Nikon Z5 II Mirrorless Camera with 24-200mm f/4-6.3 Lens

Nikon Z5 II upgrades its predecessor with improved processing speed, subject recognition AF, and low-light performance. With a new color preset button, an ultra-bright viewfinder, and easy sharing options, the camera offers a step up to creators seeking full-frame imagery.

From the manufacturer

It’s pretty amazing to shoot under moonlight handheld at 180mm, without even raising the ISO! Plenty of travel photographers who are considering the 24-200mm f/4-6.3 won’t use it with a tripod, so good VR performance is critical. The 24-200mm f/4-6.3 delivers in that regard.

Next, let’s take a step back and look at the specifications of the lens, which you can find on the dedicated Nikon Z NIKKOR 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR page of our lens database.

What strikes me about the specifications is that Nikon really pulled all the stops considering this isn’t an “S-series” lens – i.e., supposedly not one of their pro-level lenses. The 24-200mm has all of Nikon’s top coatings, plus two ED glass elements, two aspherical elements, and one additional aspherical/ED glass element. It has weather sealing and a metal lens mount. I’m left thinking that the only reason Nikon didn’t add this to the S lineup is the maximum aperture of f/4-6.3, which is more befitting of an entry-level lens. (The other possibility is that Nikon is making a comment about the lens’s image quality. We’ll get back to that later.) Otherwise, the 24-200mm shares basically all the same characteristics as S-series lenses like the Nikon 14-30mm f/4 and 24-70mm f/4.

Weight and convenience are nothing to laugh at, though. Considering that we’re talking about a lightweight mirrorless system in the first place, a lot of photographers who shoot with Nikon Z cameras are trying to avoid heavy gear. Travel photographers, hikers, and so on – not to mention people photographing their family or just wanting to carry a camera around on the go – are all photographers who could benefit from a superzoom like this.

Even if none of that applies to you, the 24-200mm f/4-6.3 still fills an important gap in Nikon’s current full-frame (FX) Z lens lineup at the moment: the missing lightweight telephoto zoom. Since the Z6 and Z7 were first announced in 2018, tons of photographers have asked Nikon for a Z-series 70-200mm f/4 or 70-300mm f/4-6.3 to get high quality telephoto shots without weighing down their bag. Such lenses would perfectly complement the high-quality 14-30mm f/4 and 24-70mm f/4 zooms that Nikon has released so far. Unfortunately, neither a 70-200mm f/4 nor a 70-300mm f/4-6.3 has been announced yet, and the Z lens roadmap doesn’t indicate that we’ll see one for at least another year.

Z5II + 24-200MM KIT

The Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR is not a heavy-duty metal lens that you can drive your car over, nor is it meant to be. At 570 grams / 1.25 pounds, it’s barely heavier than the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 kit lens (which is 500 g / 1.10 lbs). Nikon went with an external plastic construction to save weight, except for a few important points like the lens mount, which is metal. Considering the target audience of this lens, that’s the right decision on Nikon’s part.

Of the similar mirrorless lenses from other camera companies, the Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 is noticeably heavier at 751 grams / 1.66 pounds. The Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 is heavier still, at 780 grams / 1.72 pounds. However, the Canon and Sony lenses both go to 240mm rather than 200mm, which explains at least some of the extra weight.

In terms of compactness, the Nikon Z 24-200mm is bigger than the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4, although not by so much that it gets unwieldy. When both lenses are at their packed size – the 24-200mm zoomed out to 24mm, and the 24-70mm f/4 turned to the “lock” position – the 24-200mm is one inch (25 millimeters) longer.

Full-frame sensor + good resolution: The Z5 II uses a 24.5 MP FX-format (full-frame) CMOS sensor, giving you strong image quality, good dynamic range, and sharp detail — ideal for landscapes, portraits, travel, and more