MOST VERSATILE Wide lens ever! (Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 S Review)

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

What more would you want from a lens review?

[@joncothranphotography9375]

Great looking piece of kit there, Legend!

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

It’s a gem Jon. Cheers mate.

[@indigobookworm]

The timing of this video is actually perfect because I've been on the fence about getting this 14-30. 😂 I've been really wanting to work on building a more lightweight, versatile kit.

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

That’s great mate 👍 do you thin k you’ll get it?

[@indigobookworm]

@RalphMayhewPhotography you did an amazing job covering the most important aspects of the lens, and I'm super happy with your results! A purchase is highly likely. 😂 I'm super happy that you took the sky photos to check for vignetting because that was one of my main concerns. Thanks for all of the effort you put into your content!

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

@@indigobookworm thanks heaps Jess. That’s really great feedback.

[@northidahodronephotography1498]

On Lightroom classic it says the lens profile is built into the lens and applied underneath where you were clicking.

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Nice 👌

[@Thor57644]

Great job! I'm a newbie in real estate photography & your video helped quite a bit on my knowledge of this lens.

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Stoked to hear that. Thank you!

[@domenicoavizzano8841]

Excuse me, does it have its own lenshood when you buy it?! Thank you! D.

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

I’m unsure, sorry. Just checkout Nikon’s website. I’d expect so but can’t remember as I don’t use them.

[@domenicoavizzano8841]

@@RalphMayhewPhotography Thank you the same, Sir! Cheers! D.

[@gunnareriksson3563]

One of the better reviews of this lens. I liked you took a typical situation for a landscape photographer and not took a photo of a brick wall. I think a typical situation says more. I also liked that you show the sharpness in the edges and in the corners. Many reviews only shows the sharpness in the center. Modern lenses, even cheap ones, are sharp in the middle. It is the sharpness in edges and corners that are the tricky parts. The improvements I like to see, is to slow down the speed of swiping around in the image. I had hard to see the sharpness in the corners. I think the review will improve if you stopped for 5 to 7 seconds in the corners (and other important parts), so we can see how sharp it is. I think it also will be good if you say where you aimed for focus and the distance. At 14mm it can be tricky to get sharpness in the corners and it easy to do the mistake and think the lens has soft corners when it is the depth of field problem. I think the drawback with this lens, is the Nikon tolerances. Some says it so sharp over all the image, other says the edges and corners are maybe a little to soft at the lower end. Seems to be a lottery to get a sharp copy. My first copy had really soft corners so I returned it and I got a new copy, which was much better. But if I am picky, It could be a little sharper in the corners at 14 mm. Perhaps I am not fair to the lens. Every lens has a little softness in the corners, especially when you compare to the great sharpness in the middle. I often have a sharpness obsession when I buy a new lens, but it will pass and in the end I will be happy with this lens. Right now the 14-24 f2.8 is not an option. More than twice the price, bigger size and you must have another set of filters (expensive one). Best regards from Sweden.

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Great comment mate. Thanks. Good tips on the review. You’re right about focal plain and soft red when it’s actually out of focus. This drove me a little and in the making of so much so that I went back to shoot the tests again but got same results. I agree about different lens and softness. I think it’s easy to say a lens is sharp if you take. A photo to prefer that sharpness but in all scenarios it can be a very different story. Thanks for the comment.

[@Robert-R]

Hi Ralph. Great video. It's odd that Adobe still doesn't have a lot of Z lens profiles in Lightroom. That Z 14-30mm f4 is a 5 yr old lens by now. My Z 14-24 f2.8 is also not in LR and the f-mount 14-24mm is what it will default to. Yet, my Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 lens does come up in Lightroom's lens correction profile list. And that is a much newer lens. Odd. What you're seeing with the f18 tests is lens diffraction making the images soft. This becomes an issue at high f-stops. Sensor resolution will impact the point at which lens diffraction will occur, with higher resolution sensors leading to diffraction occurring at lower f-stops. At f18 on the 45.7 mp sensor of the Z8 you will definitely end up with a soft image. Usually lenses are at their sharpest at around f5.6 to f8. You could easily shoot that lens at f11, but the higher you go the softer it's going to be. So, unless sharpness is not super critical in your composition, I would avoid going above f11-f13. If you need a greater depth of field then focus stacking may be necessary. A sensor resolution of 45-50mp is about as high as you want to go with a full frame sensor before you start to get to some serious diffraction issues. I was glad to see that Nikon did not go with the 61mp sensor that Sony uses on their A7RV as was being rumored. That would limit you to shooting at no higher than f5.6 or f8. BTW, I hope you're not pronouncing it 'Zee' vs 'Zed' now to cater to us silly Americans. Americans need more exposure to different cultures, so don't make it easy on us by pronouncing things the way we would. If someone can't figure out that Zed and Zee are the same thing that's their problem :)

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

That’s super helpful mate. I knew light refraction was an issue for the aperture limit of a lens but felt f18 would be ok. Interesting that it’s a gradual affect from f/13 or so and not an issue specific to f20 / f22. Much appreciated. Oh the Zed and see thing, lol I do alternate unplanned between the two but it’s nice to hear someone encourage the difference as opposed to others who… don’t 🙄 lol your comment is very much appreciated. Thanks mate.

[@westpalmdoc]

F18 is for combat jets. not for landscapes ever. 😅

[@psoon04286]

The one and only thing about this lens that makes me strike it off my list is the ‘stow’ position requiring it to be rotated quite a bit before it’s useable. There’s a couple more in the lineup like that. I’m just quirky🤪

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Why don’t you like that it has to be twisted to pop it out?

[@samersoueid9897]

Thank for the test.

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

My pleasure.

[@cryptobyt2403]

For ultrawide landscape i prefer 18mm prime. Actually dunno. Lens under 24mm should be zoom 12-24 ie primes. Has Much more utility. Similiar with 100-600 should be zoom

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Gosh 12mm is wide on a Full frame 😱

[@westpalmdoc]

🤔

[@withvictors]

I LOVE IT

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Me too!! 👊

[@m.maclean8911]

If your camera falls down on your tripod then you either need a better head or you didn’t tighten it properly. 9:21

[@adebrian1737]

It's too late, I already bought it and its a a very sharp lens and made me realise that there was a fault with my Nikon Z 35mm f1.8s.

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

It’s a top lens!!

[@poche660]

You got 2,000 bucks to lend me so I can buy one?

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Nope sorry. Spent mine on this lens.

[@michellammerse6470]

Not an S lens but it has S quality 🙂

[@RalphMayhewPhotography]

Well said.