Sharpness at 50mm

The sharpness tests for this review were carried out using a real-world subject rather than a test chart. The Nikon Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 VR lens was attached to a Nikon Z7 camera body, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. Self-timer mode was activated. Slight tonal changes are due to slight changes in natural light during the session.

The full frame at 50mm

The widest aperture available at 50mm is f/5.6. At this point the centre of the image is very sharp, but gets even sharper at f/8. An excellent level of sharpness is maintained at f/11, before dropping a little at f/16. The results are a little softer at f/22, before getting noticeably soft at f/32 (when examining at 100%). You can see some softness at normal printing and web sizes at f/32 but it’s not too pronounced. At the edges of the frame, the sharpest results can be seen between f/8 and f/16.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32