Z 9 / Z24-70f2.8II
It was kinda like de-ja-vou. I gotta tell ya, the Z24-70f2.8 is a great lens! I remember all too well when it was first introduced, I had to find out if it was as good as 24-70f2.8, which was an all-time favorite of mine. When I received the Z24-70f2.8II, its size and weight gave me pause, not the quality being finer than the F mount version. I once again made a call before ordering the Z24-70f2.8II and when I heard of the reduction in size and weight and its performance, the lens was in my hands two days later.
The loss of weight with its internal zooming mechanism blows my mind! How the magicians at Nikon pulled that one off is amazes me! Yes, the 77mm filter size is indicative of the slim down of the lens. How they got the lens so slimmed down with a new AF motor and internal zoom still has me scratching my head a month later.
It’s when I’m out shooting with it that my mind goes to a fog, the quality is better than all previous versions! The detail it captures like seen below, shot at f2.8, is making capturing intimate natural detail a snap. It focuses so much closer than previous versions, it can do macro. Even I made a couple nice macro shots last week and I’m not a macro shooter.
It has a clickable ring that you can set to do a number of functions. I set it to f/stops. The shade has a sliding door, making it simpler to rotate attached filters. While sharpness (dare I say, flat field sharpness) it the top attribute I love of the lens, right behind it is its smaller size! I reworked my camera bags adding space because the Z24-70f2.8II requires less. I can wrap up my affection for this version simply, Z24-70f2.8II … holly molly!
Soda Butte Creek captured by Z 6III / Z24-70f2.8