Nikkor Z Lens Review Vol. 02
Few will disagree with me when I say that Nikon’s Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S and 85mm f/1.2 S are among the most impressive and powerful portraiture lenses on the market. I would like to argue that a companion lens to this f/1.2 S lineup announced this year impressed me even more so. The Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S is the pinnacle of wide angle prime lenses available on the market. I say that knowing full-well my own personal bias to Nikon as a Nikon creator, and knowing many other similar f/1.2 (or even 1.4) models exist out there for the Nikon Z mount.
In this Nikkor Z Lens Review, let’s examine this Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S through a variety of settings. I will take it with me out on a bright day with my model friend, photograph a band in low light, do some cosplay photography, and test out a few other types of photography with this 35mm lens.
Background – the f/1.2 S Series from Nikon
As stated above, the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S lens joins the 50mm and 85mm f/1.2 S lineup of ultra-fast prime lenses. Combined with the 135mm Plena and 55mm Noct, these 5 lenses make what could arguably be the most cinematic lenses in the Nikkor Z lineup, especially paired with the Cinema Z RED cameras.
Paired with my Nikon Zf, however, these lenses prove to be quite powerful photography lenses. Common with these lenses is a control reel and a larger focus reel, both of which can be programmed as the photographer sees fit. All of these lenses are built according to Nikkor S build specs, complete with protective lens coating and stability construction.
The Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S Up Close
Let’s look at the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S closely. Unlike the 50mm f/1.2 lens, this lens does not have an LCD display. Otherwise, the three lenses are built similarly. The function button I had programmed to change focus point if there were multiple people in frame.
Attached to my Zf, this lens was quite front-heavy and imbalanced, especially when on the strap. The combo weighed just about as much as my old Nikon F4. However, it did provide a considerable measure of stability when I was moving around with this lens.
Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S Test – Bright, Sunny Marina Resort Photography
Allow me to introduce to this review series on PRONEWS two friends, Sachiko and Kaori…yes, I have another friend named Kaori who lives in Kanagawa! Kaori and Sachiko both have extensive modeling experience, and I asked them to do street snaps for this review in order to test out how this lens performs.
We went out to Zushi Marina in Shonan on their suggestion, and I have to say, this location is quite an impressive area of Kanagawa. It was a very bright and sunny day, so it was perfect to test how this lens reacts when I have the aperture all the way open at f/1.2. Additionally, this was probably the second or third day that I had the lens. I was still fresh into testing and seeing how this lens reacts.
Immediately, I was positively shocked with these results. I am a man of many words, and I find it difficult to describe the imaging this lens created.
My thoughts on these results
For one, even with a wide open aperture, having the ISO settings at a low level and my shutter speed at 8000 helped quite a lot. Secondly, the color imaging with this lens impressed me immensely. But importantly, I want you to notice how sharp the ladies look in these photos. This lens’s incredible sharpness, the f/1.2 aperture, and Zf color science combined make the ladies almost pop off the screen with how sharp they are.
The f/1.2 aperture makes objects even a foot or two behind the subject bokeh’d out beautifully. That is one aspect that makes the subject pop out in almost-3D levels. Secondly, the wide angle allows me to fill more of the subject in the shot, while somehow still maintaining focus…on the entire subject. Full-subject, sharp, in-focus, beautifully bokeh’d portraiture. This is quite the useful lens.
Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S Test – Cosplay Portrait Photography in Varied Light
I want to thank my cosplayer friend Suki for allowing me to photograph her again. We collaborated for the previous lens review (the f/1.4 vs f/1.8 lens review – click here to read), and she invited me to photograph her again for her latest cosplay.
This cosplay venue was very crowded, but having a wider angle lens like this 35mm made it so I was able to photograph Suki quite well. Most importantly, these photos required very little editing at all. For cosplayers, turnaround time is very important to them, as they want to upload their photos to social media quickly. This lens allowed me to control color and framing with little other work needed. Additionally, the aforementioned sharpness allowed for some creative framing with the plants.
Varied light performance
This cosplay venue was both indoors and outdoors, in the shade and in the sun. It was very important to have a lens like this which allows me to control aperture quickly while also remaining mobile.
For these two poses, the Nikon Zf autofocus was set to Suki’s eye. Note that her face is relatively sharp, but the hat is completely bokeh’d out at f/1.2. That is how sharp this lens is.
Additional Testing – Concert Photography
Speaking of low-light, why not take the Zf and the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S to a concert? One of my favorite bands, Alestorm, came to Tokyo recently.
This section will be brief, because, in order to protect this lens and to get closer to the band, I put away the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S safely.
The biggest challenge with indoor low-light photography is introducing noise with a higher ISO.
Having the f/1.2 aperture allowed me to use a lower ISO setting, making these photos much easier to edit. Additionally, the AF functions worked very well, maintaining focus on the lead singer of the band without any issues.
However, the 35mm prime focal length was limiting to what I could photograph from the audience. The 85mm f/1.2 S is probably more suited to versatile concert photography from the audience. If I had access to stage, I think this Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S would be better, however.
More low light shots
I went out to my favorite train spotting area (featured in the Tamron 50-400mm lens and Z5II reviews) at night to test out how the camera and Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S lens worked together in low light. There was some struggles here, namely stability and my desire to keep the ISO as low as possible. Most of these shots were compromised with a wide-open aperture but an ISO of 1000-1500.
Summary – What do I think of this lens?
This lens impressed me. It left me speechless sometimes. The imaging power, sharpness, and controllability of this lens makes it one of the most powerful lenses available for the Nikon Z Mount. Even when I changed the f stops around to experiment around, the lens maintained sharpness to a powerful level.
A few knocks on this lens would be its heavy weight, but that’s just a personal preference. Using zoom lenses on my Zf adds that same measure of unevenness. It wouldn’t really be a nature photography lens or an adventure lens, but if I was in a studio, the weight issue is moot. Also, maybe this is just a creature comfort for me, but I would have loved to have that LCD screen on the lens. I am also a bit confused as to why the Fn (function) buttons only go for one setting. There are two Fn buttons but they only program to one setting. That was a bit odd.
Overall though, this lens is immensely satisfying. My friends enjoyed the photos I was able to take with it, and I haven’t had this much fun photographing my model friends in a while!
The Big Question – the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 or the 35mm f/1.2 S?
See, this is where my wallet starts talking to me. The Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S is approximately $3,000 US, whereas the 35mm f/1.4 (NOT an S line lens) is approximately $600 US. If you are a bargain buyer with a limited budget (let’s face it, thats a lot of my photography friends!), the 35mm f/1.4 is the lens for you…and honestly, for me.
The Pricing Makes The Difference
I would purchase the 35mm f/1.4 over the f/1.2 S for the sole reason of money. If I am running a production house that rents out gear to pros, however, the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S is the lens I would use. Additionally, I would love to see this lens tested with the RED Z Cinema cameras. Like I said above, the 3 f/1.2 lenses are very much suited for videography as much as photography. However, given the performance of this lens, and my limited experimentation with the 50mm f/1.2 S at the shops, I think I would probably splurge on the 50mm f/1.2 S at some point.
Again, if I had the money in the bank, I would probably not just purchase the 50mm f/1.2, but all 3 in the f/1.2 lineup.
I was lucky enough to be able to test out this amazing Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S lens for this review, and want to thank Nikon, System5, Kaori, Sachiko, and Suki for their support in collaborating for this review.
Other Sample Photos from the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.2 S
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Written by Zach Kuhn – profile
Zach is the web editor for PRONEWS Global, and a multi-media film and digital photographer. His work in social media content creation stretches back to the early days of social networking sites. His Instagram can be found here.
