Quality

Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration and focus shift

I tested the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm for longitudinal color aberrations (loCA, a.k.a. “axial color” or “bokeh CA”) and focus shift. The former can show up as magenta coloration in the foreground and greenish hues in the background and are not easily corrected in post-processing. As was to be expected at a focal ratio of f7.1 the new zoom lens does not show any loCA or focus shift:

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 loCA at 105mm; 50% crops from 180MP image

Above from top to bottom: f7.1, f8.0; left = foreground, right = background; click image for 100% crops

In all of my test-shots with the the Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III I could not detect any purple fringing around high-contrast edges or specular highlights in the focus plane nor any colored outlining around background subjects. But spill-over of bright background light can be seen:

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm f4.0 (top) and 105mm f7.1 (bottom); 100% crops, click for large original

Sharpness and contrast

Let’s have a look at the theoretical performance of the new Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 first and compare it to Nikon’s Z 24-120mm f4 S, Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR, and Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III:

Above: MTF Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm f4.0 (left) and 105mm f7.1 (right)

Above: MTF Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 24mm f4.0 (left) and 120mm f4.0 (right)

Above: MTF Nikon Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR at 24mm f4.0 (left) and 200mm f6.3 (right)

Above: MTF Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 35mm f2.8 (left) and 100mm f2.8 (right)

These MTF charts show the computed lens-performance wide open without influence of diffraction at 10 line-pairs/mm (in red/yellow) and 30 lp/mm (in blue/gray). Higher values are better (more contrast) and the closer the dotted and solid lines are together the less astigmatism (= resolution depends on the orientation of the test-pattern) the lens has. The x-axis displays the “image height” which is the distance from the optical axis (=center of the sensor) in mm.

On the short end the new Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 slots in between the Z 24-120mm f4 S and the Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR and should be on a par with the Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III (at f2.8). At the long end the charts are less revealing as comparison is hampered by the differences in focal ratio and focal length but the Z 24-105 should be sharper at 105mm f7.1 than the Z 24-200 at 200mm f6.3. How the new lens performs in comparison to the Z 24-120 at 105mm resp. 120mm is hard to say as both focal ratios are almost 2 stops apart. At a guess I’d say that once the Z 24-120 is stopped down to f7.1 resolution, contrast, and astigmatism should be on a similar level. The Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III should be neck-and-neck with the Z 24-120mm f4 S at the short end when stopped down to f4.0. And at the long end I’d expect it to be the sharpest lens at comparable apertures.

Let’s see how this theoretical performance translates into real life results in the sharpness test based on Siemens-stars shot on a 45MP Nikon Z8 set to 16 image pixel shift shooting. The 16 individual images for each shot were merged in NX Studio 1.9.1 into a 180MP RAW file and further processed in Lightroom 14.5/CRAW 17.5 to Adobe Color profile with the lens profile compensating CA, distortions and vignetting. Noise-reduction was set to 0, sharpening to 50/1/36/10, with no extra tone, color, or saturation adjustment. White-balance was adjusted to a neutral white and I did some exposure compensation to make the brightness of all crops match. So you will not see light fall-off in the corners. I also focused separately for the center, the DX-corner, and FX-corner which eliminates any effect field-curvature might have. If you want to know more about the advantages and perils of pixel shift shooting head over to page 2 of my Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III G2 Nikon Z review.

First up is an overview of the wide-open performance at different focal lengths (presented as 50% crops). You can jump to the detailed results at different apertures and comparisons with other lenses by clicking on the crops of the respective focal length.

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1; 50% crops from 180MP image near center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: 24mm, f4.0

Above: 35mm, f4.2

Above: 50mm, f5.0

Above: 70mm, f6.0

Above: 105mm, f7.1

At 24mm Nikon’s Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 looks very sharp at the DX-corner with a slightly softer center and a pretty good FX-corner. At 35mm and 50mm the center sharpens up a bit while the FX-corner becomes a tad softer. 70mm sees a very even performance across the full-frame while the lens loses a bit of acuity at 105mm. Field curvature in general is not overly strong but for optimal results I had to focus separately for most crops.

Detailed results

The following crops for each focal length show the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 wide open compared to the Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S, Nikon Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR, and Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 105mm. When comparing with the crops from the Z 24-120mm f4 S and Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR keep in mind that those were shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7 which inevitably leads to aliasing artefacts in the center of the Siemens star pattern. Rule of thumb says stronger aliasing means sharper lens.

If that’s too much pixel peeping you can skip the details and fast-forward to the summary for this chapter.

Performance at 24mm:

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm compared; 50% crops from 180MP image near center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm, f4.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 24mm, f4.0; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Nikon Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR at 24mm, f4.0; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm, f5.6; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm, f8.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

At 24mm the Z 24-120mm f4 S leads in the DX image-circle while the Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 has the sharpest FX-corner.

Performance at 35mm:

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm compared; 50% crops from 180MP image near center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm, f4.2; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 35mm, f4.0; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Nikon Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR at 35mm, f4.8; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 35mm, f4.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm, f5.6; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm, f8.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

At 35mm the Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III enters the competition with very sharp results across the full frame. In comparison the Z 24-105 is softer in the DX image-circle – also compared to the Z 24-120.

Performance at 50mm:

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm compared; 50% crops from 180MP image near center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm, f5.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 50mm, f4.0; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 50mm, f4.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm, f5.6; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR at 50mm, f5.6; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm, f8.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

At 50mm all four lenses is this comparison look pretty similar – albeit at slightly different apertures.

Performance at 70mm:

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm compared; 50% crops from 180MP image near center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm, f6.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 70mm, f5.6; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Nikon Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR at 70mm, f6.0; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 70mm, f5.6; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm, f8.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

At 70mm the Z 24-105 is almost indistinguishable from the other lenses in the DX image-circle and takes the lead in the FX-corner.

Performance at 105mm:

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 + teleconverters at 105mm compared; 50% crops from 180MP image near center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm, f7.1; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 120mm, f5.6; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Nikon Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR at 100mm, f6.3; shot at 45MP on a Nikon Z7

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 100mm, f5.6; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm, f8.0; click image for full resolution 100% crops

Although becoming softer at the long end the Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 still fares quite well in comparison to the other lenses.

Summary:

In this test the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 showed that its resolution and contrast is never far behind other lenses, sometimes even surpassing them with a pretty sharp FX-corner.

Performance at long distances

The Siemens-star test-targets are shot at a distance of 45x focal length (i.e. at around 5m for 105mm focal length). But performance of lenses also depends on the shooting distance. Therefore, I shot another series of a city around 1 km away on a Nikon Z8. The images were processed in Lightroom 14.5/CRAW 17.5 to Adobe Color profile with the the lens profile compensating CAs, distortions, and vignetting. Noise-reduction was set to 0, sharpening to 50/0.5/36/10, with no extra tone, color, or saturation adjustment. All shots were made from a heavy tripod with image stabilization switched off at ISO 64. As usual I have selected the diagonal that provided the better corner results as the lens was slightly decentered. I’ve included comparisons with the Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III which were shot only minutes apart.

The following images show the complete scene wide open shot with the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 plus 100% crops from near center, DX-corner, and FX-corner. All crops in a row are from the same image so there is no compensation for field curvature. You can access the large 45MP originals, but the files are for personal evaluation only and cannot be used in another publication or website without permission. You can head directly to the results at 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 105mm. Or you skip the details and fast-forward to the summary for this chapter.

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm f4.0; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm f5.6

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm f8.0; crops also available at f11

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm f4.2; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 35mm f4.0

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm f5.6

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 35mm f8.0; crops also available at f11

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm f5.0; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 50mm f4.0

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm f5.6

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 50mm f8.0; crops also available at f11

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm f6.0; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 70mm f5.6

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm f8.0

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 70mm f11

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f7.1; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 100mm f5.6

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f8.0

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f11

Summary:

In this long-distance test the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 produced good to very good sharpness at 24mm. Only the FX-corner is a bit soft and suffers from blue haloing at high contrast edges. At 35mm and 50mm the center is still very good but outside the center the lens profits from stopping down to f5.6. But even then it does not reach the clarity and definition of the Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at f4.0. At 70mm the center softens a bit but sharpness across the full frame is still pretty good. This declines visibly when the lens is fully zoomed in to 105mm.

Vignetting and distortions

To make it easier to see light fall-off in the corners of a full-frame sensor I’ve arranged a series of three shots each with the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm and 105mm focal length and different apertures. All images were developed from RAW to the same brightness in the center and are shown with vignetting correction from the lens profile Off (1st row) or Normal/100% (2nd row):

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm focal length with vignette correction Off (top) or Normal/100% (bottom)

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm focal length with vignette correction Off (top) or Normal/100% (bottom)

At 24mm f4.0 vignetting is very visible even after the lens profile lifted the FX-corners (but only by +0.4 EV). At 105mm focal length vignetting is unobtrusive even when left uncorrected.

Handling of lens profiles by Adobe’s RAW converter continues to be confusing. Set vignetting control in camera to On and the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 gets its lens profile applied but you can change the strength of the correction in post-processing with sliders between 0 and 200%: Very good! But if you switch vignetting control in camera to Off the slider to control the strength of vignetting in Lightroom or CRAW is disabled. NX Studio always applies what was set in camera but you can switch vignetting control On or Off. So it’s better to leave the lens profile in camera On which enables all options when processing the image in Lightroom/CRAW.

Distortion control cannot be switched of with the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1, neither in camera nor in Lightroom, CRAW, or NX Studio. With the corrections from the lens profile distortions are almost non-existent. See the following images showing the upper part of two images shot as RAW:

Distortions: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm (top) / 105mm (bottom), with lens-profile; click image for 4k version

Rendering of point-light sources at night-shots

Night-shots pose a different challenge for lenses as the contrast is even higher than under bright sun and point-light sources can reveal some weaknesses such as coma, haloing and colour-aberrations that do not show up as prominently in other test-shots. The 100% crops below the main image show the effect of coma in the FX-corner of the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm focal length and different apertures:

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm, f4.0; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 24mm; 100% crops from the FX-corner at f4.0 (left), f5.6 (middle), f8.0 (right)

The Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 shows very little coma at 24mm.

Bokeh quality

This test is for the rendering of point-light sources in an out-of-focus background. The circle of confusion that is produced by the test is pretty indicative of Bokeh performance (in the background) and light fall-off. Ideally the out-of-focus image of the point-light is evenly lit and perfectly circular, with no “onion-rings”, and without coloration. Lenses normally produce an effect known as “cat’s eye” the further away from the optical axis the point-light is projected. This is due to optical vignetting in the lens barrel when light enters the lens from an angle.

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm, f7.1; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f7.1; click image for 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f8.0; click image for 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f11; click image for 100% crops

The Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 shows a moderate amount of compression of the circle in the DX- and FX-corner at 105mm f7.1. There is strong outlining (albeit free of coloration from loCA) and a dark spot in the middle. The inside of the Bokeh balls at f2.8 is smoothly textured with only very weak onion rings. For comparison have a look at the results from the Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 120mm f4.0 or the Tamron 35-100mm f2.8 Di III at 100mm f2.8.

Let’s see how this analysis of out-of-focus point-light sources translates into Bokeh-performance shooting a book-shelf. Crops are from the foreground, middle-ground, and background resized to make them comparable across all my reviews.

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f7.1; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f7.1; click image for 100% crops, here for large original

Above: Nikon Z 24-120mm f4 S at 120mm, f4.0; click image for 100% crops, here for large original

Above: Tamron 35-100mm f2.8Di III at 100mm, f2.8; click image for 100% crops, here for large original

As was to be expected, the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 is at a disadvantage in this comparison due to its meagre focal ratio of f7.1. The softest Bokeh is produced by the Tamron 35-100mm f2.8Di III.

Looking at the ruler (below, now at 100%) shows that the Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 is not prone to double-contours in the middle-ground but some sample images show them in the background:

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f7.1, 100% crop from middle-ground

Close-up performance

The Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 achieves a maximum magnification of 1:1.9 at 70-105mm focal length with an area of sharp focus of 46 x 69mm. The following set of crops was shot at 1:2.0 from 0mm, 9mm, and 21mm off the center of the sensor respectively. I focused separately for each crop to avoid the strong influence of field curvature.

Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm, 1:2.0 magnification; 100% crops

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f7.1

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f11

Above: Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm f16

Wide open the lens produces a pretty sharp center (up to 4mm image height). But to get good sharpness further across the frame you need to stop down.

Flare, ghosting, and sun-stars

Catching a strong light-source shining directly into the lens is always a risky business: it could produce strange colorful ghost-images or reduce contrast considerably through flare and glare. The appearance of flare and ghosting depends on factors like the aperture and the angle of the light hitting the lens. So, to judge the proclivity of the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 for these artifacts I went through a series of well calculated shots against a strong light source to provoke glare and ghosting. The lens hood was mounted in all shots. Following are two examples with ghosts and glare. To see them more clearly you should open the +3 EV version of the images. The little red square inset in the upper left shows the respective area with an exposure compensation of +3 EV to make it easier to see which levels of black the lens renders at that point:

Above: Flare and ghosting. Strong light hitting the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm, f11; click image for 4k version or here for +3 EV exposure compensation

Above: Flare and ghosting. Strong light hitting the Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 at 105mm, f11; click image for 4k version or here for +3 EV exposure compensation

At the short end there is very little to complain about: The Nikon Z 24-105mm f4-7.1 produces only few ghosts and little veiling glare. At the long end effects are stronger but still the blacks outside these effects stay almost unaffected by veiling glare. The flare from the upper right corner in the second image only occurs at a very narrow angle when the light-source is just outside the corner. I think the new Z-Nikkor can confidently be used in challenging contra-light situations.

At 24mm focal length the lens produces almost no sunstars below f16 due to the well rounded aperture blades.

Next check out my sample images!

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