Nikon Nikkor Z 24-70 mm f/2.8 S II review - Autofocus and focus breathing

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Nikon Nikkor Z 24-70 mm f/2.8 S II

11 May 2026

Maciej Latałło

10. Autofocus and focus breathing

Autofocus

The tested Nikkor is the first Nikon zoom lens with a linear voice coil motor, Silky Swift (SSVCM). For that reason, the autofocus is, according to the producer, very fast and precise.

How did it fare in our test, attached to the Nikon Z8? Indeed, the performance of the focusing mechanism is completely noiseless and lightning quick. Running through the whole distance range and confirming the focus takes typically about 0.3 of a second even without employing the limiter. It is an excellent result, worth of a professional journalistic lens.

You can describe the accuracy of the autofocus in the same terms. It was practically flawless no matter whether we worked in our studio or outside.

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The photos below show that the tested lens didn't have any meaningful problems with setting the focus before or behind the proper aim. In case of the 45 mm focal length, the depth of field encompassed the object perfectly and at 70 mm it was slightly shifted towards the photographer, but it was a very slight effect.

Nikon Z8, 45 mm, f/2.8

Nikon Z8, 70 mm, f/2.8

Focus breathing

Focus breathing tests show reframing images as you oversharpen them. We conduct the test by manually passing from the minimum focusing distance to infinity with the aperture stopped down; then we check how the field of view of the lens changed as a result.

A frame change ranging from 0 to 5%, we consider to be low. Between 5 and 10%, you can speak about medium levels. Usually such values also constitute the maximum efficiency level of any breathing compensation algorithms, present in some bodies. Between 10 and 15% focus breathing is high; above 15%, its level can be called very high.

Below we present the test video of the Nikkor lens:

Based on the recording above, comparing freeze-frames before and after oversharpening, we can estimate that the breathing of the tested lens amounts to about 1% at 24 mm and about 4% at the longest focal length. In both cases the level of this aberration can be called low and it shouldn't bother you in real life situations.