Why the lack of Z 26mm f/2.8 reviews?

That 26mm fringing is MUCH easier to fix than the 28f2.8 compact "wide" bands of fringing I experienced. It rarely detracts from the image, and isn't all that common. YMMV

Corners don’t look that bad to me. Looks like more of a loss of contrast in corners, but sharpness remains decent.
“ugly corners” is hyperbole and seems like a weird criticism for this type of lens. Like DPR‘s bokeh criticism of the 14-24S.

The fact that it's not so great in the corners seems reasonable to me, I think what is exciting is how sharp it is in the center. This is a pancake after all.

What would be disappointing to me is if the much larger and much more expensive 24/1.8S didn't out perform this little pancake.

It's interesting to read these review and compare the different lenses as it helps us to understand the strengths and weakness of various glass choices. However, at the end of the day, I think the use case for a pancake vs the giant S-line lens is completely different. Therefor, the optical differences between the two are not really all that important as it wouldn't be reasonable to choose the 24/1.8S if one really did need a pancake.

RaindropDroptop said:

Corners don’t look that bad to me. Looks like more of a loss of contrast in corners, but sharpness remains decent.
“ugly corners” is hyperbole and seems like a weird criticism for this type of lens. Like DPR‘s bokeh criticism of the 14-24S.

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This, from the bottom right of the "Deadman's Cove" photo in the DPR gallery, is what I consider "ugly:" it's not just blurred or low contrast, it's confused. It hurts my eyes to look at it.

I just switched from the 28mm to the 26mm and so far I (mostly (*)) love it.

The size difference, while not that big in absolute values is (in relative values) quite notably, which meant in my case my Z5 now fits 90° rotated in my everyday bag which makes quite a difference. So especially for folks who take their camera always with them it definitely is worth a look.

*) "mostly" because of two things:

1: The fact that you can't have the lens cap on while the camera is turned on definitely is something I still have to get used to. (And this also means you can't event check/view the pictures or menu on the camera with the cap on.)
This naturally only is the case if you don't use the supplied HB-111 Lens Hood, but if you use this, the whole selling point of this lens - it's size - is gone.

2: (Starting) manual focus is quite slow/laggy. Means when I manually focus, the focus motor only starts working after I already rotated the focus ring a few inches. My other Z lenses are (/feel?) more instant in that regard.

But both issues are small enough (for me) the I'll stick with the 26 and already sold my 28.

pcgeekesq said:

RaindropDroptop said:

Corners don’t look that bad to me. Looks like more of a loss of contrast in corners, but sharpness remains decent.
“ugly corners” is hyperbole and seems like a weird criticism for this type of lens. Like DPR‘s bokeh criticism of the 14-24S.

Click to expand...

This, from the bottom right of the "Deadman's Cove" photo in the DPR gallery, is what I consider "ugly:" it's not just blurred or low contrast, it's confused. It hurts my eyes to look at it.

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For sure nervous but also much more apparent when you zoom to such a degree. Foliage is one of the worst case scenarios for bokeh.

Bapf said:

I just switched from the 28mm to the 26mm and so far I (mostly (*)) love it.

The size difference, while not that big in absolute values is (in relative values) quite notably, which meant in my case my Z5 now fits 90° rotated in my everyday bag which makes quite a difference. So especially for folks who take their camera always with them it definitely is worth a look.

*) "mostly" because of two things:

1: The fact that you can't have the lens cap on while the camera is turned on definitely is something I still have to get used to. (And this also means you can't event check/view the pictures or menu on the camera with the cap on.)
This naturally only is the case if you don't use the supplied HB-111 Lens Hood, but if you use this, the whole selling point of this lens - it's size - is gone.

2: (Starting) manual focus is quite slow/laggy. Means when I manually focus, the focus motor only starts working after I already rotated the focus ring a few inches. My other Z lenses are (/feel?) more instant in that regard.

But both issues are small enough (for me) the I'll stick with the 26 and already sold my 28.

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While not ideal, I’ve found it I don’t push the cap on all the way, then I can turn the camera on. You really just need to stop 1-2mm short of fully on.

All of this clustering of lenses in this range has had me doing some analysis of my needs...

Unfortunately I think I'm leaning that none of them will really work for me...

What I really need is a faster wide, probably a 28mm 1.8 S, but may just add the 24mm 1.8 and have a 4 main prime set of 24/35/50/85...but that's kind of too many primes to carry, and I like the idea of a main "trio" not a quattro.

or I may do 28/50/85 then have a small alternate fast (OK) lens with the 40mm I already have when I want to go small.

This latter one is probably ideal for what I want.

Remember zoom setting may help as well. Can someone try this? Can the extension hold a smaller lens cap? Maybe some photos of the issue would help too. I use Optech neoprene soft lens caps. Mostly because they stop my lenses from banging around in a bag, but they could be an option as well.

jjz2 said:

All of this clustering of lenses in this range has had me doing some analysis of my needs...

Unfortunately I think I'm leaning that none of them will really work for me...

What I really need is a faster wide, probably a 28mm 1.8 S, but may just add the 24mm 1.8 and have a 4 main prime set of 24/35/50/85...but that's kind of too many primes to carry, and I like the idea of a main "trio" not a quattro.

or I may do 28/50/85 then have a small alternate fast (OK) lens with the 40mm I already have when I want to go small.

This latter one is probably ideal for what I want.

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Pass on the 24 and 35 for the 28 1.4E

skyrunr said:

Remember zoom setting may help as well.

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Zoom setting...? It's a prime lens.

briantilley said:

skyrunr said:

Remember zoom setting may help as well.

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Zoom setting...? It's a prime lens.

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The remember focus position setting. Nice to know you're always there for further clarification. Even though I think you knew exactly what I meant.

skyrunr said:

briantilley said:

skyrunr said:

Remember zoom setting may help as well.

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Zoom setting...? It's a prime lens.

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The remember focus position setting. Nice to know you're always there for further clarification. Even though I think you knew exactly what I meant.

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Thought you were talking about setting up a Zoom meeting on your computer.

Here's another reason why the 26mm is great.

I can squeeze all of my daily essentials into a tiny PeakDesign Field Pouch or really any other small non-camera specific sling bag. I've tried this in the past with the 28mm and it's just not possible.

On a side note, the Field Pouch might be one of Peak Designs worse products, the velcro is terrible. I wouldn't recommend.

thisisbenji said:

Here's another reason why the 26mm is great.

I can squeeze all of my daily essentials into a tiny PeakDesign Field Pouch or really any other small non-camera specific sling bag. I've tried this in the past with the 28mm and it's just not possible.

On a side note, the Field Pouch might be one of Peak Designs worse products, the velcro is terrible. I wouldn't recommend.

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That's cool but both of these I guess are in odd places for me.

The Zfc is still a bit big for what it is, almost as big as my Z5, Z6, and didn't manage to get IBIS.

The pancake 26mm 2.8 is also quite tiny and expensive, but to me doesn't have a matching body I'd really want to pair it with. It still only gets the camera so small.

I think a 26 2.8 with something like a Z30 with EVF would be cool, or a FF A7C style camera.

Having shot Fuji, their lens lineup/body lineup in the APS-C space just makes more sense to me than what Nikon is rolling out with.

If Nikon had say, an X-E4, or even IBIS APS-C body that's on the larger Zfc side, it might help me push the needle to pick this up.

jjz2 said:

If Nikon had say, an X-E4, or even IBIS APS-C body that's on the larger Zfc side, it might help me push the needle to pick this up.

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As someone who went XT10, XE3, X100V, and then finally Zfc I think the Zfc is my favorite of the bunch. The Zfc is definitely bigger than the XT10 and XE3, but it's about the same size as the X100V and it's certainly much smaller than my Z6ii and Z7. I'll admit the Fujifilm system has much better small APSC specific glass, but as someone who also shoots Nikon full-frame I was always kind of annoyed to buy two sets of lenses. One set for my XE3 and one set for my Z6II. So eventually I dumped the XE3 for the X100V to get out of the multiple sensor predicament. However, I still found the X100V was lacking in several key areas for me as compared to the Zfc. There's definitely areas where I prefer Fujifilm, but they were not enough for me to want to stick with it. I think probably the main two sticking points for me are that I really prefer the RAW files I get out of the Zfc, for me the Nikon colors are just so much better than what Fuji has to offer. I know colors are very personal, so that'll be an individual deal. The second thing though, I have a two year old, and my Zfc can track him with Eye-AF no problem in AFC mode. Every single Fujifilm camera I've owned does this odd hunting thing in AFC where it looks like the shot is in focus, but when you review the photos on the computer it misses by just a tiny bit. So I'd end up shooting them all in single-point AFS which is a total PITA compared to just sticking the Zfc in auto mode for family snapshots.

Probably because very few people want to buy one just to review it.

It seems to be an un-needed lens and a very expensive one at that.

How many elements does it have?

I installed a protective clear filter and am now using a Nikon 52mm pinch cap. I didn't own the 28 and wanted a smaller wide lens. I think it's really good.

--
"Soylent Green is people!"

Digmen1 said:

Probably because very few people want to buy one just to review it.

It seems to be an un-needed lens and a very expensive one at that.

How many elements does it have?

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