The Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR is trending, and I can only assume that’s because the ‘Big N’ announced that it is developing the Nikon Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S today. Sure, they’re not a like-for-like alternative, but if the spiritual successor to one of the very best Nikon DSLR lenses of all time doesn’t whet your appetite for long Nikon lenses, I don’t know what will. After all, the 120-300mm probably ain’t going to come cheap – and that’s where the Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR comes in.
Now, I can put my money where my mouth is on this one because two years ago, I bought one of these babies myself, and I haven’t regretted it one bit. I’ll stop short of calling a $2,199.95 / £1,799 / AU$2,999 lens affordable, but for a Nikon-made full-frame 600mm zoom, it’s as close as you’re going to get. And thanks to that huge zoom range, whether you’re a wildlife or sports photographer, this could be all the lens an enthusiast could ever need. Heck, I even know professional wildlife photographers who own this lens. It’s that good.
For a lens that’s A) very competitively priced and B) not part of Nikon’s premium S-Line, it’s got some pretty swanky appointments. You get 5.5 stops of optical image stabilization, customizable function buttons, weather sealing, and an internal zoom. To be fair, the latter is a blessing and a curse. The internal zoom gives this hulking lens a real premium feel and likely improves the weather sealing to boot. However, it also means that this thing is long. You won’t get it in just any camera bag, that’s for sure.
But that’s my only problem with this lovely lens. Otherwise, it’s darn near perfect, because the image quality is so sublime, I don’t even care that it’s f/5.6-6.3. I’ll never say no to a faster optic, but short of photographing skittish wildlife in dark woodland, it’s not as big a deal as I thought it would be.
I have predominantly used this lens to photograph sports, and in that capacity, it excels. In fact, I once photographed a Bristol Rovers soccer game and actually preferred using the Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR to the S-Line Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S. That said, I still think the 100-400mm is an equally fine lens, and its small size is a huge plus point.
Ultimately, Nikon boasts some of the best long lenses in the full-frame mirrorless market, and for hardcore wildlife professionals, the Nikon Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S will only bolster that selection further. For everyone else, the Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR certainly isn’t a consolation prize.
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