Nikon Z 17-28mm f/2.8 Lens Review
Introduction
The Nikon Z 17-28mm f/2.8 is one of Nikon’s more compact and affordable ultra-wide zoom lenses for the Z system, offering a useful 17-28mm focal range and a constant f/2.8 aperture for landscape photography, travel, and even some astrophotography use.
In this review, I tested the Nikon Z 17-28mm f/2.8 in real-world landscape photography situations and also spent some time evaluating its performance for landscape astrophotography. While this lens is not part of Nikon’s premium S-Line lineup, it still offers weather sealing, internal zooming, and support for common 67mm filters, making it a compelling option for photographers looking for a lightweight ultra-wide zoom.
For this review, I evaluated the lens using both controlled test chart images and real-world landscape photographs at multiple focal lengths and apertures. I also tested its performance under the stars to examine sharpness, coma, and chromatic aberration during landscape astrophotography.
Watch the Full Review
Watch the full review video below, including real-world landscape images, sharpness testing, astrophotography examples, and detailed image quality observations.
Key Takeaways
Build Quality and Handling: The Nikon Z 17-28mm f/2.8 feels less premium than Nikon’s S-Line lenses but still feels solid overall. It is weather sealed, lightweight for an ultra-wide f/2.8 zoom, internally zooming, and supports common 67mm filters, making it practical for landscape photography and travel.
Landscape Photography Performance: For landscape photography, the lens performs very well, particularly when stopped down. Based on my testing, f/8 appears to be a strong sweet spot where sharpness across the frame improves significantly and corner softness is greatly reduced compared to f/2.8.
Astrophotography Performance: The constant f/2.8 aperture is useful for landscape astrophotography, though some coma and chromatic aberration are visible toward the edges at wider apertures. Stopping down to f/4 improved edge performance, though many photographers will still prefer shooting at f/2.8 to maximize light gathering.
Bottom Line: Overall, the Nikon Z 17-28mm f/2.8 performs very well for landscape photography, especially around f/8 where sharpness across the frame improves significantly. The lightweight design, weather sealing, internal zoom, and support for common 67mm filters make it practical for outdoor photography, while the constant f/2.8 aperture adds flexibility for low light and astrophotography. The biggest drawback is arguably price, as some photographers may expect more premium S-Line performance for the cost.
RAW Files
Download the original RAW files from this review to inspect the images yourself, test your own editing workflow, and inspect the files in Lightroom, Photoshop, or your preferred RAW editor.
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Nikon Z 17-28mm f/2.8
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