Nikon NIKKOR Z 400Mm F/4.5 VR S Telephoto Lens, Black

It's pretty sharp wide-open, across the frame. Stopping down doesn't actually improve acuity much (other than incidental benefits from increased depth of field). Not the sharpest lens I've ever used, but significantly better than the 100-400Z even while two-thirds of a stop brighter.VR is very good, as it is for all Nikon's Z lenses.AF is good. Accuracy and reliability seems good. Speed is decent - not as fast as some other super-telephotos (especially the exotics, unsurprisingly), and generally perfectly sufficient for wildlife.There's essentially no aberrations of any kind - imperceptible geometric distortion, nothing chromatic that I've ever noticed, and flare practically doesn't exist. Again, just like most of Nikon's Z lenses. Nikon are doing a fantastic job lately in this regard.The downsides are that it's expensive - I wouldn't consider this good value for most folks, unless you have perfectly matched needs - and its minimum focusing distance is not good. Especially if you're comparing it to the 100-400Z. This lens is optically superior to the 100-400Z, but its benefits can be rendered completely irrelevant if your subject gets "too" close and you can't focus on it at all (or similarly you need to zoom out - obviously this prime has downsides vs a zoom). I really wish Nikon would improve the MFD of their Z telephoto primes - they're all surprisingly poor. Especially in contrast to the 100-400Z which has spectacularly good MFD & max reproduction ratio.Overall I do recommend it, and it's become my primary telephoto lens over the 80-400G, 100-400Z, and Sigma 150-600C. Particularly when travelling or hiking - it's light. Just think carefully about whether you need the flexibility of a zoom or closer focusing distances.

Excellent Z lens from Nikon. 400 is a great focal length for (some) wildlife, sports, and landscape.It's a prime so I wouldn't call it versatile. When paired with a z8 or z9 though... you have a 400 and 600 lens all in one (dx mode to get 600).I just enjoyed a week in Costa Rica and this was the perfect companion for my Z8. Very lightweight, sharp, and moderately fast aperture at 4.5.It handles the 2x tc quite well and produces usable images.The stabilization is absolutely bonkers good. Seriously.Vs the 100-400 I can't say as I've never shot that lens. I went this route for the weight, size, and brighter aperture at 400.Not disappointed with my purchase at all!

Started out with the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S Nikkor lens, but we quickly realized we only ever used it on max zoom so we were lugging around a lot of extra weight for functionality that we never used. This lens is noticeably lighter and the auto-focus feels faster and smoother than on the 100-400.

If you are looking for prime lens for your new z system camera, dont hesitate to get the nikon z 400mm f4.5. This lens is lightweight, has full weathersealing, and is ridiculously sharp. Sure, if you have an unlimited budget then go for one of the 10,000+ dollar super primes. I'm sure that those are great as well. But for the rest of us mere mortals, this z400, while not exactly cheap, is an awesome value in my opinion. I love this lens!

I got the Z-800 pv first, and, although that was a great lens, it was simply huge for travel. This lens is much more reasonable in size and is surprising sharp. I do notice a bit of sharpness loss with the 2x extender, but still reasonable. The 1.4x extender is better, but to me just enlarging is just as good.