Nikon has revealed that it is developing a new lens aimed at videomakers, the Nikon Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ. The standard zoom is a full-frame lens for Nikon Z-series cameras such as the Nikon Z6 III and Nikon Z8. It promises to join the ranks of the best lenses for vlogging, as well as general filmmaking, with a very generous 28-135mm focal range considering the constant f/4 maximum aperture.
Official details are pretty scant, with Nikon only saying "The Nikon Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ is a standard zoom lens with power zoom that covers the 28mm to 135mm range of focal lengths. It will be developed for ease of use and superior optical performance for video recording and will support efficient recording for documentaries and location work by a solo videographer or small crew. Nikon is committed to leading imaging culture and developing products that not only meet their users’ needs, but empower them to reach their creative and technical potential."
The image shows that the lens has a camcorder-style wide-to-telephoto zoom rocker switch (as an addition to the more familiar zoom ring) and a programmable L-fn function button. There's also a switch to select between auto and manual focus, and a tripod mounting foot. The oversized manual focus ring should enable it to work seamlessly with follow focus rigs.
There's a natty gold band towards the rear of the lens – which is stylistically different from all other Nikkor Z-series lenses, as is the 'Nikkor 28-135 Power Zoom' etching towards the front of the lens. Of course, as this lens is currently in development, any of this could change in the final product.
Nikon has one other lens with the 'PZ' moniker, the Nikon Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ VR, a wide-angle lens for crop-sensor DX format Nikons. So what assumptions can we make that the new lens will have based on what we know about this existing lens? For starters, this new lens looks to have much more sophisticated controls – the 12-28mm lens had no buttons or switches at all, relying instead on in-camera settings for selecting auto/manual focus, for example.
The PZ moniker suggests that this new lens will have similar power zoom functionality, enabling smooth zoom transitions (the 12-28mm lens had 11 selectable zoom speed settings, for cinematic-style wide-to-telephoto transitions).
While the 28-135mm focal range of the new lens would seem to provide a handy extension to the 12-28mm range of the older lens, there's no 'VR' in the lens name, so it doesn't look like the lens has built-in Vibration Reduction, instead relying on the in-body image stabilization (IBIS) that is only currently found in full-frame Z-series cameras.
We would wager that this will work well with Nikon's existing video accessories: the Nikon Remote Grip MC-N10, which attaches to a rig to enable camera and lens functions to be controlled without touching the camera body, and the Nikon ML-L7 wireless Bluetooth remote controller, which is ideal for vlogging and has a pair of zoom buttons that should be compatible with the power zoom functionality.
More news when we get it, but in the meantime you might be interested in the best cameras for filmmaking and the best video accessories.
