Nikon continues to build its arsenal of lenses for vloggers and content creators with the brand new NIKKOR Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ VR Power Zoom Ultra-Wide Angle Lens.
With the release of the compact Z 30 last year, Nikon announced its intention to make waves within the world of content creators and social media leaders. Those folks who always have a camera on them to capture their every waking moment in order to create content for social media outlets such as YouTube, TikTok, and the like.
Two things content creators need are versatility and a light payload. The Z 30 is meant to address those issues in the form of a camera body. And now, Nikon has introduced a new power zoom lens to go along with it, or any of Nikon’s other DX-sensor bodies such as the Z fc and the Z 50.
If you’re not familiar with power zoom lenses, they are similar to a traditional zoom, but the zoom function can be activated by assigned buttons on the camera body. This makes it useful for one-handed operation by solo operators like content creators. So, users can smoothly zoom from 12mm to 28mm (in DX format) with the press of a button. For content creators, who might find themselves shooting everything from group selfies to interiors of a destination all in a day’s work, this versatility and convenience could be helpful. Alternately, you still have the option to zoom manually like any other zoom. Or, if you have the Z 30 creator kit, which comes with the ML-17 Remote Control, you can zoom in and out without ever touching the camera body at all. The zoom also can be triggered remotely using Nikon’s SnapBridge app via your phone.
Coming in at only roughly 7.3 oz, this is the closest thing to not having a lens on at all. This is perfect for those that want to carry around a camera all day but not feel as though they are carrying around a camera all day. It has an STM focusing motor meant to keep the mechanism silent with zooming in and out. The minimum focus distance is .62 feet or .19 meters. This should allow you to get tack focus near or far. The lens also has built-in vibration reduction and is dust- and drip-resistant.
Coming in May and costing $359.95, the lens is also affordable for its versatility. So, what do you think? Will you pick one up to handle all your vlogging and content creation needs?
Interesting lens, though I would have liked to have seen them do a lens that is in the 10-24mm range instead, where with some lens correction, can offer decent budget real estate setup as well as vlogging.