Nikon Z 40mm 2.0

In an ideal world, we would indulge ourselves with nice products but nice products can be expensive, especially in the photographic world. Nikon's Z 40mm f/2 is an affordable option for budget-minded photographers - and there are many of them. It carries a well-known brand name but this alone doesn't guarantee quality. Optically, it is a bit of a mixed bag. If your main subject is near the center, and with such a lens that's admittedly a typical scenario, the quality is actually fine at f/2, although at a slightly reduced contrast. However, if you want to have good sharpness across the image frame you have to stop down to at least f/4. Autocorrection handles imperfections of the secondary aspects such as vignetting, distortions and lateral CAs. The background bokeh is actually pretty good and out-of-focus highlights are decently rendered at f/2. You have to be a bit careful with stray light which can result in a weird flare effect. You can feel the budget constraints when it comes to build quality. It's an all-plastic construction. On the positive side, it features some weather sealing and the AF is actually quite good. Overall, it's not the most impressive lens of them all but if you know what you are doing it can produce decent results - especially on lower-megapixel Nikon cameras.

Editor's Choice - A superb high-performance lens at a very keen price.

The Z 40mm f2.0 is a much smaller, lighter and cheaper lens than the Z 50mm f1.8 S or Z 35mm f1.8 S. Its optical performance is not on the same level as from the S-line Nikkors but the new lens is still a solid performer and offers a better light gathering power and smoother Bokeh than the Z 28mm f2.8. Stop it down a bit to get very satisfying results. This makes the Nikon Z 40mm f2.0 an interesting proposition on Nikon's lens road-map and earns it a clear recommendation.