Popular for portraiture, the NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S from Nikon is a short-telephoto prime characterized by its flattering focal length and bright f/1.8 design. The maximum aperture strikes a balance between size, weight, and speed, offering suitable speed for working in difficult lighting yet remaining sleek enough for handheld use. In terms of optics, two extra-low dispersion elements are featured, and help to reduce color fringing and chromatic aberrations in order to achieve high clarity and color fidelity. Also, both Nano Crystal and Super Integrated Coatings are used to suppress flare and ghosting for greater color fidelity and higher contrast.

Complementing the optical design, a multi-focus system, which employs two stepping motors, helps to realize impressively fast, accurate, and quiet focus performance, along with full-time manual focus override, to suit both stills and video needs. Additionally, a programmable control ring can be set for intuitive adjustment over a variety of camera and exposure settings.

Z-Mount Lens/FX Format    Aperture Range: f/1.8 to f/16    Two Extra-Low Dispersion Elements    Nano Crystal & Super Integrated Coatings    Multi-Focus Stepping Motor AF System    Programmable Control Ring    Weather-Sealed Construction    Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm

Prime portrait-length lens is designed for FX-format Z-mount mirrorless cameras.

Bright f/1.8 maximum aperture suits working in difficult lighting conditions and also offers increased control over depth of field for isolating subjects and working with selective focus.

Two extra-low dispersion elements greatly reduce color fringing and chromatic aberrations in order to produce greater clarity and color rendering.

A Nano Crystal Coat, along with a Super Integrated Coating, has been applied to lens elements to minimize surface and internal reflections for a marked reduction in lens flare and ghosting.

Multi-focus system incorporates two separate AF drive units, which are synchronized, to deliver especially fast and accurate focusing performance. This system uses stepping motors, which offer impressively smooth and quiet autofocus qualities, that are well-suited to both stills and video applications. Full-time manual focus override is also possible and an internal focusing design is used, where only the internal lens groups are moved during focusing, to maintain the overall length of the lens during use and to promote faster focusing speeds.

Programmable Control Ring is, by default, set to adjust manual focus, but can also be used to control aperture or exposure compensation.

Specialized electromagnetic aperture mechanism provides greater exposure control stability that is especially beneficial when working with fast continuous shooting rates.

Dust- and moisture-resistant lens barrel benefits the lens' use in inclement conditions.

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. Two reviews have described a pronounced focus shift with this lens and they said to stop down before focusing to correct for this. Doesn't this limit the ability to focus this lens in low light? How do you do get around this problem?

A: While I have not seen issues with focus shift, a few reviewers have mentioned the above. Issues with focus shift may be corrected by first stopping the lens down to your desired shooting aperture before focusing. If you are shooting at f/1.8 for low-light needs, then you should not need to stop down. In either case, you should have 30 days from the original date of purchase to ensure the lens will work for your usage needs, and if you are not happy with the lens' performance, you may return the lens for an exchange or a refund. You may also send both your camera and lens to Nikon USA so they can calibrate the lens to the camera, and/or to inspect/repair the lens as it comes with a Limited 5-Year USA warranty from Nikon once you register the lens with Nikon USA. (If you do not register the lens, it comes standard with a Limited 1-Year Warranty from Nikon USA).

Q: 2. Will this work well for hand-held cityscape night photography?

A: It can work. It is not the widest lens. But it is fine for that. But in general, when shooting night cityscapes one should use a tripod. If you do not you will need to up your ISO a lot and shoot wide open.

Q: 3. Will it work with the Nikon D750

A: This is a DX lens. Not Full Frame which is D750.

Q: 4. Can i use this on a d7200?

A: No, mirrorless lenses are not compatible with dslr cameras, the other way around yes.

Q: 5. I travel and do street photography a lot but only been using the 18-55 kit lens. Any suggestions on my next lens choice? Thanks in advance!

A: It is a matter of opinion but for street photography I prefer a zoom lens because you never know how close or far the next shot might be from you. IF you want a higher quality lens than the 18-55, the Sigma 17-50 f2.8 is a great choice: https://bhpho.to/2MjD7tH

Q: 6. Does it work with D5000, especially for autofocus feature?

A: Yes Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Lens does autofocus on the D5000.

Q: 7. Does this lens work with Nikon D60 ?

A: Yes it does.

Q: 8. Where is the Z 85mm F/1.8 S made?

A: Hi--this lens is made in China.

Q: 9. I'm new to photography and I just purchased my very first camera from B&H. I purchased a Nikon Z50, I'm not one to assume & I think it is compatible without the adapter. Am I right in thinking all Z lenses are compatible with my Z50?

A: The Z50 is compatible with all Nikon Z mount lenses. Being that this Z 85mm lens is optimized for a full frame camera, the lens would be more like 136mm due to the 1.5X crop factor.

Q: 10. The 20mm and 85mm f/1.8 S lenses have Dual Stepping motors. However, the 35mm and 50mm lenses do not. Is this info correct?

A: That is correct the Nikon NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S Lens and the Nikon NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S Lens have the Multi-focus system and the 50 and 35 does not.