If you don’t like swapping lenses, the Nikkor Z DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR is a handy lens.

IntroductiON

The DX 18-140 mm F3.5-6.3 VR is a zoom with a nice large range from reasonable wide angle to considerable telephoto. The range of the Nikkor Z DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR corresponds to that of a 27-210mm on 35mm. This is ideal when you want to photograph a variety of subjects, but don’t want to spend a lot of time changing lenses. For example when you are on vacation. That is why they are also called vacation zooms or travel zooms. This is the first travel zoom for DX cameras in Nikon’s mirrorless Z system. For the DX SLR models, Nikon had a zoom with exactly the same range: the Nikon AF-S DX 18-140 mm F3.5-5.6 G ED VR. Compared to that lens, the new DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR is considerably smaller and lighter. The weight has been reduced by no less than 175 grams to a total of 315 grams. The filter size has also shrunk from 67mm to 62mm. When traveling, lighter and smaller is often better, because you usually have to carry a lot with you anyway. Then the DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR is an ideal travel companion.

The Nikkor Z DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR is sealed against dust and moisture and equipped with image stabilization. That is quite indispensable because both DX cameras do not have built-in image stabilization. The VR of the De DX 18-140 mm F3.5-6.3 VR is sealed against dust and moisture and, according to Nikon, equipped with image stabilization that should be good for a gain of about five stops.

BUILD

The optical design of the DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR consists of 17 elements in 13 groups. The Nikon AF-S DX 18-140 mm F3.5-5.6 for SLR cameras has the same number of elements, but in 12 groups. So it is a new design. You can also see that in the dimensions. With a diameter of 73mm and a length of 90mm, it is half a centimeter slimmer and 7mm shorter than the AF-S version. And it needs an FTZ adapter to be used on a mirrorless DX camera. The DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR is sealed against dust and moisture and equipped with image stabilization. The lens has a wide zoom ring and a narrow setting ring. The setting ring is programmable. You can use it for manual focus or for other things such as setting the aperture, the sensitivity or the exposure compensation. The lens does not have an AF/MF switch or a switch for the VR.

FOCUSING

For focus, the DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR uses a quiet autofocus motor that should also be very suitable for video. We sometimes found the AF-S 18-140 mm for SLR cameras a bit inaccurate in the test. With focus on the sensor, the DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR won’t suffer from that. The shortest focusing distance is 20 centimeters at the wide-angle position and 40 cm at the telephoto position. The maximum magnification measure is thus 0.33x. You get the maximum magnification level at 140mm. This way you still have a nice distance between your front lens and your subject.

IMAGE QUALITY

The MTF curves of the Nikkor Z DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR show that this zoom has better optical performance than the AF-S version. Especially in the wide-angle position, the corners are clearly better. In the telephoto position, the optical performance is also quite decent, and that is not always the case with zooms with such a large range.   

ConclusiON: REVIEW Nikkor Z DX 18-140mm F3.5-6.3 VR