Last Updated on 03/09/2026 by Chris Gampat
I truly couldn’t believe what I was holding when the Nikon Z 70-200mm f2.8 S VR II was put in my hands. But hear me when I say this: that lens is the lightest zoom of its kind that I’ve held in years. And it’s not only that: it delivers beautiful image quality — especially when you combine it with the Nikon Picture Controls. Plus, it focuses really closely, boasts weather resistance, has a new arca swiss mount tripod mount, and incorporates some of Nikon’s latest imaging tech. One question, however, was really on my mind: how do you make the original that much better?
The Big Picture: Nikon Z 70-200mm f2.8 S VR II Review Conclusions
On the original publishing of this review, we’ve only spent around an hour with the lens so far. We will update this when a production-ready review unit comes in.
Experience with the Nikon Z 70-200mm f2.8 S VR II
Our initial tests with the Nikon Z 70-200mm f2.8 S VR II were done using the Nikon Zf — which is our own unit. The lens was loaned to us by Nikon.
Looking at the lens, you wouldn’t really think that anything was out of the ordinary if you’re familiar with these styles of lenses. It’s an internal zoom, not too terribly large, and there’s a new arca swiss mount tripod foot. On the outside, that’s really about it.
Believe me when I say this, I felt like I didn’t really need the grip on my Nikon Zf to use the Nikon Z 70-200mm f2.8 S VR II. That’s because the lens is just so darn lightweight. The Phoblographer’s Nikon rep joined us at a cemetery on a cloudy day in NYC to go photograph random graves and such. What’s really fun about photographing in cemeteries is that you get so many different situations. There’s things that are like landscapes, fascinating rows, intriguing trees, etc. Typically, Trust me when I say that nothing looks bad with this lens attached and the camera filters loaded up. And that, to me, is something very important to say: the camera Picture Controls really did the heavy lifting here so much so that our image quality section is pretty much all JPEGs right out of camera as of the original posting.
When I looked at the RAW files, I thought that they were plain, lifeless, etc. They really didn’t bring me any joy — but I know photographers who want plain images. I, on the other hand, really believe that digital post-production isn’t really a part of the true photography process as darkroom development is with the whole idea of painting with light.
More of that will be elaborated on a bit more in the image quality section.
Let me be clear here: there isn’t a single problem I had when using this new Nikon 70-200mm lens. But I didn’t get to test it in low light, for portraits, events, etc. We’ll have to do a lot more in-depth testing. But so far, we can say with certainty that Nikon’s products typically do work as they’re supposed to.
Image Quality
The way that I often shoot with my Nikon Zf is that I use the Nikon Picture Profiles that come from the Imaging Cloud app or the ones I download from offline. Truthfully, I rarely ever edit the images I get from the camera because they’re already really just that good. And with the new Nikon Z 70-200mm f2.8 S VR II, you get everything that you’d expect: sharpness, nice bokeh, good contrast, etc.
But at the same time, I still wonder as to why Nikon even needed this lens. The predecessor was already just so good. At least, that’s what I say about the image quality. The rest of the experience is pretty wonderful.
The following images are from the Nikon Zf and haven’t been edited. These initial images are from a pre-production unit as well.
Is Nikon a Camera Brand You Want to Buy From?
We believe that everyone should be aware of the ethical decisions that they’re making when they spend money. So to do this, we research the companies that whose products we test and make folks aware of both possible concerns and reasons to feel great about giving a company your money.
Here’s what we’ve got for Nikon:
- When Nikon released the D600, they refused to do a recall until a class-action lawsuit came forward.
- Nikon states that their products have weather resistance but do not guarantee that they will fix it in their warranty program.
- Nikon Asia has often omitted women from its ambassador roster.
- Nikon is currently suing Viltrox for not licensing the right to make lenses for their camera system, which has annoyed many people.
- Nikon has previously had issues with ethics in contests that they put on.
- A Nikon subsidiary has used Unsplash in an Anti-AI campaign. Unsplash has incredibly predatory practices with young and budding photographers.
- Nikon has helped send children with financial issues to school.
- Nikon Europe has a program dedicated to teaching environmental sustainability.
- Nikon employees help to restore the forest in Japan.
- Nikon’s carbon footprint plant shows progress to meeting their goals of lessening their greenhouse gas emissions.
- According to the 2025 sustainability report, Nikon reviews their sources of materials to evaluate things like social issues.
- Nikon gets most of the supply for their products from within Japan.
- Nikon has done philanthropy efforts with Sunrise Day Camp, NYC SALT grant and scholarship, Women Photograph grant, the Black Women Photographers Grant, and Ronald McDonald House.
Declaration of Journalistic Intent
The Phoblographer is one of the last standing dedicated photography publications that speaks to both art and tech in our articles. We put declarations up front in our reviews to adhere to journalistic standards that several publications abide by. These help you understand a lot more about what we do:
- At the time of publishing this review, Nikon isn’t running direct-sold advertising with the Phoblographer. This doesn’t affect our reviews anyway and it never has in our 15 years of publishing our articles. This article is in no way sponsored. That’s against FTC laws and we adhere to them just the same way that newspapers, magazines, and corporate publications do.
- Note that this isn’t necessarily our final review of the unit. It will be updated, and it’s more of an in-progress review than anything. In fact, almost all our reviews are like this.
- Nikon loaned the unit and accessories to the Phoblographer for review. There was no money exchange between us or their 3rd party partners and the Phoblographer for this to happen. Manufacturers trust the Phoblographer’s reviews, as they are incredibly blunt.
- Nikon knows that it cannot influence the site’s reviews. If we don’t like something or if we have issues with it, we’ll let our readers know.
- Nikon paid for the shipping of the lens. At a later time, a unit will be shipped to the Phoblographer and, if they request it back, will be paying for the return shipment. This is a standard practice in the world of journalism. In our original preview, Nikon also paid for lunch to be had with our Editor in Chief.
- The Phoblographer’s standards for reviewing products have become much stricter. After having the world’s largest database of real-world lens reviews, we choose not to review anything we don’t find innovative or unique, and in many cases, products that lack weather resistance. Unless something is very unique, we probably won’t touch it.
- At the time of publishing, the Phoblographer is the only photography publication that is a member of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. We champion human-made art and are frank with our audience. We are also the only photography publication that labels when an image is edited or not.
More can be found on our Disclaimers page.