro in my bag hood and all it could probably deal.

At that price, I'd expect the corners at 200mm to be better than that...

Thanks for the video :) Sounds like I'd be blown away as I was when I bought the 24-70 for my Z6ii ! ( It left my old 24-70 AF-s in the shade) I have just accidentally dropped my 70-200 AF-S F mount VR Mk1 :( and guess I would also be blown away with this new lens as my F mount is 13 years old. It's ok in the middle but the right side is blurred and left side a bit burred now. Fix it ? sell as is ? or..... Shall I invest in this version? My biggest concern is...... Is it too big, long, overpowering the camera body ? Is it too heavy. I need to go lighter as my D4s with 70-200 2.8 was getting too heavy for me. Ideally an F4 70-200 z with out internal focus would do me. Shall I buy this or wait in hope that Nikon with bring out an F4 70-200 or even a 135mm.

You should do a vid on the FX FL version

Thanks, compare Z version vs. RF version.

been waiting for this one :)

Thanks!

whats your favourite z lens Chris??

Even though this is heavy compared to the Canon and Tamron it is still lighter than the older 70 - 200s. They obviously knew the tamron 70-180 was coming too which is a lot lighter. So good options eventually.

70-200 f2.8E!!

Probably a stupid question but what do you mean by 'in camera corrections' please?

This may be a dumb question how did he get the horizontal level screen to display while taking the picture.

"Perhaps a missed opportunity to lighten things up there." Considering the marketing they pushed _four years ago_ about it being possible to make lenses smaller than Sony ones because of the mount size, yeah. I'd say so. But at least they didn't compromise on performance to make it happen. That matters a whole lot more and was the right decision.

This Beautiful Lens can take a Teleconvertor and is NOT a extending Trombone Zoom like the Canonn RF 70-200 which CANT take a Convertor

70-200 were at 2000$ max... Now, both Canon and Sony, and now Nikon, go close to 3000...

Why’s everything Nikon making so heavy?

Great! câmera!

Christopher. Great review. Please don’t take offense, but you have a lovely wife. 😊 Congratulations 🎈

Have you heard about Sony 70-200 GM mark ii Chris? It's the lightest of all brands while being internal zoom too, well if you consider Sony a camera brand like Canon and Nikon though!

Nice shot of the gospel of John in the Greek New Testament!

Beautiful lens, though not as tank-like solid as Nikon’s gold ring predecessors. At these prices, I’ll shoot F mount until I die.

24-200Z

IS is eyebrow raising!

Generous GARSTIC sound good

If that was a Fuji lens you would certainly not had it highly recommended with that performance

You should clean that sensor dude!

So many people praise this lens but it's the most irrelevant and overpriced in my eyes, dunno. I have the z85 1.8 and z100-400 and having 70-200 is totally pointless. For indoor events I'd use 35,85mm. For outside events 35/50/85 and 100-400. I can't even think of occasion to use this lens as it's either too short, too dark or too big for my style of photography and you only showed it's far from perfect for this price...

For that kind of price the close up quality is so-so, and at 70mm there are bright "flashes" of flare with the light source just outside the angles. LCA performance on the other hand is astonishing, and even VR seems pretty great. All in all a good lens, but should cost at least 30% less, quality is not on par with the price they ask. And (but it's just a personal opinion) it's pretty ugly to look at, as many of the Z lenses; design is really dated and poor.

Not me watching a review on a lens I bought 7 months ago🫣. Just have to see his opinion. I’d sell it if he said it was bad ignoring my own experiences

A video on nikon z 85mmf1.2 lens