Nikon's Nikkor Z 400mm F4.5 VR S ($3,249.95) is a fantastic lens on several fronts. It’s quite light given its telephoto length and moderately bright aperture, it offers top-notch image quality, and it features a fully weather-protected barrel with plenty of controls. Casual photographers might balk at the price, but it costs far, far less than a true exotic like the $14,000 Nikkor 400mm F2.8 VR TC S. As a long, carry-friendly lens that won’t break your back or budget, the 400mm F4.5 walks away with our Editors' Choice award for Nikon creators. It doesn’t have many peers for other systems, so it might even be a compelling enough reason for pros to adopt a full-frame Nikon Z camera.

The Lightest Telephoto in Its Class

The Nikkor Z 400mm F4.5 VR S measures 9.2 by 4.1 inches (HD), weighs 2.7 pounds, and supports 95mm threaded filters. It's larger than most lenses I test, but downright small given its focal range and reasonably bright F4.5 aperture. It's a stop-and-a-half dimmer than the aforementioned F2.8 VR TC S, but this trade-off might be worth it since that lens is 15 inches long and more than twice as heavy at 6.5 pounds.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Nikon's Z library has a few excellent lenses that sports and wildlife enthusiasts should consider alongside the 400mm F4.5. The Nikkor Z 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 VR S ($2,699.95) zoom, for instance, costs less, but it's slightly dimmer, weighs half a pound more, and extends further than the 400mm prime at its long end. If you want a lens with an even tighter angle of view, the 600mm F6.3 VR S ($4,799.95) and the 800mm F6.3 VR S ($6,499.95) are similarly minded (relatively) compact primes. Both the Nikkor Z 180-600mm F5.6-6.3 ($1,696.95) and the Tamron 150-500mm F5-7.1 ($1,199) are also options if you want a longer focal length and prefer the convenience of a zoom.

Nikon built the 400mm F4.5 for professional use, and that effort shines through. The barrel primarily uses high-quality polycarbonate materials to save on weight, but the rotating tripod collar, the removable foot, and the bayonet mount are all metal. Internal seals provide dust and splash protection, while the large front element features anti-smudge fluorine and Nikon's anti-reflective Crystal Coat. If you want to add a protective or creative filter, prepare to spend big for a 95mm threaded option since the lens doesn't support drop-in rear filters.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens comes with a reversible hood, a handy accessory for bright, sunny days. The hood attaches with a twist and uses a push-button lock as a release. It's mostly plastic like the barrel but it has a rubber bumper around the front. Nikon also includes front and rear caps in the box, along with a simple cloth pouch.

Both Z system teleconverters, the 1.4x and 2.0x, work with the 400mm F4.5, but I didn't have a chance to try either in testing. Using a teleconverter with the lens tightens the angle of view and restricts how much light comes into the system. With the 1.4x and 2.0x, the lens respectively functions like a 560mm F6.3 and an 800mm F9 optic. If you want that much reach all the time, you should just go for the aforementioned 600mm F6.3 VR S and 800mm F6.3 VR S instead.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Tons of Controls and Reasonably Fast Autofocus

The 400mm F4.5 might not weigh too much, but it still takes up a considerable amount of space in your camera bag. It's also long enough to make your camera front-heavy, even though most of its weight is toward the rear. This is all to say that you should use the included tripod collar and foot if you rely on a support system.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The integrated rotating tripod collar stays in place thanks to a large thumbscrew. It turns freely without detent stops, so you need to line up the dot painted on the collar with the one on the lens body to ensure everything is level after an adjustment. The collar is non-removable, but you can take the foot off if you want to cut a little bit of weight. I like keeping the foot on the lens even when I work without a tripod, however, as it serves as an additional handhold.

The lens has a few different control surfaces. The manual focus ring sits prominently just ahead of the collar and is easy enough to find thanks to its size (broader than an inch) and ridged, rubber finish. The manual focus ring has a nonlinear response, meaning the focus drives slowly when you move the ring gradually and vice versa.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Videographers are likely to prefer a linear focus response, which takes into account how far you turn the ring, not how fast. That type of response works best for rack focus shots that shift from one subject to another since it makes takes easier to repeat. Using a 400mm lens for this type of shot isn't common, but focus breathing is another concern if you do want to try it. If you want a long lens for cinema work, look to the Nikkor Z 100-400mm, which shows a consistent angle when you shift focus.

I expect more photographers will rely on the 400mm F4.5's stepping motor (STM) to drive autofocus. The STM motor doesn't work as swiftly as the direct drive motor in the Nikkor Z 400mm F2.8, but it was fast enough to keep a bead on a hummingbird stopping in for some nectar at my backyard feeder. Autofocus operation was quiet too, meaning you won't startle wildlife if you pair the lens with a camera body that has a fully electronic shutter.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

About an inch ahead of the focus control, the lens also has a Control Ring with a narrow, diamond-textured surface. You can set the ring's function via the camera menu, including for aperture, EV compensation, ISO, or white balance control. The ring turns with a pleasing resistance but without click stops. I've complained that the control rings on other Nikkor Z lenses exhibit a nearly hypersensitive response, but this one is quite usable, especially if you have a newer camera like the Z 8 or Z 9 that lets you change its behavior. That said, it's still easy to inadvertently change settings if the lens brushes up against your legs or backpack. If you find that the Control Ring gets in the way, you can always disable it entirely via the camera menu.

Nikon puts a few buttons and toggles on-barrel as well. The 400mm has an A/M toggle to swap focus modes, along with a focus limiter switch to enable its full focus range (8.2 feet to infinity) or a restricted one for more distant subjects (19.7 feet and beyond). A Lens Function (L-Fn) button is nearby, while the Memory Set button is on the opposite side. Meanwhile, a set of four L-Fn2 buttons are further ahead, positioned 90 degrees apart. Most people use these to drive focus, but you can reassign their function via the camera menu. Just remember that all four L-Fn2 buttons are mapped to the same function.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The Memory function is somewhat esoteric but useful in certain situations. It lets you save a preset focus distance, which you can snap the lens back to with a single button press. If you're photographing field sports or a bird feeder from a fixed spot, saving a focus position lets you get the lens back to the right spot in an instant. The classic use case is baseball: You can save a base or position to memory and go back to it to catch a play that you may have otherwise missed. You should still lean on the autofocus system during a burst photo sequence to keep up with subject motion, but the Memory button takes care of the initial focus adjustment.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

At its nearest 8.2-foot focus distance, the Z 400mm F4.5 captures objects at 1:6.25 life-size, which falls shy of the macro range. If you want a long lens that's better for close-up work, the Nikkor Z 100-400mm is the obvious alternative. It focuses down to 2.5 feet for 1:2.6 reproduction.

The VR designation, short for vibration reduction, means that the lens uses optical stabilization. It's rated for 5.5 stops of compensation by itself and 6.0 stops in combination with a camera that has a stabilized sensor. When I tried some handheld long exposures from a sitting position with the Z 9, I got photos with no evidence of handshake at 1/8-second and slightly less consistent results at 1/4-second. Note that there's no VR switch on the lens itself.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Nikkor Z 400mm F4.5: In the Lab

I matched the 400mm F4.5 with the 45MP Z 9 and Imatest software to check its performance in the lab. The lens is exceedingly sharp, notching an outstanding 4,500 lines across the frame from f/4.5-11. Picture quality suffers a little at smaller f-stops. It straddles the line between very good and excellent at f/16 (4,000 lines), falls in the good range at f/22 (3,200 lines), and is visibly soft at the minimum f/32 aperture (2,000 lines). There's a good reason for this: Light particles scatter as they pass through a very small diaphragm, which makes images appear softer.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

You still might want to ratchet down the aperture for sunstars, however. At f/22-32, the lens draws tiny points of light with 18-point starbursts. Although I don't expect many to pick this as a landscape lens, you might find it useful to try a shot at a small f-stop if a scene calls for it.

Working against a strong backlight is a weaker point of the lens. Contrast holds up quite well, but I noticed some purple and green ghosts in photos I took directly into the sun. I recommend using the included hood to shade the large front element from off-angle sunshine and trying to avoid putting the sun behind your subject in the frame (which shouldn't be too hard for field sports and most wildlife work). Just keep this advice in mind when you capture air shows or birds in flight.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

In-camera corrections make for JPGs with no visible distortion and even illumination from edge to center. Adobe Lightroom and Capture One both have profiles for photographers who work in Raw format, but they make just slight changes to the picture. When I turned the correction profile off in Lightroom, I had to look side-by-side with a JPG to spot the slight pincushion distortion. Vignetting is most noticeable at f/4.5, as the corners are a little bit dimmer than the center of the frame.

Apart from the aforementioned ghosts from internal reflections, the lens does an excellent job of suppressing false color. I couldn't spot any lateral chromatic aberration in typical problem areas (such as around power lines and tree branches) or signs of longitudinal aberration (LoCA) in defocused backgrounds. That means you won't have to contend with false purple or green fringing or color in the frame.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

At 400mm f/4.5, it's very easy to blur backgrounds with the lens since the depth of field is razor-thin. The quality of the defocused backgrounds, or bokeh, is quite pleasing. The lens draws highlights with soft edges for clean backgrounds, though I did spot some cat's eye shapes toward the edges of the frame at the widest f-stop. The circular diaphragm makes them round if you stop down the aperture a bit.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

A Peerless Telephoto Prime

The Nikkor Z 400mm F4.5 VR S would be a standout lens for any camera system, so there's no question that it's worthy of our Editors' Choice award for Nikon photographers. It's brighter and lighter than the Nikkor Z 100-400mm, captures exceptionally sharp images, and has a durable design with all the controls you could want. Overall, it's a worthwhile splurge for enthusiasts and pro photographers who prefer a lighter kit for work in the field. And since neither Canon nor Sony have an answer for Nikon's latest entry in its lineup of mid-priced, lightweight telephoto lenses, it's a convincing reason to jump into the Z mirrorless system.