Sharpness at 24mm

Our sharpness tests are carried out by photographing a real-world subject rather than a test chart. The Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S Lens Review was attached to a Nikon Z 7, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. Self-timer mode was activated to steady the camera completely. Any slight tonal changes you may see across the crops are a result of slight changes in natural light during the shooting session.

The full frame at 24mm

At the centre of the image, sharpness is excellent at the widest aperture of f/2.8, and again at f/4. But it is at f/5.6 that the image is sharpest, dropping off ever so slightly again at f/8, and again at f/11. It’s a little softer again at f/16, before becoming the softest at f/22. However, the overall impression of sharpness is good when viewing at normal printing and web sizes, no matter which aperture is used. Moving to the edge of the frame, the sharpest results can be seen between f/8 and f/11.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22