This holiday season, we’re looking at fun and affordable lenses for your mirrorless systems. There will be both unique lenses and some overlap thanks to the vast number of third-party lenses hitting the market for all major brands. In this guide, we’re covering the Nikon Z mount. From landscape and architecture to sports and wildlife, we’re hitting a variety of focal lengths and price points.
7Artisans 10mm f/2.8 Mark II Fisheye Lens
At the time of writing this article, there’s currently no native Nikon fisheye for the Z system without the FTZ II adapter. Classics like the NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D and 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED are long discontinued but even used they can cost a pretty penny. Luckily, a number of third-party lens manufacturers have taken to filling out the uncommon lenses in major brand lineups.
Our first lens is the all-manual 7Artisans 10mm f/2.8 Mark II Fisheye. Its large field of view is ideal for landscape, travel, and even underwater photography. The f/2.8 maximum aperture makes this an excellent option for a variety of lighting situations. It can also produce interesting perspectives thanks to its 5.9” minimum focus distance. This lens is also well suited for video thanks to a de-clicked aperture ring.
Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Autofocus Lens
Keeping with the ultra-wide-angle field of view, is the Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF lens. This lens is Venus Optics first autofocus lens in the Laowa lineup as well as the world’s widest f/2.8 full-frame rectilinear lens. That’s right, this is not a fisheye lens. It delivers an impressively wide perspective with minimal distortion, making it perfect for capturing landscapes, architecture and night skies. It can even serve as a close-up lens, with the autofocus designing affording a minimum focus distance of 4.7”.
Unlike many other ultra-wide-angle lens on the market, the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 has a built-in 77mm filter thread, allowing you to attach UV, CPL, and ND filters without the need for any special adapters. And, if 10mm is too wide, Venus Optics has recently introduced a 12mm version of this lens.
7Artisans 15mm f/4 Lens
The 7Artisans 15mm f/4 lens features the perfect combination of aspherical and low-dispersion elements paired with 5 high-refractive-index lenses to practically eliminate chromatic aberration. This makes for superbly clean and sharp images. The f/4 maximum aperture is perfectly serviceable for daylight scenarios but can perform quite well in low-light and even during nighttime shoots in a pinch thanks to the improved low light performance of current mirrorless cameras.
The 114° field of view allows the user to capture vast scenic and ultra-wide architectural images. The optical design also results in little to no distortion, reducing the level of post processing required. Like the Laowa 10mm, this lens also features a built-in 77mm filter thread, which is a nice bonus.
Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.7 Z Lens
Optimized for the APS-C sized sensor, the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.7 Z lens (53mm full-frame equivalent) delivers a versatile field of view in a lightweight design. Its most notable feature is the ultra-bright f/1.7 maximum aperture. Paired with the 9-blade diaphragm, this results in smooth, pleasing bokeh quality. This makes it perfect for portraits or street photography.
Equipped with a Viltrox Silent STM motor, this lens is fast, accurate and able to keep up with the powerful subject tracking AF systems found in most current mirrorless cameras. This feature extends to video, making the lens a great solution for APS-C videographers as well.
TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95 Lens
Yes, Nikon has their own f/0.95 lens and while it’s certainly fun, it’s definitely not inexpensive. Hence the inclusion of the TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95 lens on this list. This lens is designed for APS-C sized sensors so the 50mm focal length has a field of view more akin to a 75mm full-frame lens. This works in the lenses favor as a 75mm f/0.95 is perfect portrait territory. This is a great option for someone looking to capture that dreamy bokeh that only a super-fast aperture like f/0.95 can create. The ultra-fast f/0.95 maximum aperture is accompanied by a 10-blade diaphragm for extremely smooth backgrounds and bokeh quality.
Many lenses on this list are excellent in low-light and this lens is no exception. In fact, it may be the best as it has the fastest maximum aperture of any lens on this list. Although manual focus only, the f/0.95 aperture is great for keeping ISOs down. With a retro design, this lens pairs well with the Nikon Zfc, though it can be paired with any camera in the Z ecosystem.
NIKKOR Z 28mm f/2.8 Lens
28mm is one of the most popular focal lengths for street photographers thanks to cameras like the Leica Q series. Nikon’s iteration of this lens comes in two variants. The standard NIKKOR Z 28mm f/2.8 version matches the aesthetic of the Z system, while the SE or “Special Edition” has a more nostalgic appearance, looking more like an older Nikon AI lens. Outside of aesthetics, there’s no discernable difference between the two versions.
While not part of Nikons “S” series, this lens makes use of two aspherical elements and a Super Integrated Coating to limit aberrations and flare for improved color and contrast. And at just 5.5oz, it’s the perfect walk-around lens for travel and street photographers.
NIKKOR Z 40mm f/2 Lens
The NIKKOR 40mm f/2 is yet another great lens for street photography. The lens also comes in both a standard and SE version. Both feature two aspherical elements and the same Super Integrated Coating that’s found in the 28mm lens while weighing only .5 oz more than the shorter lens.
The 40mm focal length is wide enough for walking around spontaneity, but tight enough to serve as a fantastic portrait lens. The bright f/2 aperture is superb in challenging light and great for isolating subjects. Like the 28mm lens, this is an incredibly lightweight option for on-the-go photographers.
TTArtisan 250mm f/5.6 Reflex Lens
Reflex lenses, also known as mirror lenses, are essentially small telescopes. Unlike the typical super-telephoto lens, these use a series of angled, circular mirrors to gather light and reflect the light back and forth until a highly magnified portion of the image reaches your camera’s imaging sensor. Due to this design, the resulting bokeh is unique to say the least. Distant lights or reflective surfaces will appear in a ring or donut-like pattern. The TTArtisan 250mm f/5.6 Reflex Lens is no exception.
This lens is fully manual and features a fixed f/5.6 aperture. The unique bokeh produced by reflex lenses great benefit subject matter in portrait or nature settings. Its full metal construction is especially handy for those looking to use the lens in less controlled settings.
NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR Lens
For full-frame shooters looking for in all-in-one lens, look no further than the NIKKOR 28-400mm f/4-8 VR. There are few optics out there that let you capture a wide-angle vista and quickly zoom to focus on a distant mountain peak, and the 28-400mm lens does it easily with a 14x zoom. Sure, the maximum aperture of f/8 at 400mm is not quite as fast as a dedicated wildlife photographer might want, but it’s the perfect compromise for someone looking for one versatile travel lens where wildlife may be involved. In all other cases, the NIKKOR Z 24-200 f/4-6.3 is the better option.
Unlike many other non “S” line lenses, the 28-400mm does come equipped with Nikons Vibration Reduction which features 5.5 stops of stabilization. Additionally, the lens has the greatest close-focusing capabilities of any non-macro lens in Nikon’s line up with a 0.35x magnification ratio.
Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens
The unique and compact Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD is logical choice for nature photographers. Even with a greater zoom range than the typical 100-400mm lens, the Tamron is just as compact if not even smaller than its contemporaries. It also shares the 67mm filter thread found on the majority of Tamron mirrorless lenses, so you can share filters between lenses.
This lens can also serve as a semi-macro with a short minimum focus distance of just 9.8” at 50mm. The Tamron 50-400mm lens is ideal choice for wildlife, sports, portraits, landscapes, and much more. There are truly very few areas of photography that this lens can’t touch.
While this list encompasses some of our picks for fun, affordable lenses for the Nikon Z system, there are just too many options to list them all. Many of the lenses in this article are just one of many in a series featuring many focal lengths. If you’re interested in learning more about photography, read more on the B&H Explora page!
