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The Nikon Z6 is a lightweight and compact full-frame mirrorless camera that performs excellently in poor lighting. When paired with the best lens for Nikon Z6, this camera is versatile and flexible, and you can use it in a wide range of shooting situations.
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The best lens for Nikon Z6 comes with a bright aperture and versatile zoom, enabling you to take bright interior photos and wide-angle exterior pictures. The following lenses feature advanced coatings and elements that reduce distortions and aberrations that ruin the image quality.
Top on my list is the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8, thanks to the flexible zoom of 70-200mm and a bright aperture of f/2.8.
Although the lens might not capture wide-angle perspectives like the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4, it’s equally versatile as it can take brighter photos in difficult lighting compared to the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4.
With the shortest focal length being 70mm, this is one of the zoom lenses you can use in portrait and close-up
Whether taking photos while walking or using slower shutter speeds, you will love the sharpness this unit delivers, thanks to the vibration reduction system.
The weather-resistant construction removes worries of dust or moisture damaging the unit when taking photos in dusty backyards. However, this incredible design and construction quality comes with a weight downside. Unlike the other units on this list, this unit weighs a whopping 3.08 pounds, which limits its portability.
The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 is one of the all-around lenses you can equip your Nikon Z6 camera with to shoot almost everything. This lens spans wide-angle, normal to telephoto perspectives, courtesy of the wide zoom of 24-120mm.
Since the Nikon Z6 is a full-frame camera, this lens maintains its versatile angle of view, ranging from 84 degrees when using the wide-angle settings to 20.3 degrees when you have zoomed in to take the details of far away objects.
This benefits its capability to take broad photos of the property exteriors and details of specific parts of the property, such as the door handles, without moving your setup.
However, the f/4 aperture doesn’t perform as well as the f/2.8 aperture in the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 when taking photos in difficult lighting. Generally, this limits the usability of the lens without good ambient lighting.
Another downside is the lack of a vibration reduction system, like the one in the Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3. This makes a noticeable difference in image sharpness when taking photos with slower shutter speeds.
If you want to feature the entire property in a single image or you want to take photos from a limited subject distance, such as shooting a bathtub in a tiny bathroom, the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 might be the lens of choice.
This is a wide-angle unit with a diagonal field of view of 94.5 degrees. Although this field of view is smaller than the maximum field offered by the Nikon 14-30mm f/4, the bright f/1.8 aperture in this unit gives it an upper hand in taking interior wide-angle photos.
Unlike the other lenses on this list, this is a prime lens, so you won’t get zoom-related abnormalities. When you combine this with the nine aperture blades, this unit delivers high-quality pictures with a good background blur.
On the downside, the lack of zoom means you must manually move your setup to adjust the angle of view.
The fixed focal length means the lens barrel is significantly short, making the unit compact and lightweight. Typically, this unit weighs 1.11 pounds, making it the second most portable unit on this list.
If you love the flexibility offered by zoom lenses yet hate their bulky design, try out the Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4. With 1.07 pounds weight, this unit beats even the prime lenses, such as the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8, regarding portability.
The unit features a retractable design which ensures compactness when storing or carrying. On the downside, you will be limited to using faster shutter speeds to avoid motion blur as the unit doesn’t come with a vibration reduction mechanism like the one in the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8.
In addition, the widest aperture of the f/4 and seven aperture blades might not render a good background blur if you use the unit to capture close-ups and portraits.
Like the Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8, this unit offers a maximum diagonal field of view of 114 degrees, allowing you to capture the entire property while standing at the gate.
However, like most wide-angle lenses, the broad field of view tends to cause distortions, and the angles and corners of the property might look distorted and curved.
The Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 is one of the wide-angle units that features advanced optical elements and design to reduce flares and reflections when taking photos in brightly-lit interiors.
Typically, this unit features a Nano Crystal and ARNEO coat to achieve ultra-low reflectance for the rays reaching the unit from a diagonal direction and the incident rays reaching the surface vertically.
If you add the f/2.8 bright aperture to this construction, this unit is ideal for taking pictures indoors, regardless of the lighting conditions. Like the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8, this unit features nine aperture blades, contributing to an aesthetically pleasing bokeh effect when taking close-ups and portraits.
One of the main challenges when shooting a subject in motion is to adjust the focus ring to maintain a sharp focus continually. Luckily, this unit features a stepping motor that facilitates fast, precise, and near-silent focusing, just like the Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4.
The main downside of this unit is the barrel distortion and vignetting when using the shortest focal length of 14mm, especially when focusing to infinity.
The Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 is worth adding to your
The lens's versatility is further enhanced by the lightweight design of 1.26 pounds. Although it’s not the most portable on this list, it’s significantly lightweight, considering its focal range. The main factor that limits the versatility of this lens is the aperture.
Usually, the f/4 wide aperture doesn’t perform well in bad lighting and even worsens when zooming in, as it narrows down to f/6.3. Like the Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8, this unit is weather-sealed, and you don’t have to worry when taking exterior pictures in a dusty backyard.
The lens features an internal focusing design, which allows the internal lens elements to move without moving the front elements. Usually, this prevents the physical size of the lens from changing or the front element from rotating, enhancing the use of filters or lens hoods.
The Nikon Z6 is one of the most advanced full-frame mirrorless cameras from Nikon. The best way to exploit the full capability and advanced features of this camera is to equip it with an equivalently high-end lens.
The following features focus on the key specifications that define a lens worth using with the Nikon Z6. Moreover, the following table highlights the features that determine the overall usability and performance of the lenses.
| Lens | Aperture blades | Vibration reduction? | Weight (pounds) |
| Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 | 9 | Yes | 3.08 |
| Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 | 9 | No | 1.39 |
| Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 | 9 | No | 1.11 |
| Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 | 7 | No | 1.07 |
| Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 | 9 | No | 1.43 |
| Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 | 7 | Yes | 1.26 |
A lens is generally made of enclosed glass elements. An aperture is a hole or opening that allows the light collected by the lens elements to reach the sensor of your Nikon Z6. Although this might seem to be a simple concept, it affects the ability of the camera to take photos in low light.
The aperture is measured and indicated in f-stops, a fraction of the lens angle of view. Since it's a fraction, you will increase the aperture when moving from a larger denominator to a smaller one. For instance, moving from f/6.3 to f/4 means opening the aperture wider.
Usually, a lens with a wider maximum aperture means more light can enter, allowing the camera to produce brighter photos. If your
Apart from the aperture, another crucial specification in a lens is the focal length. Unlike the aperture, the focal length dictates how much of a scene the camera lens can view, commonly known as the field of view or angle of view. Usually, the field of view is measured in degrees.
A lens with a shorter focal length has a wider field of view than its longer focal length counterpart. For instance, a 14mm lens offers a diagonal field of view of 114.2 degrees, while a 200mm lens offers a diagonal field of view of 12.3 degrees when paired with a full-frame camera.
Usually, lenses with a focal length of less than 35mm can shoot wide-angle perspectives, those with 35mm to around 70mm normal perspectives, and those above 70mm telephoto perspectives. As a result, if you want to take photos in cramped spaces or wide-angle exterior pictures, go for a wide-angle lens such as the Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4.
Most photographers love the flexibility of an affordable zoom lens like Nikon, as you can set up your camera and follow a subject in motion or vary how much the main subject occupies the camera frame without moving the camera setup. Generally, the zoom capability of a lens depends on whether the focal length is variable or fixed.
Since the focal length controls the angle of view, varying the focal length makes the lens zoom in and out. That means you can only zoom with lenses with a variable focal length. However, the amount of zoom you can get still varies with how wide the difference between the focal lengths is.
For instance, a lens with a wide focal range, such as the Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3, has a focal range of 176mm, spanning from wide-angle to telephoto. Unlike when using digital zoom, this allows you to capture a broader scene and then narrow it down to the main subject without quality loss.
Taking photos handheld can be more flexible, especially when the interior rooms are tiny and it's challenging to set up a tripod. Considering that the interior lighting of most properties is poor, you might want to reduce the shutter speed to allow the lens to collect more light.
Again, this raises the issue of camera stability. When using slow shutter speeds, the camera picks up the small movements and vibrations of your hands, resulting in blurry images. If you are using a telephoto lens, the effect is further magnified.
Fortunately, you can avoid all these by getting a lens with a vibration reduction system, such as the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8. This system detects unexpected vibrations and smoothens them out, making it possible to take sharp photos handheld.
One of the challenging things, especially for beginner photographers, is using the manual focus ring. If you don't get it right, objects in the background or foreground will be in focus, with your main subject soft and out of focus. Manual focus can also be exhausting to professional photographers, especially when tracking a subject.
Luckily, most lenses for the Nikon Z6 come with autofocus systems that can detect your main subject and focus. The system can even track the subject's movement and retain the focus. Since focusing involves moving the lens elements, it requires a motor.
Generally, Nikon Z6 lenses use stepping motors for their autofocus mechanisms. If you are recording videos or tracking a moving subject, consider getting a unit with two stepping motors instead of one, such as the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4.
Unlike digital zoom, where the camera tries to zoom in by cropping the angle of view, optical zoom involves the camera changing the equivalent focal length by physically moving the lens elements. In the same way, the focus works by moving the lens elements.
This movement of elements back and forth can make the lens barrel lengthen or shorten. As you rotate the focus ring, the front elements might also rotate. Usually, this affects the usability of filters and lens hoods. The changes in overall barrel size can also affect handling.
However, high-end lenses such as the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 come with an internal focusing and internal zooming design. With this design, the elements move inside the barrel when zooming or focusing without moving the lens front elements.
When investing in a high-end lens, you want to make sure the unit is sturdy enough to serve you for longer. Although some lenses fail because of construction defects and physical damages resulting from things such as falls, most lenses fail due to moisture or dust.
In most cases, dust makes its way into the lens elements through the lens mount. Even if the unit might not fail completely, dust causes low image quality, such as images with black speckles. Moisture can result in blurry images or even cause a complete failure of the lens.
Fortunately, you can get a weather-sealed lens that features a rubber gasket to prevent elements from entering through the mount. If photographing in dusty or humid environments, consider getting a weather-resistant unit like the Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8.
You can have a deep depth of field or a shallow depth of field when focusing on subjects. Deep depth of field is when all the elements in the foreground and background are in focus, including the main subject. Shallow depth of field is when you focus on the main subject and the background is out of focus.
Bokeh quality generally refers to how the camera lens renders the areas that are out of focus when using shallow depth of field. If you are taking close-ups or portraits and you want a beautiful bokeh quality, consider getting a lens with a bright aperture like the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8.
Although you can't directly mount the Nikon F-mount lenses on the Nikon Z6 camera body, you can attach the lens using the FTZ adapter. Typically, this adapter recreates the mount diameter and the flange distance of the Nikon F-mount DSLR. However, the autofocus might not perform as well as when using the Nikon Z lenses.
Yes, you can use the Nikon Z6 in humid weather as it's weather-sealed. Remember that the lens and the camera body are two separate units, and the camera can be waterproof while the lens is not. It's therefore advisable to ensure you have paired the camera with a weather-sealed lens before using it in high humidity.
The best lens for Nikon Z6 allows you to shoot subjects in motion using faster shutter speeds and to take close-ups with a beautiful background blur. If you want versatility, consider getting a zoom lens with a wide focal range and bright aperture.
