Once upon a time, all the way back in 1959 to be exact, Japanese optics firm Nikon released its F-mount to attach lenses to SLR film cameras. Over time, it improved it, adding autofocus, strapping it to the front of digital cameras and releasing new lenses, until the Nikon D6 in 2020 became the final camera to receive the mount.
The reason for this? The Z-mount. Nikon’s mirrorless lens mount was introduced in 2018 with the first Z-series cameras, and improves over the F-mount in many ways. Not only is its diameter larger - 55mm vs 44mm, making Z the largest full-frame mirrorless lens mount - but it comes with 11 electrical pins for supplying power and sharing data with the lens. This leads to excellent autofocus, and the potential to produce lenses with very wide maximum apertures. Older F-mount lenses can be used on Z-mount cameras with an adapter, though those that rely on a motor in the camera body to power their autofocus will be manual-focus only.
Since its launch, the Z system has grown in terms of both lenses and camera bodies. Being a mirrorless camera ecosystem, it benefits from being smaller and lighter than equivalent DSLRs, and has been eagerly adopted by professionals and hobbyists alike. It has also seen the launch of some lenses that aren’t available as part of other systems, though you may find yourself paying extra for the privilege of using the best first-party gear.
There's no denying that Z-mount lenses made by Nikon (known as Nikkor) are some of the best, but there are also a few third-party options available that can save you some money without giving up too much in the way of image quality or features. The third-party lens range isn’t as wide on Z-mount as it is on Sony’s E-mount system, but it’s growing. Here are some of the best.
Best Nikon Z lenses at a glance:
Nikkor 24-120mm f/4
Best for: a full-frame standard zoom
Nikon also makes a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, the choice of pro photographers and a more expensive choice. The 24-120mm, however, is supremely versatile and a better choice if you’re not depending on your camera for your livelihood or just want to save a few hundred pounds.
The extra 50mm of reach on the long end makes a difference if you’re using the lens for headshots, and while the f/4 aperture lets in less light than the f/2.8 model, it’s nothing an extra stop of ISO can’t make up for, and modern mirrorless camera sensors are much better than older designs at not allowing images to dissolve into a mess of noise at higher settings. Overall, this is an excellent choice and something you might not need to take off your camera.
Buy now £1149.00, Amazon
Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD
Best for: an alternative standard zoom
Not all standard zoom lenses need to start at 24 or 28mm. Cutting off the wider focal lengths allowed Tamron to extend this lens to 150mm and open the aperture up really wide. It’s another do-it-all choice, and pairs extremely nicely with a 16-35mm ultra wide lens.
The downside of a zoom lens that combines these focal length and aperture values is that it can be a bit big and heavy, something that undermines the mirrorless camera’s smaller and lighter build. However, there's no arguing with the image quality the lens produces, and its usefulness if you’re shooting in lower light or want a blurred background to your images.
Buy now £1246.00, Amazon
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 S
Best for: a useful prime
The 50mm f/1.8 prime is a classic lens that’s been supplied with cameras since the birth of the SLR. Its focal length is the same as the diagonal measurement of the full-frame sensor, or a frame of 35mm film, which means you get a framing that’s very similar to that of the human eye.
There are lots of options for a 50mm, with Nikon making f/1.4 and f/1.2 lenses as well, plus a 40mm f/2, but this f/1.8 wins for being compact, fast and sharp, which is what you want from a lens.
Buy now £469.00, John Lewis
Tamron 90mm f2.8 Di III Macro VXD
Best for: macro and portraits
Tamron’s only prime for the Z mount is a version of its classic 90mm Macro, which picked up the moniker ‘portrait macro’ in the SLR days for its ability to do double duty.
Portraits are best shot with a reasonably fast short telephoto lens, which this provides, adding the ability to get super close to your subject for tighter framing or to pick out details.
There are 85mm lenses with faster apertures available, but they don’t let you get as close, or create 1:1 magnification images of any strange bugs you find.
Buy now £599.00, Amazon
Nikkor Z 70-180mm f2.8 Lens
Best for: a short telephoto
The classic 70-200mm tele zoom gets a bit of a makeover in this Nikon Z lens, chopping 20mm off the long end (you won’t notice) in the pursuit of compactness and a lower price.
It retains the f/2.8 max aperture that helps you keep shutter speeds high and backgrounds blurred, however, making it a great all-rounder for those times the long end of a standard zoom isn’t enough.
Buy now £959.00, Amazon
Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR
Best for: a long telephoto
Picking up where the 70-180mm leaves off, this super telephoto zoom brings distant objects closer and makes smaller subjects bigger. It’s a bit slow at the long end, with an aperture of f/6.3, and wildlife pros are going to want the 600mm f/4 instead, but that lens costs £15,500.
This zoom is much more affordable, and opens up bird and wildlife photography, as well as excelling at shooting sports and anything else you can fit into its frame. It’s fearsomely long and a bit heavy, which may make Tamron’s 150-500mm lens a more attractive prospect, but if it’s 600mm you need, this is the way to get it on Nikon Z.
Buy now £1999.00, Wex Photo Video
Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena
Best for: flattering portraits
We’re moving into the realm of specialist lenses here, which Nikon likes to give names to. The Plena is a fast 135mm prime lens that takes incredibly sharp photos, but as much work has gone into making the blurred backgrounds of your portrait shots as good as possible too.
This bokeh quality - smooth and creamy thanks to an 11-blade aperture diaphragm - is what marks this lens out. The 135mm focal length is a classic choice for taking head-and-shoulders portraits, though Nikon has 85mm and 105mm lenses in this sector too.
It’s not a lens you’ll buy on a whim, but if you like the 135mm framing (and don’t mind zooming with your feet), then you’re not going to find much that’s better.
Buy now £2699.00, Wex Photo Video
Nikkor Z 58mm f0.95 S Noct
Best for: capturing all the light
The aperture value of a lens dictates how much light it can let in. Settings of f/1.4 and even f/1.2 are common, but this lens opens up to a mighty f/0.95, giving it unrivalled light-gathering and background-blurring capabilities. The trade-off for this is that it’s a manual-focus lens - Nikon Z cameras can help with this by highlighting perfectly focused areas in the electronic viewfinder, so trying to focus perfectly at f/0.95 isn’t the trial it might have been in the past.
At a slightly unusual 58mm focal length, the Noct will find uses in night photography, drinking in starlight and providing images you might not be able to create any other way. It also produces portraits with backgrounds that just melt away, but its price, size and the lack of autofocus mean it’s likely to remain a professional’s tool.
Buy now £8299.00, Wex Photo Video
Verdict
Nikon’s Z-mount has been supplied with a wide range of lenses from Nikon itself and a small number of third-party manufacturers, and there's something available that will suit almost every photographer.
A lens like the Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 is a great all-rounder that will do 90 per cent of what most photographers need and makes the core of a lens collection supplemented by more specialised optics such as fast portrait lenses and super telephoto zooms. It’s a great choice if you’re just starting out in the hobby, and for anyone upgrading to Nikon Z mirrorless cameras too.
