Nikon Nikkor Z 35 mm f/1.2 S review

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Nikon Nikkor Z 35 mm f/1.2 S

2 March 2026

Maciej Latałło

11. Summary

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Pros:

very solid, closed, and weather-sealed mechanical construction,
sensational resolution in frame centre,
good resolution on the edge of the APS-C/DX sensor.
practically zero level of longitudinal chromatic aberration,
moderate lateral chromatic aberration,
lack of problems with distortion,
nice out-of-focus areas,
moderate vignetting on the smaller APS-C/DX sensor,
excellent performance against bright light,
very low focus breathing,
quite silent and very accurate autofocus.

Cons:

huge vignetting on full frame near the maximum relative aperture,
intemperance in dimensions, weight, and price.

I admit that I don't understand Nikon's approach toward 35 mm class lenses. When such a renowned producer launches a big, heavy 1.2/35 instrument that costs around $2600, you expect it would be devoid of any compromises. Meanwhile, it seems Nikon wants to have a cake and eat a cake – they tried to design a lens that, on the one hand, can break resolution records and, on the other hand, preserves some softness of image near f/1.2. There is nothing wrong with such an approach, but I am sure a lens two times smaller, lighter, and cheaper would be a better candidate for such an experiment.

The final result? The line-up of 35 mm Nikon lenses looks strange. The most expensive and the biggest model from this producer is defeated by the Viltrox, a model three times cheaper. The slower Nikkor Z 35 mm f/1.8 S is optically and mechanically excellent but too expensive for its aperture fastness, costing nowadays almost $750. The cheapest Nikkor Z 35 mm f/1.4 is made of plastics, and its performance is burdened with a lot of compromises, too many to call it a well-put-together lens.

If I were a Nikon system user, I would have many problems with choosing a 35 mm instrument. I bet I would end up buying a third-party producer model.

After so many bitter remarks, we have to add one very important thing: overall, the Nikkor Z 35 mm f/1.2 S is a lens that is able to provide images of very high quality. I am sure its users will appreciate the whole array of possibilities this lens can offer. If you compare its pros and cons lists, you see that it is a very solid, well-put-together lens, but from a model of this price-quality class, I would have expected nothing less.