Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR review: your one travel lens

Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR: Two-minute review

As photographers and videographers, sometimes we just want to pack one lens that can do it all, but this comes with a few drawbacks. Typically, the broader the focal range and faster the maximum aperture, the bigger, heavier and ultimately more expensive the lens. The good news for Nikon shooters is that the Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens – which the manufacturer refers to as its ‘superzoom’ – is the lightest full-frame lens in its maker’s line-up while offering a maximum focal length of 400mm. As well as being useful for bringing the faraway closer, the telephoto end is also well suited to portraiture, for when we want to attractively throw the background out of focus and achieve attractive bokeh, while keeping our subject pin-sharp. 

With a minimum focus distance of 0.2m at its widest setting allowing for reasonable close-ups of flora and fauna, and a still-useful 1.2m at the telephoto end, those shooting handheld in more demanding lighting conditions are aided by Nikon’s built-in Vibration Reduction image stabilization, here providing equivalent to up to five stops. This is boosted to 5.5 stops when the lens is used with a Nikon camera, such as the Z f, that has a Synchro VR feature. This allows for image-stabilized camera bodies and image-stabilized lenses to work in tandem – an automatic process if the user has already activated it, the result being less pronounced blur caused by camera shake. For the record, other Nikon camera bodies with this feature aside from the Z f include its flagship Z 8 and Z 9 mirrorless models.