Nikon Z 24-105mm f/4-7.1

This Nikon Z mount zoom spans 24–105mm on full frame, a range suited to travel, street and everyday photography. The wide end takes in room interiors and city scenes. The long end tightens portraits and picks out distant detail. Anyone carrying one body on a trip will recognise that shape. The lens arrived in 2026 and is still in production.

The trade-off is speed. The maximum aperture falls from f/4 to f/7.1 as you zoom, and there is no stabilization. In daylight that costs little; indoors it shapes your settings. The reward is a light, sealed lens that covers most subjects without changes, which keeps a travel day simple.

At 12.3 oz (350 g), this zoom is light, and it stays short at 4.19 in (106.5 mm). The front takes screw-in filters, so a polariser or ND filter must match the 67mm thread. The physical score is 64.

The 24–105mm range does most travel work on its own. At 24mm it frames room interiors, narrow streets and open landscapes. At 105mm it tightens a portrait or reaches across a market square. The long end also compresses perspective across a harbour or a street of rooftops.

Light is the constraint. The maximum aperture starts at f/4 and ends at f/7.1, so dim interiors and evening streets call for a raised ISO or a slower shutter. At the long end, f/7.1 also limits background blur, so portraits gain more from a distant backdrop than from the aperture alone. The optics score is 52.

The lens also works close. The closest focusing distance is 0.7 ft (20 cm), which lets you fill the frame with flowers or stall goods. Maximum magnification reaches 0.5x, enough to make small objects large in the frame.

Depth of field stays generous at f/7.1, which helps keep group candids sharp. Seven aperture blades shape the rendering of out-of-focus highlights, such as street lights at dusk.

Weather sealing helps keep dust and moisture out of the lens. That suits coastal walks, dusty trails and rainy travel days when one zoom stays mounted for hours. Since one sealed zoom covers most subjects, you also make fewer lens changes in poor conditions.

There is no image stabilization, so camera shake depends on shutter speed and support. That matters most at 105mm in low light. A wall or monopod steadies the camera, though neither will stop a moving subject.

The features score is 32. A zoom lock is absent, so nothing holds the barrel at your chosen focal length when the lens hangs or tips. There is no fluorine coating either.

Two aspherical elements carry specially shaped surfaces that help correct optical faults, including distortion and spherical aberration. That correction matters at the 24mm end, where walls and door frames can otherwise appear curved. One low-dispersion element helps reduce chromatic aberration, the coloured fringes that show along high-contrast edges such as backlit branches against a bright sky.