Swing railroad bridge across the Mississippi between Sabula, Iowa and Savannah, Illinois
One of my last pictures of the railroad bridge across the Mississippi River down in Sabula, Iowa, was a black & white photo, shot with the incredible Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF lens in March last year (feel free to have a look at that image right here: Sabula Bridge ). This prime lens with manual focus is the best standard I can apply to compare rendition and sharpness between other pieces of glass.
The question I tried to answer was, can the new Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, that came with the Nikon Z6II mirrorless camera, outperformed the old Nikkor 24-120, f/4 AFS, which I traded in for the new lens. Shooting a well known subject, like the Sabula bridge, is my way to find out what can be done in regards of sharpness with a new lens. I looked at the original RAW files and compared them with some shots with the Zeiss 2/35 and also the 24-120 AFS from last year under similar light and weather conditions. And here is the verdict, the Z 24-70 is at least equal to the prime lens and quite a bit better than my old “walk around lens”, the Nikkor 24-120 AFS. This doesn’t make me a better photographer, but it is good to know that the new tool in the camera bag, the stunning Nikon Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, is capable to deliver results that at the end help to become one.
Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, @ 57 mm, 1/125 s, f/16, ISO 100