As my impressions about the 24-70 S f4 lens are very postive I had high hopes for the new Wide zoom lens for the Nikon Z System. There is a good review from Thom Hogan and I agree with him, that this lens is very useful but disappoints in some regards. Performance compared at 24 to 30mm is visible inferior to what you get with the 24-70 f4. On the other hand the lens is clearly better from 14mm up to 24mm than my copy of the 14-24 f2,8 which was a surprise for me. The lens paired with the Nikon D3 was a revolution back in 2008. It was clearly better at that time than any fixed focal lens at 14mm, was f2,8 and a Zoom lens! Certainly it was and is heavy, filters can only be used with really large diameter and special filter holders and direct sunlight is your worst enemy.
The new lens for the Z system has no big problems with flare, takes 82mm filters and weighs half what the 14-24 does. While corner sharpness is not as good as I hoped for, it gets very decent at f8 and above and to repeat it, it is better than the 14-24 at all apertures!
At 20 mm the good AF-s 20mm f1,8 lens beats the 14-30 by a clear margin. That makes the 14-30 a bit less universal as it might look on paper. You can use such a lens together with a 50mm and a 70-200 f4 lens, but I would prefer a 20mm, the 24-70 and a 70-200. 14 mm I use often for architecture work, but not so often on hiking trips or while I am travelling in foreign countries. For astrophotography or northern lights the Af-s 20mm f1,8 is a good choice, the new 20mm f1,8 S lens seems to be even better (sadly also heavier). While I have used f4 lenses like the 16-35 f4 for northern lights with success, it is not an ideal combination. And mentioning this Af-s lens, the new 14-30 is similar: a versatile lens, well behaving but not great. So if you don´t need 14-18mm the new 20mm f1,8 might be the better choice or the old one is doing also fine for you with the FTZ Adapter.
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| right corner with Z 7 @ f4, sharpness in center is good on both |
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| left corner 14-30 against 20 mm f1,8 @ f4 both |
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| Myrafälle, Nikon Z 7, 14-30 S f4 @ 14 mm, 1/4 s, f11, Iso64, ND filter, tripod |
