NIKON Z 400MM F/2.8 TC VR S

Sell your car and buy the Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S telephoto lens instead

- Matthew Richards

www.nikon.com £13,500/$14,000

The Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC TVR S adds genuine clout to the Z-system telephoto lineup. Lenses with built-in teleconverters to extend the focal length are rare, but not unique. Nikon already makes the AF-S 180-400mm f/4E ED VR TC1.4 F-mount super-telephoto zoom with a built-in teleconverter, and this prime lens follows suit, combining a native 400mm f/2.8 configuration with a 1.4x extender that gives you 560mm at f/4. Not only is the internal teleconverter much quicker to add into or take out of the equation with a simple flip of a lever, it's also designed specifically to match the optical characteristics of this particular lens.

Key features

There's no getting away from the fact that dream-team specifications like these demand a big, heavy build, with this lens weighing in at just under 3kg. That's 20 percent lighter than Nikon's latest 400mm f/2.8 F-mount lens, though; and while it's a bit of a whopper at 156 x 380mm, there's a lot packed in.

The upscaled optical layout is based on 25 elements in 19 groups, which includes seven elements in four groups for the internal teleconverter. To enhance quality and reduce weight, the design features two fluorite glass elements. There are also two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, one Super-ED element and an SR element, which refracts short-wavelength light.