Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 S II

Wow, finally, internally zooming and a clicky switchable aperture ring. Nice!

Also, new voice coil motors.

Not so nice, $2,799.95. Yikes.

patrol_taking_9j said:

Wow, finally, internally zooming and a clicky switchable aperture ring. Nice!

Also, new voice coil motors.

Not so nice, $2,799.95. Yikes.

https://www.nikonusa.com/p/nikkor-z-24-70mm-f28-s-ii/20129/overview

Click to expand...

FWIW Julia Trotti (portrait photographer) on Youtube posted her initial "review" and comparison (to the original) for anyone who's interested.


EDIT: Ricci also posted his video, and I imagine a slew of other initial reviews will be coming over the next few days/weeks.

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patrol_taking_9j said:

Wow, finally, internally zooming and a clicky switchable aperture ring. Nice!

Click to expand...

It’s not an aperture ring. Or more precisely, it’s not a dedicated aperture ring. It’s a control ring, and one of the controls you can assign to it is aperture.

patrol_taking_9j said:

Also, new voice coil motors.

Not so nice, $2,799.95. Yikes.

Click to expand...

Part of that is the effect of tariffs. Part is the “new-release” penalty. Over time it will be discounted, like others have.

patrol_taking_9j said:

https://www.nikonusa.com/p/nikkor-z-24-70mm-f28-s-ii/20129/overview

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Nice looking lens. Not one I would buy (I already have three Z Nikkors covering the range and I don’t need f/2.8) but looks b]very nice.

Interesting that this is a simpler optical formula than its predecessor.

The Mk II looks like a very nice lens.

So I suppose the $2,799.95 question for someone like me who already owns the Mk I, who isn't a professional photographer and who does very little portrait photography is whether the Mk II is worth the upgrade.

Obviously if you are buying new and don't already have the 24-70mm then this is a no-brainer.

I should add, that I have been delighted with the Mk I which has often been referred to as one of the best lenses Nikon has ever built. The introduction of the Mk II does not make the Mk I a bad lens overnight.

Yes, yes, a selectable click control ring. Indeed. But I am 100% setting it to aperture because finally, hallelujah. Even if you have it set to EC or ISO, I still think selectable clicks makes the most sense.



I have the 24-120 and have been eyeing a 24-70 for the extra light and better rendering, so much so that I will probably sell the 24–120 after I receive this new one.



I don’t have a 70-200, so I’ll pair it with a Plena for portraits, and maybe a the 100-400 or 180-600 for supertele duties.

I wasn’t sure Nikon could measurably improve on the original Z 24–70 2.8 — an incredibly good lens — but not only have they increased the optical performance, they added better focus motors, decreased the weight considerably, and made it internal zoom! Any one of those attributes would have made a second gen offering compelling, but they managed to incorporate multiple significant improvements. As they say, “SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!”

Cant wait to see what else Nikon has in store for new bodies and lenses!

ahinesdesign said:

I wasn’t sure Nikon could measurably improve on the original Z 24–70 2.8 — an incredibly good lens — but not only have they increased the optical performance, they added better focus motors, decreased the weight considerably, and made it internal zoom! Any one of those attributes would have made a second gen offering compelling, but they managed to incorporate multiple significant improvements.

Click to expand...

Not mentioned above is the new, "clickable" custom control ring and a lens hood with a window to rotate certain filters. Both fairly noteworthy additions in my opinion, and the "clickless" design of all prior control rings has been a major complaint of mine since they debuted.

ahinesdesign said:

As they say, “SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!”

Click to expand...

I might as well be at that point too. Before seeing this lens was pretty much going to not bother replacing my gen 1 24-70mm.... But I think the combination of all of those improvements would make it a compelling upgrade. Internal Zoom is huge to me.

The only thing I wish was added was some form of VR - not that IBIS isn't already great though.

ahinesdesign said:

Cant wait to see what else Nikon has in store for new bodies and lenses!

Click to expand...

I'd be interested moreso in what new lenses follow this one. Will they replace the 70-200mm and 14-24mm soon as well? I'm curious now, anyway.

From watching the Mark Cruz video, it's obvious Nikon have not been shy with this redesign, nor the high profile launch (rolling out Jeff McNally and Co...).


The addition of Meso Coating and leveraging precision production to mass produce a such a large front asymmetric element to improve optics, while slimming the zoom, improved balance for gimbal with video etc etc.

It's even more encouraging to see material evidence that shows Nikon is listening to customer feedback; and most importantly constructive criticism is reaching the engineering teams. Witness the Clickable function-ring, which is user selectable, and the new lens hood allowing one to tweak a CPL.

Little Shao and Ricci Chera


Matt Irwin

Roxburgh22 said:

The Mk II looks like a very nice lens.

So I suppose the $2,799.95 question for someone like me who already owns the Mk I, who isn't a professional photographer and who does very little portrait photography is whether the Mk II is worth the upgrade.

Obviously if you are buying new and don't already have the 24-70mm then this is a no-brainer.

I should add, that I have been delighted with the Mk I which has often been referred to as one of the best lenses Nikon has ever built. The introduction of the Mk II does not make the Mk I a bad lens overnight.

Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat. Going to just keep my Mark I (which I don't actually use that much anyway, so upgrading is semi-pointless for me).

LTheWafflePWN said:

ahinesdesign said:

I wasn’t sure Nikon could measurably improve on the original Z 24–70 2.8 — an incredibly good lens — but not only have they increased the optical performance, they added better focus motors, decreased the weight considerably, and made it internal zoom! Any one of those attributes would have made a second gen offering compelling, but they managed to incorporate multiple significant improvements.

Click to expand...

Not mentioned above is the new, "clickable" custom control ring and a lens hood with a window to rotate certain filters. Both fairly noteworthy additions in my opinion, and the "clickless" design of all prior control rings has been a major complaint of mine since they debuted.

LTheWafflePWN said:

As they say, “SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!”

Click to expand...

I might as well be at that point too. Before seeing this lens was pretty much going to not bother replacing my gen 1 24-70mm.... But I think the combination of all of those improvements would make it a compelling upgrade. Internal Zoom is huge to me.

The only thing I wish was added was some form of VR - not that IBIS isn't already great though.

LTheWafflePWN said:

Cant wait to see what else Nikon has in store for new bodies and lenses!

Click to expand...

I'd be interested moreso in what new lenses follow this one. Will they replace the 70-200mm and 14-24mm soon as well? I'm curious now, anyway.

Click to expand...

I'm actually wondering if they'll redo the 14-30 again. While it's not a bad performer by any means, it's not steller either, and there is now some competition (like the Tamron 16-30). The one I'd be curious if they'd update would be the 70-200 S lens, as that's already a very good lens (some minor things, but overall, among the best so far across many brands).

sirhawkeye64 said:

LTheWafflePWN said:

I'd be interested moreso in what new lenses follow this one. Will they replace the 70-200mm and 14-24mm soon as well? I'm curious now, anyway.

Click to expand...

I'm actually wondering if they'll redo the 14-30 again. While it's not a bad performer by any means, it's not steller either, and there is now some competition (like the Tamron 16-30). The one I'd be curious if they'd update would be the 70-200 S lens, as that's already a very good lens (some minor things, but overall, among the best so far across many brands).

Click to expand...

Should be very obvious that Nikon will introduce a 70-200/2.8 S version 2 with Silky Swift VCM AF motor, clickable control ring, new coating, etc. The 70-200/2.8 is a lens that Nikon typically updates every 6 years or so. We are merely months away from the 6-year mark for the original 70-200/2.8, introduced in January 2020.

Not sure about the 14-30/4 or 14-24/2.8, and any 70-200/4 seems unlikely.

shuncheung said:

sirhawkeye64 said:

LTheWafflePWN said:

I'd be interested moreso in what new lenses follow this one. Will they replace the 70-200mm and 14-24mm soon as well? I'm curious now, anyway.

Click to expand...

I'm actually wondering if they'll redo the 14-30 again. While it's not a bad performer by any means, it's not steller either, and there is now some competition (like the Tamron 16-30). The one I'd be curious if they'd update would be the 70-200 S lens, as that's already a very good lens (some minor things, but overall, among the best so far across many brands).

Click to expand...

Should be very obvious that Nikon will introduce a 70-200/2.8 S version 2 with Silky Swift VCM AF motor, clickable control ring, new coating, etc. The 70-200/2.8 is a lens that Nikon typically updates every 6 years or so. We are merely months away from the 6-year mark for the original 70-200/2.8, introduced in January 2020.

Not sure about the 14-30/4 or 14-24/2.8, and any 70-200/4 seems unlikely.

Click to expand...

Well one thing I was thinking is that this Mark II release may mean that the rumored ZR will be coming quite soon....

Hi!

I have the 24-70 f/2.8S ("Mk I")

If was a heavy video user, the new Mk II 24-f/2.8S would be very tempting.

A lot of advantages over it's predecessor for video as outlined in some of the attached reviews in this thread

But I am mostly using my Z8 for stills and have some great lenses within or near the 24-70 focal range (E.g. 20 1,8S, 35 1.2S, 50 1.2S and 105 MC 2.8S).

As it is, for my needs, I'm using prime lenses in this focal range more than the 24-70 f/2.8S ("Mk I")

If I was heavy into video (I'm not), I'd be placing an order for the MK II.

Best Regards,

RB

shuncheung said:

sirhawkeye64 said:

LTheWafflePWN said:

I'd be interested moreso in what new lenses follow this one. Will they replace the 70-200mm and 14-24mm soon as well? I'm curious now, anyway.

Click to expand...

I'm actually wondering if they'll redo the 14-30 again. While it's not a bad performer by any means, it's not steller either, and there is now some competition (like the Tamron 16-30). The one I'd be curious if they'd update would be the 70-200 S lens, as that's already a very good lens (some minor things, but overall, among the best so far across many brands).

Click to expand...

Should be very obvious that Nikon will introduce a 70-200/2.8 S version 2 with Silky Swift VCM AF motor, clickable control ring, new coating, etc. The 70-200/2.8 is a lens that Nikon typically updates every 6 years or so. We are merely months away from the 6-year mark for the original 70-200/2.8, introduced in January 2020.

Not sure about the 14-30/4 or 14-24/2.8, and any 70-200/4 seems unlikely.

Click to expand...

Will they also upgrade 100-400mm, 400/4.5, 600/6.3, 800/6.3 with this SSVCM? I would say 100-400mm II is very likely to come. Good for wildlife photographers.

lactobacillus_z said:

shuncheung said:

Should be very obvious that Nikon will introduce a 70-200/2.8 S version 2 with Silky Swift VCM AF motor, clickable control ring, new coating, etc. The 70-200/2.8 is a lens that Nikon typically updates every 6 years or so. We are merely months away from the 6-year mark for the original 70-200/2.8, introduced in January 2020.

Not sure about the 14-30/4 or 14-24/2.8, and any 70-200/4 seems unlikely.

Click to expand...

Will they also upgrade 100-400mm, 400/4.5, 600/6.3, 800/6.3 with this SSVCM? I would say 100-400mm II is very likely to come. Good for wildlife photographers.

Click to expand...

Silky swift VCM AF was first available to the 400mm/f2.8 TC in early 2022. The 400/4.5, 600/6.3 and 800/6.3 were all introduced after the 400/2.8. If Nikon wanted to put SSVM on those, they would have done so from the beginning.

I think Nikon is only putting that on the "work horse" f2.8 zooms such as the 24-70 and 70-200. As Thom Hogan pointed out, Nikon has a tendency to update those lenses every 6 years or so, maybe +- a year or two. The other lenses will be updated less frequently. The 14-24mm/f2.8 also doesn't get updated much. For the F mount, they introduced it in 2007 and never updated it for the F mount.

shuncheung said:

lactobacillus_z said:

shuncheung said:

Should be very obvious that Nikon will introduce a 70-200/2.8 S version 2 with Silky Swift VCM AF motor, clickable control ring, new coating, etc. The 70-200/2.8 is a lens that Nikon typically updates every 6 years or so. We are merely months away from the 6-year mark for the original 70-200/2.8, introduced in January 2020.

Not sure about the 14-30/4 or 14-24/2.8, and any 70-200/4 seems unlikely.

Click to expand...

Will they also upgrade 100-400mm, 400/4.5, 600/6.3, 800/6.3 with this SSVCM? I would say 100-400mm II is very likely to come. Good for wildlife photographers.

Click to expand...

Silky swift VCM AF was first available to the 400mm/f2.8 TC in early 2022. The 400/4.5, 600/6.3 and 800/6.3 were all introduced after the 400/2.8. If Nikon wanted to put SSVM on those, they would have done so from the beginning.

I think Nikon is only putting that on the "work horse" f2.8 zooms such as the 24-70 and 70-200. As Thom Hogan pointed out, Nikon has a tendency to update those lenses every 6 years or so, maybe +- a year or two. The other lenses will be updated less frequently. The 14-24mm/f2.8 also doesn't get updated much. For the F mount, they introduced it in 2007 and never updated it for the F mount.

Click to expand...

I had to double check that and you're right - Nikon doesn't seem to update the 14-24mm lenses all too often. Saying that, I'm curious if Nikon would release something like a 12-24mm f/2.8 lens a little sooner (if at all), and while that wouldn't be a "mark II" lens per se it could still effectively replace the 14-24mm?

I agree that an obvious "next release" could be the 70-200mm mk II. I don't really use mine all that much because I'm pretty good with the 85mm f/1.2 and 135mm Plena, but I can absolutely see the potential improvements for heavy 70-200mm users.

The future Z cameras are going to be interesting:

"...I have to wonder if the move to SSVCM is partly in anticipation of the next generation of Nikon bodies. This is actually one of Nikon's modus operandi: significant lens technology changes tend to precede camera technology changes. The reason why has to do with needing something to test a future camera against. You could, for instance, improve focus performance of the upcoming camera, but if the lens focus speed is the gating element, you wouldn't be able to prove the new performance until such a lens is available. Nikon is first and foremost an optical company, so having lenses lead cameras makes a lot of sense."

chambeshi said:

The future Z cameras are going to be interesting:

"...I have to wonder if the move to SSVCM is partly in anticipation of the next generation of Nikon bodies. This is actually one of Nikon's modus operandi: significant lens technology changes tend to precede camera technology changes. The reason why has to do with needing something to test a future camera against. You could, for instance, improve focus performance of the upcoming camera, but if the lens focus speed is the gating element, you wouldn't be able to prove the new performance until such a lens is available. Nikon is first and foremost an optical company, so having lenses lead cameras makes a lot of sense."

https://www.zsystemuser.com/nikon-z-system-news-and/nikon-announces-a-second.html

Click to expand...

Something to bolster what Thom is saying, and I haven't seen it mentioned among any of the three 24-70mm f/2.8 II threads yet - The Focus Limit Switch.

To my knowledge, the Z8 is the only camera so far to get a firmware update to allow a user-selectable focus limiting range. The switch on the lens has no written range on it, and from Nikon's page about the lens:

chambeshi said:

"Activate to ignore foreground elements and enhance the speed and accuracy of focus within the desired range."

Click to expand...

While I could be wrong, to me this implies that the "Limit" range is customizable, and further implies that we should see at least that firmware feature come out in the near-ish future.

Something else no one has mentioned, it seems the "clickable" feature is not available for the original Z6, Z7, Z50, Zfc and Z30?? In the same page, fine print for the clickable feature:

chambeshi said:

"2-This feature is compatible with the Z9, Z8, Z7II, Z6III, Z6II, Z5II, Z5, Zf, and Z50II (as of August 22, 2025). Please make sure your camera’s firmware is updated to the latest version before use."

Click to expand...

The Z5, Z6ii and Z7ii are Expeed6, so I don't think it's processor related. I wonder why you can't click the lens with the excluded cameras?

RBFresno said:

Hi!

I have the 24-70 f/2.8S ("Mk I")

If was a heavy video user, the new Mk II 24-f/2.8S would be very tempting.

A lot of advantages over it's predecessor for video as outlined in some of the attached reviews in this thread

But I am mostly using my Z8 for stills and have some great lenses within or near the 24-70 focal range (E.g. 20 1,8S, 35 1.2S, 50 1.2S and 105 MC 2.8S).

As it is, for my needs, I'm using prime lenses in this focal range more than the 24-70 f/2.8S ("Mk I")

If I was heavy into video (I'm not), I'd be placing an order for the MK II.

Best Regards,

RB

Click to expand...

Hi!

My initial post suggested that I probably wouldn't be getting the MkII 24-70 f/2.8S,

However, I was able to get a great price on my mint condition Z 24-70 f/2.8S ("Mk I") at my local camera store's four times a year gear trade-in weekend (I threw in a nice 82 mm Nikon ARCREST II filter as well).

(I've sometimes made the mistake in the past of not selling lenses before their prices on the used market fell a lot)

So now I don't have a Z 24-70 f/2.8 zoom, but still have a number of 24-70 'ish primes (see above) and $3,300 credit at the local camera store (also traded in some old F mount lenses)

There are quite a few pre-release reviews on line now.

Personally, I liked the one by Matt Granger.

Matt Granger, 24-70 f/2.8S MK II Review

BTW, the "weight" of the lighter MK II was low on my list of why to update.

And the although the new/Mk II has some "sharpness" advantages over its predecessor, that alone would not have been a reason for me to update (the bokeh of the MK II does appear a bit bitter on most reviews)

I'm not a "pro" and don't "need" a great 24=70 f/2.8 at the moment.

I'll likely get the Mk II when it's available, unless something more compelling comes up.

For me, a "compelling" new lens might be a Z 200 f/2 that optically beats my 200VR (hard to imagine) , is lighter, has a built in 1.4TC and accepts TC's.

(Weight of most lenses in the 24-70 mm range is not a big issue for me. But once we get up into fast tele's like the 200 f/2 and 400TC, yeah, now that I'm in my 70's, weight becomes more of an issue)

Out of all my F mount lenses, the ones I miss having a Z counterpart for the most are the 200VR and 105 f/1.4 (both largely supplanted for my uses by the Plena).

Best Regards

RB

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RBFresno said:

And the although the new/Mk II has some "sharpness" advantages over its predecessor, that alone would not have been a reason for me to update (the bokeh of the MK II does appear a bit bitter on most reviews)

Click to expand...

Not a lot of sample photos available currently for the 24-70 II, which surprises me a little. I do expect bokeh will be better, but it's a little hard to tell from the current available samples. Certainly the OOF transitions seem to have improved.