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Today, I’ll talk about three key reasons you might want to consider the NIKKOR Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ power zoom lens.
So, the first questions one has to ask oneself when considering a lens like the Nikon Z 28-135 f/4 PZ are: “why a power zoom? What’s the advantage of a power zoom over the traditional holy trinity zooms already in your kit? What do we even mean by ‘power zoom?’”
Simply put, a power zoom is just a sort of lens where you can zoom in or out with the press of a button, as opposed to having to manually extend or contract the lens by turning the barrel with your hand. Those of you old enough to remember the heyday of the Handycam will have some idea. You push the toggle to go tighter or looser at will and keep on rolling.
The clear advantage of this is speed and operability. In many cases, you can shoot and zoom all with one hand, freeing you up to operate in different ways. But what are the other benefits of this sort of tool? Well, let’s have a look at some of those scenarios where a power zoom lens may be beneficial and see how the Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ stacks up.
Zooming Mid-Shot
Having a power zoom allows you to zoom at a constant rate throughout a shot. True, you can also zoom mid-shot with a manual zoom, but by combining the PZ with a Nikon body, you are able to preset the speed of the zoom you are hoping to accomplish and repeat it on a consistent basis.
There are a number of aesthetic reasons you may want to zoom mid-shot. Perhaps you’re making a project like Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and you want to give your scene a sense of surveillance. Maybe you are enhancing the comedic effect by zooming unexpectedly during a scene. Personally, I rarely use zooms mid-take. But there are still other practical benefits that having a lens like this would provide.
Remote Operation
Sometimes, even on lower-budget productions, it is not uncommon for me to be running multiple cameras at once. Ideally, I’ll have multiple operators, but hey, sometimes the budget just isn’t there. Yet there are still practical reasons I may need the scene covered from multiple angles simultaneously. So, in addition to the A cam I am operating, I will often set up remote cameras to capture alternate angles of a scene that I can’t be in physical contact with. Quite often, these remote cameras are in difficult-to-access locations, and walking back and forth between my setups would prove time-consuming or downright impractical. Having a lens that you can zoom in or out without needing to physically turn the barrel opens up the ability to remotely adjust my focal length in the same way you can remotely adjust aperture or other settings via apps like SnapBridge for remote camera control. So, if, for example, I have a remote camera perched on a ledge to get a dramatic angle not practical for me to physically reach myself, I can position the camera, then use the camera’s power zoom functions to further finesse my framing.
Combining With High-Res Zoom
The advantage of the PZ lens is multiplied in high-end Nikon cameras with the ability to utilize High-Res Zoom mode. In this mode, essentially what happens is that the camera is zooming in or out on an 8K/6K sensor while maintaining 4K resolution. It even works with a fixed focal length lens, but has additional benefits when combined with the power zoom. The Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ works in concert with High-Res Zoom, allowing you to seamlessly zoom from the widest and fullest resolution down to the tightest angle at 4K resolution, greatly increasing your zoom range. In my trial (you can see examples in the video above), I was able to get as far as 270mm of reach on a full frame setting (more if you go into crop mode). And you get to do all of that in the same shot without needing to adjust settings in-camera beforehand.
To make my life easier, I assigned two of the custom functions on the front of my Z9 to zoom in or out. In this way, I could control the zoom function from the camera body without even touching the lens. It’s important to note that you can set the speed of the zoom as well. In my case, to broaden functionality, I set the on-lens T/W switch to zoom quickly and the on-body function buttons to zoom slowly, both utilizing High-Res Zoom. So, at my fingertips, I had virtually infinite zooming capabilities without having to dive into menus, with the improved ergonomics of having those functions on the body itself. If you are shooting with this lens in a shoulder-mounted capacity and were to pair this with the Nikon handgrip, the speed benefits may be crucial in an ENG environment or a documentary scenario where speed is of the utmost importance.
Ergonomics
From an ergonomics standpoint, I appreciate the lens’ larger footprint. It balances well on cinema-style camera bodies as well as the larger Nikon mirrorless kits. I can see many doc-focused RED users making this their go-to lens on the new Komodo and Raptor bodies with the native Z mounts. It makes for a nice everyday all-in-one lens that can be a real workhorse in the field.
Fewer external moving parts also lead to less vulnerability for the lens itself. All the important components are housed inside the casing, which reduces the likelihood of obstructions affecting the mechanism while zooming. Also, if you have the lens pre-rigged with a follow focus or other FIZ accessories, you will not need to compensate for the extension of the barrel, which can save you time and increase productivity.
At f/4, this lens is right in line with similar-type zooms on the market. So, it’s not an f/2.8 regular zoom or an f/1.2 prime. If you want that kind of light gather/shallow depth of field, you’ll need to add an additional lens to your kit. But the f/4 PZ is plenty versatile enough to capture the majority of a filmmaker’s needs on set.
As you might expect, this lens balances better with a large body like the Z9 than a smaller body like the Z6III. But the lens comes with a convenient lens foot, allowing you to mount it via the foot, which makes for a nicely balanced package even with the smaller bodies.
Filter Size and Lens Hood
The large 95mm filter diameter makes a strong impression. Keep in mind that, if most of your screw-in NDs are in the 82mm range, as are mine, you’ll need to figure out a solution there. In my case, it meant breaking out the 15mm rods to mount a proper matte box with 4×6.5 NDs. As I was just borrowing this lens, I didn’t want to invest in 95mm screw-in NDs. And my usual quick-release matte box was just a wee bit too big to connect directly to the barrel. So, 15mm rods were a solution for my particular situation.
The included screw-on hood is an excellent design. It has one of those quick-access sliding doors that allow you to quickly rotate variable NDs or other filters easily without needing to fight with the depth of the hood itself. I would absolutely love it if there was an alternate version of the hood made that allowed me to mount 4×6.5 filters directly into that Nikon-made hood to keep me from needing to attach a matte box. But that’s a selfish request just to make my own life easier. As is, the included hardware is well thought out, and the lens even includes the ability to attach rear filters between the lens and camera body for additional options.
Pros
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Internal zoom
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Interaction with High-Res Zoom functionality
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Remote operation
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Image quality
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Build quality
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Zoom range
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Ergonomics
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Efficiency
Cons
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f/4 instead of f/2.8 (although this is common for this lens type)
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Size (although this is also appropriate for the use case)
Conclusion
So, is the Nikon Z 28-135mm PZ lens right for you? Only you can say for sure. I think that if you are a documentary or news shooter, this might be your go-to lens on any Nikon or RED body. If you are a narrative filmmaker and want to take advantage of this lens’ ability to adjust remotely, then this would be a good fit for specific use cases. This is not necessarily a lens built for keeping a super small travel package. Rather, this is a serious tool for filmmakers demanding the top optimal quality in a versatile workhorse lens setup.