Introduction

In my recent quest to review some of the zoom lenses in the Nikon Z series, we’ve arrived at the NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S — an ultra-wide-angle zoom and one of the first in the “S” line after the 24-70mm f/4 S. The other two f/4 S zoom lenses I reviewed (24-70mm f/4 and 24-120mm f/4) delivered impressive performance, but this one is an ultra-wide — a category that has historically been more challenging to get right. That said, Nikon has marketed it as part of the “S” line, which promises higher quality. Let’s see how it performs!

I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with a Nikon Zf)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
Sample images in high resolution here.

Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Specifications

Disclosure

One of our readers, Wolfgang, kindly loaned this lens for a couple of months for test and review purposes.

Handling and Build Quality

The Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 S, like its standard zoom sibling, the 24-70mm f/4 S, is a relatively small, minimalist lens made mostly of durable hard plastic, the mount plate is of metal though. This keeps the weight down to just 485 g, slightly lighter than the 24-70/4, making it easy to carry. Despite the lightweight design, the build feels solid and tight, with no noticeable play or wobble.

For travel, the lens features a retractable locking mechanism, which requires rotating the zoom ring past 14mm mark to lock. This helps reduce its size, making it easier to fit in a bag. However, the lens cannot be used for shooting while locked. Here is a size comparison with Z 24-70mm f/4 S.

The telescopic zoom mechanism extends to its maximum length as you unlock it to 14mm position, and collapses to a smaller length as you zoom in to 30mm. The front element does not rotate when zooming in or out, not even when focusing, thanks to its internal focusing system—a useful feature when using filters .

There’s just one button on the lens, which controls autofocus — turning it on or off. The zoom ring is fairly large, while the focus ring is very thin. The focus ring can be customised to control manual focus, aperture, exposure compensation, or ISO sensitivity, or it can be disabled altogether. When set to aperture control, it operates clicklessly, allowing for smooth adjustments. The autofocus speed is very fast and virtually noiseless. The silent AF would especially be appreciated by videographers.

In addition to the standard front and rear caps, the box includes a shallow lens hood and a carrying pouch. There is no image stabilisation built in to this lens.

Optical Features

With 4 ED glass elements, 4 aspherical elements, Nano Crystal Coat, and a fluorine-coated front element, expectations are high for sharpness, low aberrations, and strong flare resistance. Let’s check it out!

Sharpness (Infinity)

For the infinity sharpness test, we look at three areas of the image, centre, mid-frame, and corner, see highlighted areas in the image below!

Here are the reference images shot of the tests.

This is a sharp lens, especially at its widest focal lengths. It performs best at 14mm, which is also the most important focal length in an ultra-wide-angle zoom within this range. Centre sharpness is outstanding—ranging from excellent to even phenomenal—between f/4 and f/5.6. Corner sharpness remains good to very good, with the weakest performance occurring at 30mm and f/22, where it still achieves a solid “good” rating.

You can shoot at f/16 with very good results, while f/22 is the weakest aperture — though still capable of producing decent images. Generally, optimal performance is achieved between f/5.6 and f/8. However, if you’re aiming for the sharpest corners at 30mm, f/11 is the best choice.

Sharpness (Close-up)

This lens delivers strong performance at all focal lengths, even at close-up distances. The floating lens elements work wonders in this regard. However, you may want to avoid using f/22 unless absolutely necessary, as it’s the weakest aperture due to diffraction. Nonetheless, if your application requires it, you can still achieve decently sharp images at f/22.

Lens Distortion

Since Nikon Z cameras don’t allow you to disable distortion correction, distortion is automatically fixed in-camera for JPG images, meaning you’ll see almost no distortion. Even when shooting RAW, the camera embeds correction data into the file, which Nikon’s RAW converters, Lightroom, Photoshop, and many other RAW converters apply automatically—without giving you the option to disable it. So, distortion won’t be an issue. Here I used Lightroom to convert the RAW files

However, if you use a third-party RAW converter that doesn’t automatically apply lens profiles—and you choose not to enable them — distortion will be visible, especially at 14mm.

The uncorrected distortion can be seen in the following series. This occurs when shooting in RAW and using third-party RAW converters other than Nikon’s, Lightroom, or Photoshop, but only if profile corrections are manually disabled in those third-party programs.

Vignetting

The Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 exhibits noticeable vignetting at 14mm. Stopping down reduces it, but some moderate vignetting remains even when stopped down. The good news is that vignetting is average at 20mm and minimal at 30mm. At these focal lengths, stopping down further improves the results.

Vignette Control was turned off in the camera during testing.

Focus Shift & Aberrations

There is no longitudinal chromatic aberration visible at any focal length, this is a very good performance.

There is no noticeable lateral chromatic aberration at 30mm and 20mm. At the shortest focal lengths (14–16mm), there is a slight and negligible amount, which can be ignored in most cases.

Flare Resistance

Zoom lenses are typically more prone to flare than prime lenses, partly due to their more complex optical construction. This includes a higher number of elements and glass-to-air surfaces, along with the challenge of optimising a design that involves moving components. Additional factors that can increase the likelihood of flare include a wide-angle field of view and a large front element. Since this lens features all of these characteristics, it’s reasonable to temper expectations regarding flare performance.

Nikon’s ARNEO and Nano Crystal coatings, along with a fluorine-coated front element, do an excellent job of minimising flare — These coatings help produce clean, contrasty images, even when shooting directly into the sun making me positively surprised. (Tab titles: Focal length/Aperture)

Of course, with enough effort, any lens can be made to look bad in this regard. While this lens handles flare well under typical shooting conditions with the sun in the frame, it’s still possible to encounter it in certain situations, mainly at small apertures— but even then, the artefacts are generally not overly distracting or destructive.

Coma

The lens delivered excellent results in this section, exhibiting negligible coma at its top.

Sunstars

The Z 14-30mm f/4 can produce relatively nice and distinct sunstars at its smaller apertures. The longer the focal length, the smaller the aperture needed to create distinct sunstars. At 30mm, you’ll need to stop down to f/22 for well-defined stars, while f/16 or f/22 works at 20mm. At 14mm, you can already get attractive sunstars at f/11 or smaller.

Focus Breathing

In this category, the Nikon Z 14-30 performs exceptionally well—it’s one of the best-corrected lenses for focus breathing, exhibiting virtually none at all.

Bokeh

Expecting pleasing bokeh from an ultra-wide-angle lens with a maximum aperture of f/4 might be asking a bit much. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the background blur this lens produces — especially at its longer focal lengths, but even around 20mm if you’re close enough to your subject.

Bokeh is a highly subjective matter, but to my eye, the blur is impressive for a f/4 UWA: soft and attractive, with round bokeh highlights. Have a look and see how it appeals to you.

Conclusion

Just by looking at the like/dislike table, you can probably guess the conclusion: this is a superb ultra-wide-angle lens — and a clear example that not all high-end zooms need to be f/2.8.

This is a lightweight, compact lens, thanks to the use of high-grade plastics in its construction and its retractable design — though some users might not love the retractable mechanism. Optically, it’s very sharp, with virtually no aberrations or coma, and it handles flare impressively well. The generous zoom range adds versatility, making it a great option for landscapes, cityscapes, and architectural shots. It’s even suitable for occasional astrophotography, thanks to its excellent coma control. Autofocus is fast and accurate, and the price is also fair for what it offers.

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More Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Further Reading

What camera gear and accessories do I use most frequently?

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Martin

Martin M.H. lives outside Stockholm, Sweden. He is a M.Sc. in Computer Technology but he has been a passionate photographer for over 45 years. He started his photographic adventures when he was thirteen with an Agfamatic pocket camera, which he soon replaced with a Canon rangefinder camera that his mom gave him in his teenages. After that he has been using Canon SLR, Nikon SLR manual focus and Autofocus, Sony mirrorless crop sensor, Nikon DSLR and Nikon Mirrorless. He has photographed any genre he could throughout the years and you can see all kind of images in his portfolio. During the later years though it has been mostly landscape, nature, travel and some street/documentary photography.

Latest posts by Martin (see all)

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