Greetings everyone and today I'm Checking out what has to be the longest Full-frame super zoom lens ever made the New necon 28 to 400 MM F4 to f8 VR it is Only for their Zed Mount mless camera System and it costs £1,400 here in the UK or $1,300 in the US before sales tax I'd like to thank Nick on UK for Learning me a sample of this lens for a Couple of weeks for testing and so Quickly although as usual this is a Totally independent review it's ages Since I've tested a good super zoom lens And this one really has to take the Crown well for its over 14 times Zoom Range anyway just look at this 28 mm is A nice moderately wide angle to start From but being able to zoom into 400 mm Is just incredible that's enough for Getting good pictures of the moon or Wildlife photography this lands really Does cover just about everything so it Could be perfect for travel or holiday Photography a nice option if you want to Keep your camera kitb simple the Disadvantages of super zoom lenses are Always the same they normally offer Lower image sharpness and general image Quality and a narrower maximum aperture And the F4 to f8 maximum aperture this Lens has to work with is a bit darker Than usual it's not going to be a great Lens for working in darker situations or Stopping action still that's simply the
Price you pay for getting a giant Zoom Range like this packed all into one lens With a brighter aperture the thing would Have had to been physically enormous the Lens features its own Optical image Stabilization which was a good idea from Necon because the inbody stabilization Most cameras have within them isn't very Effective at long telephoto ranges Here's some footage at 400 MM with the Lens's stabilization or VR turned off And now turned on nickon deserve a pat On the back here in my opinion because It's doing a great job I was shooting This footage at the top of a cliff on a Windy day and it's turned out really Good that stabilization is incredibly Important for getting sharper still Images and better handheld video Although it does jerk just a little bit Now and then when it comes to build Quality the first thing that strikes you Is the the lens is obviously quite big Unsurprising considering what it's doing However at 725 G or well under 2 lb it's Weighty but not too heavy it's made of Plastic but is built on a metal lens Mount with some light weather ceiling Nickon say that this lens is dust and Drip resistant but doesn't make any big Claims about its weather ceiling so try Not to get it wet the lens doesn't have Many controls here and the rear there's One of Nikon's customizable control
Rings which can be set in your camera to Perform all kinds of different functions It turns smoothly and also works as a Manual focus ring which can be set to Work in a linear or nonlinear manner Here you can see that the manual focus Response is quite smooth and you can Also see that the lens displays Impressively little Focus breathing Whether you're zoomed in or zoomed out That is a really pleasant surprise the Lens's autofocus system is quiet Accurate and fairly quick although when You're shooting with any lens as dark as F8 you can't expect the fastest Performance in the world next comes the Very broad rubberized Zoom ring and neon Have done a good job here too they' have Gotten its tension just right it's Smooth and even enough to turn without Any stickiness handy for video makers But it's stiff enough not to fall under Its own weight so Neon have clearly put Some thought into this thing's design The lens is not PA focal by the way not That I was expecting it to be so but the Focus system does adjust itself quite Effectively as you zoom in and out to Try and get you the most consistent Focus possible the lens has a 77 mm Filter thread and comes with this rather Strange b-shaped Hood which just looks Kind of silly and probably won't be very Effective overall though the build
Quality is fine and the way it handles Is excellent with great electronics and A zoom ring that works Beautifully all right let's move on and Look at image quality now I'll be Testing it on my trusty neon z7 with its 45 megap fullframe sensor in camera Corrections are turned on for this test At 28 mm and F4 we see brilliant Sharpness and contrast in the middle of The image Corner image quality is Somewhat soft though At f5.6 we get a touch more brightness And contrast in those Corners at f8 and F11 there are further tiny improvements Leading to decent sharpness in the Corners but we see some ghosting and Color fringing on contrasting edges here Let's zoom in a bit to 85 mm the maximum Apture has now darkened to F6 the middle Of the image is still looking Fantastically sharp although contrast Isn't quite as good as at wider angles The corner image quality is still softer But not quite as bad as it was at 28 mm Stop down to f8 for again just a tiny Improvement in corner image quality and That's as sharp as the image gets at 85 Mm stopping down yields no further Improvements let's zoom in again this Time to 200 mm where the maximum apture Has now darkened to f8 quite dark Actually for any lens at 200 mm anyway The middle of the image is still looking
Looking nice and sharp here although Contrast is just good same story as Before in the image Corners though they Are looking a little soft but not too Bad stop down to f11 for a small Improvement in those corners but stop Down any further and the lens will just Get softer due to defraction finally Let's Zoom all the way into 400 MM at f8 The image in the middle is finally Looking a little softer than before but It's still acceptably sharp to be honest Although it doesn't get any sharper if You stop down the aperture from here the Contrast is just okay and the corner Image quality surprisingly consistent Once again it's a little softer than the Middle but I was actually expecting Worse here's f11 if you're interested no Real Improvement as you can see all Right well considering we're working on A 45 map sensor here and the lens has a 14 times Zoom range I'm actually quite Pleased with these results as they are Remarkably consistent we always get very Good sharpness in the middle of your Images and at least workable sharpness In the corners although they never look Great oh and the more you zoom in the Less contrast you will see still I was Braced for a worse performance than this So for a super zoom lens of this Magnitude I'm honestly quite pleased all Right let's bypass any in camera
Corrections by shooting in raw and look At Distortion and vignetting at 28 mm Unsurprisingly we see heavy barrel Distortion and a lot of darkness in the Corners at F4 stopping down to f5.6 f8 Then f11 yields much more brightness in The corners zoom into 50 mm and that Distortion straightens out at 100 mm That Distortion flips into pinush Distortion although it's not quite as Strong as I was expecting Zoom all the Way into 400 MM and unusually that Distortions Bens out again although Vignetting is still strong at the Maximum apture of f8 stop down to f11 or F16 and those Corners brighten up again What a roller coaster ride we've seen Here all right well let's look at Closeup image quality and if you want to Shoot close you have two options here Firstly if you zoom in then closeup Image quality is just okay at f8 stop Down to f11 though to see very good Close-up IM mid sharpness emerging well That's one option but for the closest Possible images zoom out to 28 mm it's Awkward to shoot so close at 28 mm but You'll be rewarded with closer pictures And even sharper close-up quality even At F4 stop down to at 5.6 and any color Finging that was present has gone too Either way this is a good lens for Close-up shooting all right how well Does this lens work against bright light
At the widest angles we get small flexs Of FL flaring but nothing serious at all As you zoom in more and more you start Seeing just a slight increase in flaring But generally contrast is still very Well under control with this lens which Is great to see and finally bcka despite Its huge telephoto ability this is not The best lens for getting out of focus Backgrounds due to its dark maximum Aperture the quality of those Backgrounds is just average here there's Nothing deeply offensive going on but Boger is not the smoothest I've ever Seen overall well I mostly had quite Warm feelings about this lens although Obviously it's not for everyone on the One hand it was fun to test out and I Was actually quite pleased with its Image quality although of course some of The usual super zoom limitations are Here especially with softness in image Corners the big question mark really is Would you pay $1,300 for a lens like this well Considering that you can get all the way To 400 MM with it an important reach for Wildlife photography particularly Actually I'd probably consider it the Lens really does work so well and while You can certainly get sharper Optics Than this there's nothing else nearly as Convenient it's great to play with a Lens that makes photography more simple
And fun like this so yes I'm impressed And it comes recommended [Music] Patreon in the description below support The channel and get all kinds of bonus Content check it out now
