Nikon Z 26mm F2.8 - farsamkeit

The Z 26mm f2.8 on a z50 – a great match!

A true pancake – the Nikon Z 26mm F2.8

Wide angle goes tiny – Nikon launched a Z 26mm F2.8 lens. Unlike the Z 28/40mm lenses, which were very much the same size as the old AF-D 2.0/2.8 series, this new Z lens is a real pancake.

Note that I’m not much a fan of pseudo lookalike names for lenses. However, the ‘pancake’ moniker has been around for a long time so that’s fine with me – but I think it’s rather silly that some think they need to come up with new monikers for about everything. That’s why you won’t find ‘muffins’, ‘beer cans’ and ‘Nocts’ here. I leave that up to the ‘cool’ guys.

Back to the 26mm: this little lens is definitely intriguing for someone who likes small lenses for an overall compact setup. But let’s look at the details and how it fits into the Z system – after all there’s already a fairly small Z 28mm f2.8.

Yes, it’s small and light indeed, affordable – but not really cheap.

125g
7.0cm x 2.4cm (ø x L)
US$500

The big thing here is the length of just 2.4cm which is 0.9inch for the non-metric folks. Nikon achieved this by extending the lens elements when focusing. It gets a tad longer when focusing up close. It comes with a very thin lens hood as well, and only this hood can take filters (52mm). There’s a lens cup as well, which goes over the top of the lens, with or without the hood attached. It’s weather sealed and the mount is metal, which will make some folks happy.

How about the noise?

Of course such a small design comes with some compromises, one of them the lens not being entirely silent when focusing. How much this really matters when taking video clips is to be seen, in particular taking into regard the very short focusing distance. Focus won’t run back and forth much to begin with, add an often noisy environment when V-logging and this might be much less of an issue then some think. Plus it likely won’t be the lens of choice for a top quality video production.

Z 26mm f2.8 with the focus group fully extended.

Image quality

In terms of image quality it seems to be a little sharper than the Z 28mm f2.8 in the center looking at Nikon’s computed MTF charts, but falling of a little faster towards the edges and corners. It should be somewhat better than the AF-S 24mm f1.8 G ED, and there’s quite an improvement over the AF 24mm f2.8 D. In fact sharpness in the 25mm diameter center circle – which is quite large on a Fx sensor – wide open should be very good. It will be interesting to see how this lens improves when stepping it down a bit for architecture or landscape. Overall I’m looking forward to this lens, being a happy Z 28mm f2.8 user (on a z7).

If you go really close it should be possible to get some useful background separation at f2.8, albeit likely not the most fantastic results expected by bokeh lovers. However, close-ups such as food images could be a strength of this little lens.

The 26mm should be sharper in the center, but falling off more towards the edges.

To buy or not to buy?

So how to use this lens, for who is it, and how does it fit into the Z system? Pretty much the same as the 28mm – half-body portraits of peeps, food and other medium sized close-ups, street, some scenery and architecture. Pretty much what you take with your cellphone, so rather useful overall.

Plus its the smallest Fx package so far. It does fit in every camera bag, even the smallest ones. Take the handlebar bag on my mountain bike. It fits my 14-30mm, the 50mm NC and the 70-300E with adapter. There’s a little extra space for this and that. I can put in the 28mm, but it’s pushing it, it starts to get cramped. Therefore the 28mm oftentimes stays home, albeit I would love to have it along for somewhat better low-light capabilities and its look. The 26mm on the other hand will slip in handily. Yay!

Looking at the bodies, and really at the Dx ones, this lens currently fits best on the z30 if you like it really compact, or, even better, on the grip-less Zfc. Its pancake length truly shines here. Since I prefer 26/28mm over 36/39mm for me it would be a match in heaven on a Fx z3 or Zf. It might take another year or two (or three, who knows?), but yes, I think at one point we will get such Fx bodies.

I will certainly snap up the Z 26mm f2.8 (and the Z 24mm f1.8 for the z30) at one point, as it’s a cool little lens around my favorite focal length. Don’t mind having several lenses here, but it’s not a priority currently as I do have the 28mm for the time being. That will change real quickly when we get a Fx version of the z30 or Zfc, but I think that moment is still quite a bit away. So yes, it’s on my shopping list as I see a lot of use for this little lens in the long run.