Nikon Nikkor Z 135 mm f/1.8 S Plena review - Introduction

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Nikon Nikkor Z 135 mm f/1.8 S Plena

2 May 2025

Maciej Latałło

1. Introduction

Nikon showed their first full frame mirrorless devices in August 2018. Among the lenses they presented at that time there was no classic portrait instrument and the fans of such kind of photography had to use reflex camera equivalents with an adapter. The situation improved in July 2019 when the Nikkor Z 85 mm f/1.8 S was launched.

Nikon Nikkor Z 135 mm f/1.8 S Plena - Introduction

Still their line-up didn't feature very fast portrait lenses that can also offer you a very shallow depth of field and separate the photographed object from its out-of-focus, fuzzy background. Such devices have been launching only up from 2023.

First in February we were shown the Nikkor Z 85 mm f/1.2 S and then, in September, it was joined by the Nikkor Z 135 mm f/.8 S Plena. Both these lenses shared significant dimensions and weight along with a truly astronomical price. We had to buy them for as much as 11-12 000 PLN – such was their initial price in Polish shops.

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It's also worth noticing that the word 'Plena' in the name of this lens means in Spanish 'full'. It is derived from the Latin 'Plenum' that can be also translated as 'full' or 'complete'. According to the Nikon company this lens is able to capture a full, complete image characterized by a perfect quality and pleasant bokeh even in the very corners of the frame.

Such declarations are always worth verifying so, of course, we decided to check how the Nikkor Z 135 mm f/1.8 S Plena fares in real life. Courtesy of the Polish Nikon subsidiary we managed to acquire one specimen of this lens for our testing – thank you very much!

You are also invited to get acquainted with our test procedure, described in the article "How do we test lenses?" If you feel it’s still not enough, please go to our FAQ section where you can find some further explanation.