Best Nikon Z standard lenses

I’ve already started covering the Z-mount through several articles, including one on the best Nikon Z wide-angle lenses. To get started, I recommend checking out my dedicated page, which is regularly updated with new releases and lists all current Nikon Z lenses. It includes Nikon lenses, of course, but also third-party options.

This was a major shift for a brand that had been using the F-mount since 1959. Since 2018, Nikon has been offering full-frame mirrorless cameras built around the Z-mount, and the brand has gradually expanded its lens lineup to take advantage of this newer mount.

This article will help you choose among the Z-mount lenses that cover standard focal lengths, roughly between 35mm and 70mm. This category includes both prime lenses and zooms. Prime lenses are popular for photojournalism, weddings, and street photography, but they can also be useful for more versatile subjects, such as landscapes or portraits. Here, I’ll separate prime lenses from zooms.

Since telephoto lenses are not the focus of this article, you can also take a look at our page dedicated to Nikon Z telephoto lenses.

You can jump directly to each lens using the links below:

• Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2 S
• Nikon Z 50mm f/1.4
• Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S
• Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S
• Nikon Z 40mm f/2
• Nikon Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct

Below, you’ll find a summary table with the main features of these lenses.

At the end of 2020, Nikon announced a lens many photographers had long hoped to see in the system: the 50mm f/1.2 S.

Image quality is already good at the widest aperture, but the lens really reaches a very high level of detail from around f/2. The build quality is clearly high-end, with an LCD panel for displaying key information. Autofocus is quiet and accurate, even if it is not the fastest. That said, especially when compared with Sony’s GM and Canon’s L equivalents, its size and weight are hard to ignore.

This is clearly a high-end lens aimed at professionals who do not mind carrying serious gear, with a price of around €2,600.

Announced in September 2024, the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.4 joined Nikon’s Z-mount lineup as a bright standard prime. Positioned between the 50mm f/1.8 S and the 50mm f/1.2 S, it offers a very good compromise between optical performance, a wide aperture, and a much more accessible price.

Its f/1.4 aperture provides strong low-light performance and a shallow depth of field, making it well suited to portraits and more creative photography. Its customizable control ring is also useful for video work, especially when you want smoother handling. The construction is robust and dust- and drip-resistant.

This affordable lens is an interesting alternative to Nikon’s other Z 50mm options. Although it is not stabilized, it remains bright and capable. It works well for portraits, video, and street photography, and it makes a lot of sense if you want to invest in a bright 50mm without moving up to Nikon’s more expensive high-end models.

Nikon introduced the 50mm f/1.8 S as one of the first Z-mount lenses. This classic focal length takes a different approach from the older DSLR versions: it is more premium, and therefore larger, heavier, and more expensive.

Image quality is excellent wide open and improves even further around f/2.8. Autofocus is fast and quiet, and this is a lens with very few real weaknesses. In other words, this f/1.8 is an excellent option if you do not have the budget, or simply do not feel the need, for the f/1.2 version.

As with the other f/1.8 S lenses, the price is much higher than the older f/1.8 DSLR versions. This 50mm costs more than €700, whereas the DSLR version cost just over €200, but the build quality and optical design are far superior.

At the end of 2018, Nikon released this 35mm f/1.8, one of the first lenses in the Z-mount lineup, almost at the same time as the first Nikon Z6 and Z7 mirrorless cameras.

Image quality is already good wide open and improves from f/2.8. Autofocus is fairly fast and quiet. Build quality is very good, in keeping with the other S-series lenses. Given the limited number of direct alternatives, this remains one of the strongest 35mm options in the Z-mount.

Once again, Nikon’s move upmarket with its f/1.8 lenses has pushed the price higher. This lens is available for around €1,000, whereas the previous DSLR version cost less than €500.

At the end of 2021, around the same time as the 28mm f/2.8, Nikon announced the 40mm f/2. It was designed to be light, compact, and affordable.

Its simple optical formula and plastic construction keep it very small and light. As with the 28mm, this does come with some compromises in image quality wide open. Still, overall image quality is very good, and by f/5.6 it becomes excellent. Autofocus is not the fastest, but it is quiet and accurate. Like the 28mm, this is a very practical lens for street photography.

Like the 28mm, this lens is available for around €300. It is not the most sophisticated option, but it is compact, bright enough for many uses, and very affordable.

We’ve also detailed the best Z-mount pancake lenses of the moment in a dedicated article!

In late 2019, after loudly promoting the fact that the new Z-mount could support very large-aperture lenses, Nikon had to release one to prove the point. That is how we ended up with this 58mm f/0.95.

Optical quality is already very good wide open and becomes exceptional from around f/1.4 to f/2. Build quality is also extremely high, with an LCD control panel. Even so, it has to be said that such a massive lens without autofocus feels out of step with today’s mirrorless market. You might hope the price would make up for it, but not really!

At around €9,400, even photographers with very deep pockets will have limited reasons to buy this type of lens. Congratulations to Nikon for creating a quality monster that is unaffordable and impractical for 99.99% of photographers.

Here is the table showing the main characteristics of the lenses presented:

To view the details of each lens, click directly on the links below:

• Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S
• Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S
• Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S
• Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8
• Nikon Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3

You’ll also find a table with the main characteristics of the lenses in this list.

At the beginning of 2019, Nikon released its classic full-frame professional standard zoom, the 24-70mm f/2.8 S, in Z-mount form. The DSLR versions were often considered less impressive than Canon’s equivalents, but this new 24-70mm is a real success.

Image quality is excellent wide open and remains consistent throughout the zoom range. That is a major strength, along with the high-end build quality and LCD control panel. Optical flaws can be visible, but most are easily corrected by software. Autofocus is fast and quiet.

This is Nikon’s strongest standard zoom lens for the Z system, at around €2,600, which is the usual price range for a manufacturer’s 24-70mm f/2.8.

Nikon announced the 24-120mm f/4 standard zoom at the end of 2021. Nikon had already built a reputation with its DSLR 24-120mm f/4G. This newer mirrorless version does not include optical stabilization and instead relies on in-body stabilization.

Image quality is very good wide open, especially at intermediate focal lengths from 35mm to 105mm. It is much better than the DSLR version. It slightly outperforms the 24-70mm f/4 at some focal lengths, except around 70mm. Build quality is very good, and autofocus is fairly fast and quiet.

At around €1,250, it is a very good alternative to the 24-70mm f/2.8 and offers a wider focal range. It is also fairly light and compact, although if compactness is your top priority, the next lens may be an even better fit.

This 24-70mm f/4 was one of the first three Z-mount lenses released at the end of 2018, when the Z-mount was introduced. That was fairly notable, since Nikon did not offer a 24-70mm f/4 for its DSLRs, unlike Canon, which had already done so in EF mount.

Image quality is quite good. It is below the 24-70mm f/2.8, of course, and also slightly behind the newer 24-120mm f/4 wide open. The differences with the latter shrink when stopped down, but the f/2.8 still stays a step ahead. Nikon clearly focused on size and weight here. As a result, the lens has a few optical flaws, but most of them are corrected by software. Autofocus is fairly fast and quiet.

At around €1,200, just below the price of the 24-120mm f/4, it is an excellent choice if you value compactness. It can also be even cheaper when sold as a kit with a body such as the Nikon Z6.

At the beginning of 2022, Nikon released the 28-75mm f/2.8. According to some, it was adapted from the Tamron version available in Sony E-mount. They do share many similarities, especially the filter diameter and the minimum focusing distance, which varies from 19 to 39cm depending on the focal length, unlike other Nikon zooms that keep a fixed minimum distance throughout the range.

Image quality is good wide open, although there is a noticeable lack of consistency between the center and the edges throughout the range. It improves when stopped down, but does not reach the highest levels. The construction is not as premium as Nikon’s S-series zooms, but it is still good. Autofocus is relatively fast and quiet.

For around €1,050, Nikon offers a slightly cheaper alternative to the 24-70mm f/4 and 24-120mm f/4. You gain a wider aperture, but you lose the compactness of one and the focal range of the other.

In mid-2020, Nikon released the 24-50mm f/4-6.3 zoom lens. It was offered as a kit lens with the Z5. The whole package was designed to provide the cheapest, most compact, and lightest possible entry into full-frame photography.

At the risk of surprising you, this lens has not been tested very often, haha. Image quality seems decent, but clearly not on the level of the lenses above. We are still talking about an entry-level kit lens, one that could easily end up acting as a body cap. Build quality is also entry-level: it is plastic and has no weather sealing. Its main advantage is that it is extremely light and compact. That said, we would expect nothing less from a zoom with such a limited focal range and modest maximum apertures, even on full-frame.

Sold for around €500 on some websites, it makes the most sense as part of a Z5 kit. If you already own another Z body, you may be better off looking at a different zoom.

You can find the key characteristics of these lenses in the table below:

Once again, the Z-mount’s more recent ecosystem is still a limitation, although the situation is improving. More third-party manufacturers now offer Z-mount lenses, but the choice of standard autofocus zooms remains much more limited than Nikon’s own lineup.

There are also options from Viltrox, Meike, and 7Artisans, among the brands offering Z lenses with autofocus. They do not reach the level of Nikon’s S-Line lenses and often have more visible optical flaws that are harder to correct, but they are cheaper. It is up to you to decide whether the superior quality of Nikon’s lenses is worth the extra cost. Here is a summary of the alternative lenses I have found so far:

There are also other standard manual-focus lenses available, but I won’t go into them in this article. You can take a look at all the lenses available on my dedicated page.

The FTZ adapter and its newer version allow you to use F-mount lenses. Still, we are waiting for more native options that fully take advantage of the Z-mount and everything it makes possible.

If you’re looking for one or more standard focal lengths for your Nikon Z mirrorless camera, these are the main options. Most of them are still fairly expensive, and alternatives remain relatively limited. Still, you generally get good-quality lenses, both in terms of build and image quality. Nikon does not stabilize any of these standard lenses optically, preferring to rely on in-body sensor stabilization to save weight and size (and in theory, price, although that part is not always obvious, haha).

I hope this helps you decide what to buy and that you’ll be happy with the lens you choose. If you know of any other options, feel free to add them in the comments.

Talk to you soon, and don’t forget to check out our page on the best current Nikon Z lenses!

Written by Sylvain PONS

I've been passionate about photography since 2010, learning as I went along. Today, I dedicate myself to guiding others in their choice of camera gear and sharing a variety of tips to improve their photography skills.

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