Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR Review

Focusing Characteristics

One of my first impressions of the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR was that despite the slow aperture, it focused quite quickly. I tested it on both the original Nikon Z6 and the faster-focusing Nikon Zf and came to the same conclusion both times – It was surprisingly viable even for wildlife photography. Meanwhile, Libor tested it on the Nikon Z9 and didn’t find that it slowed down the camera too much at all.

That said, despite the speed, it wasn’t quite as precise as a wide-aperture lens would have been. I blame this on the greater depth of field exhibited by an f/8 lens; the camera just has a harder time placing it perfectly. Sometimes, it would exhibit a little bit of front-focus or back-focus on a moving subject, especially at 400mm (and worse in low light). It was never terrible, but if you’re a dedicated wildlife photographer, most other 400mm lenses will have a bit of an advantage here.

Lastly, the close-focusing capabilities of the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR are quite impressive. It reaches a maximum magnification of 0.35× (1:2.9), which is among the highest that we’ve ever seen in a Nikon lens without the formal “macro” designation. It even beats its predecessor, the Nikon AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR, which was one of the previous record-holders. (Only three lenses beat it – see my article on Nikon’s secret macro lens.) This makes the 28-400mm f/4-8 an excellent choice for close-up photography on the go. Technically, its highest magnification is at 28mm, but I found that it had essentially the same magnification throughout the rest of the zoom range.

Distortion

The Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR has relatively high distortion, but less than I would have expected from a superzoom. Here’s the full chart:

It’s really only bad at 28mm, where the -5.69% barrel distortion is quite high. But after you zoom in a little, I consider the performance very impressive (and not just “impressive for a superzoom”). Unless you’re shooting at the widest focal lengths, you might be able to leave distortion corrections turned off in your post-processing software.

For reference, here’s a simulation of -5.69% distortion to give some context to the very high result at 28mm:

Vignetting

In uncorrected images, the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR has pretty high levels of vignetting wide open at 28mm, but it very quickly improves as you zoom in. Here are two charts of the vignetting levels, one at close focus and one at infinity:

The maximum result of 2.33 stops of vignetting is quite high. However, this occurs at 28mm, f/4, and close-focus distance – not the most common situation you’ll experience as a photographer. Unlike most lenses, focusing further away actually helps mitigate the worst of the vignetting, at least at 28mm. The worst result at infinity focus (2.07 stops) still isn’t anything incredible, but I consider it acceptable.

Upon stopping down or zooming in even slightly, the vignetting on this lens improves substantially. The worst result at 35mm is only 1.17 stops, and it just gets better from there. Although it picks up a little at the longest focal lengths, it is never significant past 28mm. Not a bad result at all for a superzoom!

Lateral Chromatic Aberration

So far, the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR has surpassed expectations where image quality is concerned. It focuses quickly, and its distortion and vignetting are only meaningful at the 28mm focal length. Will it continue this trend where lateral chromatic aberration is concerned? Unfortunately not. Here’s the chart:

The good news is that lateral chromatic aberration is one of the easier optical problems to correct in post-processing software. The bad news is that this is quite a lot of chromatic aberration! The worst result (2.88 stops of CA at 50mm and f/5.6) is definitely on the high side. Even though software will remove the bulk of it, you may end up with some lingering artifacts when the levels are that high.

So it goes – a superzoom was unlikely to ever be perfect, or even above average, where chromatic aberration was concerned. At least it’s easy enough to correct!

Sharpness

The moment you’ve been waiting for… how sharp is the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR? Is it good enough to be a viable choice at every focal length? I’ve tested it in the lab at nine unique focal lengths to answer that question. Here they are in order:

That’s a lot of focal lengths to take in, so let me summarize it as best I can.

First, the strongest focal length where sharpness is concerned is 28mm. Even the corners are pretty solid – I have nothing to complain about here. This is a departure from the vignetting and distortion results that were the weakest at 28mm.

At 35mm through 50mm, the main casualty is corner sharpness at wide apertures. Central sharpness remains almost as good as it was at 28mm, and after you stop down, the corners also look pretty good. Again, it’s never best-in-class or anything like that, but it’s strong enough to be more than acceptable.

The story changes at 70mm, and especially 105mm to 135mm. There is an across-the-board loss of sharpness, with the center taking the biggest hit. The whole image still looks fine upon stopping down – however, it takes f/11 to maximize not just corner sharpness, but also the midframe sharpness (roughly the DX corner region).

I consider 200mm to be the worst focal length of the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8. Even at its sharpest, it’s about as good as a typical lens at f/16. If there’s any redeeming feature, it’s that even the worst corner performance at 200mm is acceptable enough for medium-sized prints; it’s never complete mush. But at 200mm, it’s never great, either.

300mm and 400mm improve the situation a bit. They’re still among the weaker focal lengths of this lens, but I prefer those results over the sharpness at 200mm. The center at 400mm is actually pretty good.

Overall? My main question prior this test was whether the lens would be usable at every focal length. It didn’t need to be best-in-class, but I at least wanted to be able to make totally sharp 16×24″ prints from it. That’s a standard this lens meets – perhaps not by much at 200mm, but by enough.

Bokeh

Bokeh is another word for the qualities of the background blur in a photo. “Good” bokeh is completely subjective, since different photographers have their own preferences for how the background blur looks.

That said, superzooms are not usually known for their high-quality bokeh. Instead of smooth, soft out-of-focus regions, they often are more harsh and distracting.

How does the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR fare in this respect? It’s better than expected – not perfect, but not terrible. Here’s a very typical example, followed by a crop:

When the specular highlights are especially bright, the story takes a little bit of a turn for the worse. They begin to take on more pronounced edges and an internal texture reminiscent of fish scales. In addition, there is some “cat’s eye” shape to out-of-focus highlights near the edges of the frame. Here’s a pair of crops that Libor sent me to illustrate:

Beyond the quality of bokeh, there’s also the question of subject separation. With a narrow aperture like f/8, you don’t have as much ability to blur the background in the first place. Here are a couple of uncropped examples:

While the background is still blurred in those photos, it is not nearly as far out of focus as it would be with a Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5, for example. It’s a little better in the second of these two photos – and that’s because the background was quite far away from me. If you’re going for classic wildlife photos where the background is substantially out of focus, you’ll need to be especially aware of how far away it is. Unlike a lot of other supertelephotos, the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR take a little work if you want those creamy backgrounds.

Sunstars and Flare

Because of their high degree of optical complexity, superzooms usually have a lot of internal reflections and flare. They don’t tend to do well in backlit situations, especially when the sun is directly in the frame.

Surprisingly, the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR bucks the trend here. It’s quite a good performer even in strong backlight – you can see below that the bare sun only creates a few small dots of flare, and the overall contrast remains high. Modern coatings are seriously impressive!

As for sunstars, you can see from the images above that it’s possible to get some 18-pointed stars with the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR. It’s a bit less defined than on some lenses, but not bad. Count me surprised! This is definitely one of the best superzooms on the market when the sun is in your frame. Just make sure you keep the front element clean.

The next page of this review dives into the sharpness numbers a bit more, with some comparisons against other lenses that Nikon users may be considering. So, click the menu below to go to “Lens Comparisons”: