Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S Review

Focusing Characteristics

After previous, less-than-convincing autofocus experiences with certain adapted F-mount lenses, I was finally thoroughly impressed with the Nikon Z system. This lens refocuses so quickly, smoothly, and silently that I had to verify that autofocus was actually working by focusing at infinity. The “Silky Swift” VCM Autofocus System – a wild marketing name if I’ve ever seen one – does its job very well indeed.

The lens focuses most quickly with subjects that are somewhat far from the camera. Let’s say around ten meters / ten yards. Here, the lens motor has to put in the least effort when refocusing.

On the other hand, with fast-moving objects close to the minimum focusing distance, the lens motor must work harder. This isn’t unique to the 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S; what is unique is how well the lens performs even at these distances.

Does this mean you’ll never take an out-of-focus picture again? Absolutely not. No lens is magical, and it still requires careful choice of your AF area mode, plus good reaction time. But the 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S has the best focus speed and performance of any lens I’ve used before.

Vibration Reduction

Nikon says that in conjunction with IBIS in the Z9 (Synchro VR), the new vibration reduction used in the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 allows you to shoot with shutter speeds up to 6 stops slower than usual. Of course, your camera holding technique will play a role here – and it’s of no use if your subject is moving quickly, since VR and IBIS only negate camera movement, not subject movement.

Fortunately, many birds have a habit of alternating periods of activity with brief moments of apparent stillness. If you take advantage of these moments, you can get times somewhere around 1/30 sec even when shooting handheld. I still strongly recommend a monopod or tripod under these conditions, but it’s not impossible.

Even at 1/10 second handheld, I occasionally got sharp photos. But at such exposure values, it’s probably best to pack up your gear and leave for a late dinner instead.

Distortion

Distortion is not really a concern on lenses this long, since few photographers use them for architectural photography. (Even if you did, you would most likely pick a less expensive alternative like the Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 or the Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5).

Nevertheless, we tested its distortion in the lab both with and without teleconverters. Here’s how it measures:

Even the highest distortion (1.24% pincushion when using the built-in 1.4x teleconverter) is low enough to be negligible most of the time. Meanwhile, the bare lens and all other combinations of teleconverters have less than 1% distortion in either direction. I can’t think of many scenarios where this lens’s distortion will be a factor at all.

Vignetting

In uncorrected images, the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S has minimal vignetting. Not to mention that it all but vanishes as you stop down even slightly. The worst vignetting occurs at f/2.8 with the bare lens focused at infinity, and even then, it measures just 1.23 stops:

As with distortion, there is simply no reason to be concerned about vignetting on the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S whatsoever.

Lateral Chromatic Aberration

As a bare lens, the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S has essentially no lateral chromatic aberration at all. However, adding the teleconverters in various combinations can change this story, which is no different from what we’ve seen with teleconverters in the past. Here are the full results:

This tells me a few things. First, if you need to reach 560mm, you’ll get meaningfully less chromatic aberration with the built-in TC compared to the external 1.4x teleconverter, especially at wide apertures. Second, if you need to reach 800mm, the single 2.0x TC beats the combination of the internal and external 1.4x TCs. Finally, if you decide to pair the internal TC with the external 2.0x TC to reach 1120mm, you will get a lot of lateral chromatic aberration! It’s best to avoid this combination if possible (and that will become clearer with the sharpness results next).

Sharpness

The Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S has impeccable sharpness, though adding enough teleconverters can reduce that. Here’s how the bare lens performs:

Simply incredible! This is one of the sharpest lenses we’ve ever tested, no matter where in the frame you look. While the highest central sharpness occurs at f/4, the results at f/2.8 are still sharper than many lenses ever get. I was expecting excellent performance, and Nikon delivered.

One of the most interesting things about this lens is how it pairs with teleconverters. To show you what I mean, here are the results from both the internal and external 1.4x teleconverters side-by-side:

They are just as sharp as one another! Any small differences between them are less than the 10% threshold that is visible with a careful eye. And – both are exceptionally good. Even wide open, the results are very strong from corner to corner, though f/5.6 is the sweet spot.

Let me address the similarities in these two results. Prior to measuring this lens, my expectation was that the internal TC would significantly outperform the external TC. This wasn’t the case in practice. Take a look at a crop of the central region from both images, taken at f/4:

It’s essentially identical.

While this result may be surprising, I want to provide some context. About a year ago at Photography Life, we tested three copies of the Nikon Z 1.4x teleconverter (and three copies of the 2.0x teleconverter) and only kept the sharpest one of each. What you’re seeing above is therefore a best-case scenario with the external teleconverter. I don’t expect that the average Nikon Z 1.4x TC will perform as well as the average built-in teleconverter on the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8, even though an optimal copy can match it.

I don’t believe this result to be a fluke or a worse-than-usual result for the internal TC. First, the internal TC is already incredibly sharp. Second, we found exactly the same behavior on the Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S with its internal 1.4x teleconverter (those results to be released publicly in our lens review next month). My takeaway is that Nikon’s external TCs (and their internal TCs) are simply about as good as a teleconverter can be, at least where sharpness is concerned.

Now let’s look at 800mm. There are two ways to reach 800mm on this lens – either by combining 1.4x teleconverters, or by using the external 2.0x teleconverter:

It’s still nice and sharp both times! While not at the same level as 400mm or 560mm, I would have no hesitation using either of these combinations to reach 800mm, even at f/5.6. And just like last time, the two variations here look about equally sharp – although the far corners are a little better with the pair of 1.4x teleconverters.

That said, my recommendation if you want to reach 800mm is to use the 2.0x teleconverter unless you have rigorously tested your own copy of the lens. I strongly expect that the interaction between two 1.4x TCs and the lens is going to be more variable and unpredictable than the interaction between a single 2.0x TC and the bare lens. In other words, the ceiling may be slightly higher with the 1.4x pair if you’re lucky, but the floor is likely to be much lower. I consider the single 2.0x TC to be a safer bet.

(As before, I am confident that this result is not a fluke; I found something similar when testing the Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S with its two different ways to reach 1200m.)

Finally, how does the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S perform when you double up the internal 1.4x TC and the external 2.0x TC? Here are those results:

This is definitely a step down in sharpness – still usable enough, especially at f/11, but I’d be wary of it if sharpness is a priority. If you need to shoot at focal lengths this long, the Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S is the better option (you’ll see that in our review next month).

All in all, the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S is one of the sharpest lenses we’ve ever tested, and it takes teleconverters exceptionally well – both the internal 1.4x TC and the two external TCs. Up to 800mm, it isn’t just usable, but very sharp. The only combination I would avoid most of the time is the internal 1.4x TC + external 2.0x TC to reach 1120mm.

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, photographers commonly want their background blur to be soft, not distracting. Out-of-focus highlights that are round, uniform, and soft-edged are usually considered favorable.

I tested the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8’s bokeh extensively compared to other telephoto options for the Z System. Those tests can be found here. If you’ve already read it, my conclusions (and my photo of a fake owl) will not surprise you, but this lens has excellent bokeh. The f/2.8 maximum aperture lets you get extremely out-of-focus backgrounds:

One of the main reasons to pick the Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 for your supertelephoto lens of choice is for the creamy out-of-focus backgrounds. Setting this lens to f/2.8 almost feels like cheating with how shallow your depth of field will be.

With the teleconverter (whether built-in or external), out-of-focus specular highlights get a little rougher in the transition zones, but the bokeh is still beautiful. And with most subjects, the difference will be very hard to notice. Shooting wide open at f/4 at 560mm continues to give you an extremely high degree of background and foreground blur.

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”: