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Best All Around Lens for Nikon [2023 Review]

In: 
Published: 07/03/2023

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Selecting the best all-around lens from so many available alternatives might be difficult depending on your photographing style and budget. This article will help you choose the best all-around lens for Nikon helping you improve in shooting real estate images.

My Top All-Around Nikon Lens Reviews

A real estate photographer aims to obtain sharp images that do not appear blurry when zoomed in. To capture high-quality rea estate shots in every scenario, you must have the best all-around lens for Nikon.

 
Brand:
Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S
 
Brand:
Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II
 
Brand:
Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S
Lens Type:
Telephoto
Lens Type:
Wide Angle
Lens Type:
Wide Angle, Standard
Maximum Focal Length:
200 millimeters
Maximum Focal Length:
24 millimeters
Maximum Focal Length:
50 millimeters
4.8
4.4
4.1
Brand:
Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S
Lens Type:
Telephoto
Maximum Focal Length:
200 millimeters
4.8
Brand:
Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II
Lens Type:
Wide Angle
Maximum Focal Length:
24 millimeters
4.4
Brand:
Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S
Lens Type:
Wide Angle, Standard
Maximum Focal Length:
50 millimeters
4.1

Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S

The Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S is a versatile telephoto lens distinguished by its large f/2.8 aperture. The fast maximum aperture is vital for photographing in low-illumination settings, but it also gives you more depth of field control for carefully focusing on targets.

Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S

The barrel is aluminum, and the lens has internal seals to keep dust and splashes out. The front element supports 77mm filters and has standard anti-reflective and fluorine anti-smudge protection. The zoom and focus knobs are larger and rubberized.

This lens has SR elements used in the optical design to eliminate chromatic aberrations and color fringing through the maximum aperture for improved clarity and image quality.

A multi-focus system with two-stepping motors, in addition to the optical design, aids in attaining highly quick, efficient, and silent focus efficiency, as well as manual mode focus adjustment for both photographs and video photography. When shooting handheld, vibration reduction increases image sharpness by reducing the effect of camera shake.

When using the lens without in-camera adjustments, the optics exhibit some pincushion distortion. Similarly, at f/2.8, turning off peripheral exposure correction results in photographs with softened corners. Once they are turned on, you enjoy distortion-free photographs with a nice, subtle blur at wider apertures. This lens is definitely more expensive than many models in my list but worth it compared with the quality models like the Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S provide.

Best Overall
Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S
4.8
Pros:
  • The lens can be used in low-light situations or at sunset because of its comparatively big aperture of f/2.8
  • Because the lens has a fixed aperture, the light intensity does not change as you zoom in
  • Thanks to the fast and silent focusing technique, you can use the lens to shoot video shots
Cons:
  • The tripod foot is not compatible with Arca
  • Has distortions in opposition to Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4S that does not have any distortions
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Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II

The Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II features a new optical design that combines two anti-reflective coating and two low dispersion features to limit both chromatic and optical distortions, resulting in a high quality of lighting, sharpness, and clarity that benefits a wide range of viewpoints.

Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II

It sports a good zoom range, image stabilization, and an all-weather design with a fluorine front coat. The lens is made of durable polycarbonate, and the focus and zoom rings are rubberized. Additionally, the front element is fluorine-coated, making the lens easy to clean and resistant against smudges and water.

Focusing is achieved at distances as close to the camera sensor as 9.4 inches. This helps you get up close with a major topic, and you can blur out all the surroundings in the background as you move towards the wide end of the zoom range.

The only significant drawback to this lens is its variable aperture, which may not be as wide as more expensive options. However, in terms of overall sharpness and definition, this lens offers outstanding value.

Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II
4.4
Pros:
  • You can focus on your subject steadily and effectively thanks to the quick autofocus motor
  • Unlike the Nikkor Z 14-30mm F/4S, its image stabilization feature allows you to snap sharp shots of static subjects at lower speeds
Cons:
  • When photographing in low light, the BBAR coating lowers lens errors
  • Has slow autofocus compared to Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S which offers fast, quiet, and accurate autofocus
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Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S

This Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S is the smallest and least expensive all-around lens offered for Nikon's full-frame Z camera system. Its collapsible design and its small aperture and short zoom range contribute to its small size.

Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S

A step motor offers fast, quiet, and accurate automatic centering efficiency and full-time manual focus override for video and still operations unlike the Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II which has slow autofocus.

Its optical design includes three aspherical elements and a set of elements with low dispersion that reduce the number of aberrations for great clarity and brightness. A Super Integrated Coating is also available to eliminate flare and produce great color accuracy and contrast. 

The lens also has a programmable control circle to be programmed with a choice of camera and illumination modes for straightforward adjustments. The biggest shortcomings are its plastic lens mounting and the narrow zoom range. There is also a lack of stabilization.

Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S
4.1
Pros:
  • You can capture detailed pictures in dim places with the 24.3-megapixel full-frame sensor
  • A rapid autofocus system ensures smooth pictures and video images
Cons:
  • Maximum openness dim and also has a plastic lens mounting
  • Image stabilization is missing, not great in comparison to the Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II, which offers image stabilization to help you to take sharp images
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Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E

This Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E features a great visual system combined with an extra-low dispersion component, which aids in the reduction of optical distortions and so improves clarity and image quality.

Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E

By decreasing flaring and sparking, the Super Integrated Coating aids in capturing exact colors when working in bright and rear-lit environments. Its AF-P label indicates the use of a pulse step motor, which enables silent, fast, and accurate focusing accuracy both for silent and video photographing.

Furthermore, image stabilization reduction offsets up to 4.5 camera shock stops for more sharp handheld shooting. A major negative is that there are problems with the compatibility of previous cameras. Many DSLRs do not have autofocus or manual focus.

Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E
4.5
Pros:
  • It is quite light for a telephoto lens
  • With a maximum focal length of 300mm, you can make distant action appear much closer. When used with a camera that has built-in focusing motors, you can achieve superb AF capabilities for clearer and brighter photographs
  • Unlike the Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S, it is optically stabilized to help you take sharp shots
Cons:
  • This lens has some noticeable distortions
  • Because of the limited light-gathering power of the maximum f/4.5 aperture, night photography is more difficult than with the Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S lens, which can be employed in low-light circumstances or at night
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Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E

The Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E is a 24-120mm zoom equivalent lens ideal for a wide range of fixed standards. Its sharp f/2.8-4 optimal apertures help with selective focus shooting and regulating field depth in poor ambient situations.

Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E

Four extra-low dispersion elements and three aspherical components are also striking in the optical design, which serves to manage chromatic and spherical aberrations for remarkable image clarity and sharpness.

It does not have the same zoom range at the wide or telephoto ends, but it has a powerful macro capacity, outstanding image quality, and a low price. Super Integrated and Nano Crystal Coatings also eliminate flaring and sparkle in the light and rear lights for increased contrast and color accuracy.

In addition to its optical advantages, this 16-80mm lens features Vibration Reduction and Image Stabilization, compensating for four stops of motion blur to enable crisper photos. A Silent Wave Motor adds to the image quality by enabling quick and silent focus speed and total autofocus control.

Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E
4.5
Pros:
  • Despite its wide zoom range, the lens is 480 grams lighter than comparable lenses
  • Unlike the Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S, which lacks image stabilization, the wide aperture ensures that your photographs are sharp
  • Has a quick and quiet autofocus speed compared to Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II which has a slow autofocus.
Cons:
  • The light intensity is not great while zooming
  • Has some significant distortions
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Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4S

This Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4S large-width lens covers a wide focal range and gives greater long-distance reach. Their bulbous front components and fixed hoods are a disadvantage in the ultra-wide zooms. To mount a large and expensive filter holder, this normally requires an adapter ring. 

Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4S

The aesthetic design of the lens includes four exceptionally low dispersion elements and four aspherical features, which reduce a variety of distortions and aberrations to produce images with remarkable crispness, clarity, plus consistent color reproduction.

Both Super Integrated and Nano Crystal Coatings are also used to prevent flaring and ghosting to achieve greater accuracy in visuals. A stepping motor delivers fast, silent, and sharp autofocus efficiency and complete manual focus override both to quiet and video operations. 

A network control ring can be created for easy modification across a range of camera and display configurations. To achieve a more modest form factor when not being used, the lens includes a buttonless, extendable barrel.

Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4S
4.7
Pros:
  • Due to a short focal length of 0,28 meters, you can shoot things at the forefront from unique perspectives
  • When you zoom in, the photo exposure with the fixed aperture f/4 remains the same
  • Has no distortion, as opposed to the Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E, which has considerable distortion
Cons:
  • The lens lacks image stabilization that helps in making the images sharp, as opposed to the Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E
  • It has some noticeable vignette
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Features to Consider in All-Around Lens for Nikon

Choosing the ideal all-around lens for Nikon can be challenging once you've decided to acquire one. The features you should consider are listed below, with their varied attributes and qualities taken into account to help you in real estate photography.

Comparing All-Around Lenses

LensesImage stabilizationMoisture resistanceLens coatings and special elementsDistortion?
Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S YesYes21 Elements in 18 GroupsYes
Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II YesYes16 Elements in 11 GroupsYes
Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S NoYes11 Elements in 10 GroupsYes
Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E YesYes18 Elements in 14 GroupsYes
Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E YesYes17 Elements in 13 GroupsYes

Lens Focal Length

The focus length of the lens tells me how much the scene is captured and how large individual elements are. The longer the focus, the narrower the viewing angle, and the larger the length. The shorter the focal length, the wider the viewing angle, and the shorter the length.

The ability of telephoto lenses to capture photographs from any angle is their most impressive attribute. Ultra wide-angle lenses provide the highest poor ambient accuracy as well as the greatest image quality.

Wide-angle lenses, on the other hand, are not the best performers in portrait photography. They typically have a higher amount of distortion than their subjects. As a result, an all-in-one lens incorporates all of these focal length characteristics, allowing you to take high-quality photos in any situation, such as the Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S.

Aperture

When selecting a lens for real estate photography, one of the first things to consider is aperture, which impacts the exposure of your images. As a result, your efficiency in working in low-light environments will improve.

A lens of f/2.8 aperture, for example, indicates that more illumination is entering the camera since it is wide open. F-stops on telephoto lenses are often high. Some lenses, such as the Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S, Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/2.8S, and Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E, have constant apertures that allow you to maintain the same aperture regardless of the shooting environment.

Zoom lenses, on the other hand, have an f-stop range rather than a set f-stop. This method ensures that you can identify the greatest telephoto and wide-angle effect that you can obtain.

The greatest all-around lens has a wide range of modifications, ranging from telephoto to wide-angle and back, depending on the situation.

Close up of two Nikon lenses for all around use

Image Stabilization

Image stabilization that lowers blur produced by lens flare is known as vibration reduction. Clear photos can be obtained using a Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8S and Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E, my best all-around lens.

Image stabilization is especially critical when there is not enough illumination to allow for a quick shutter speed. It is especially useful during the dusk, morning, and even indoors. In certain circumstances, image stabilization provides the same quality images at three to four shutter speed stops slower than normal.

Weatherproof

If you intend to use a lens in harsher conditions, be sure it is weather sealed. This means that it is constructed with seals at all water and dust penetration sites to prevent these from entering. Typically, the front element will be coated with a coating that repels dust, water, and dirt. An example is the NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8S lens.

Lens Coatings And Special Elements

To prevent and keep aberrations out of photographs, the best all-around lenses are created with aspherical and low-dispersion elements and include fluorite. This is known to be especially excellent in eliminating chromatic aberration, to the point that a single fluorite element can replace several other elements, hence reducing weight and size. Nikon uses Super Integrated Coatings in all of its Nikkor lenses.

Distortion

Although best all-around lenses introduce distortion somehow, some produce perspective distortion while others produce barrel distortion. When you try to focus your object by bringing it closer to the lens, it begins to appear larger in comparison to other image portions.

Typically, some lenses have more distortion than others, and different lenses utilize different strategies to eliminate distortion. The Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4S, for example, employs aspherical elements to reduce spherical distortion and aberrations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Use Nikon Polarizing Filters on Other Brand Cameras?

No, you cannot use Nikon polarizing filters on other brand cameras because of the shape difference. Normally, Nikon makes a series of circular polarizers that are specified to work within the Nikon system such as the NIKKOR autofocus lenses, mirrorless cameras, and DSLR cameras.

Can You Use Lenses From Other Brands on a Nikon?

Nikon lenses are frequently interchangeable; however, a certain lens may not be interchangeable with all Nikon camera bodies. Nikon lenses and camera bodies have evolved over time, therefore older model lenses do not necessarily fit newer bodies and vice versa.

In Nikon, Which Lens Is Superior, AF-S or AF-P?

Nikon's Silent Wave Motor is used in AF-S Nikkor lenses. AF-P lenses employ a stepping autofocus or stepping autofocus motor, which is even quieter and smoother than an AF-S motor, making them perfect for video shooting with a DSLR.

Conclusion

When selecting the best all-around lens for your Nikon, the focal length, aperture settings, and image stabilization are the most crucial aspects to consider. I hope that after reading this article, you will be able to choose an option that will help you in real estate photography.

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