Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II review: What was "probably the best 70-200mm zoom in the world. Ever" just got even better!

The Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II is the second Mk II release in the Big N’s ‘next-gen’ holy trinity, following on from the outstanding Nikon Z 24‑70mm f/2.8 S II. The question on my mind is whether or not the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S actually needed an update at all, given that our reviewer rightly called it “probably the best 70-200mm zoom in the world. Ever.”

But that was nearly six years ago, and a lot has changed in the world of optics. For starters, Z mount represents a much more formidable line-up of optics than it did back in 2020, sitting pretty at around 50 lenses and a completed Z-mount roadmap. The market is arguably more competitive, too, with cheap lens manufacturers continuously redefining the price-to-quality ratio, which has certainly kept the big boys on their toes.

The Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II, then, feels like a bit of a statement. Nikon has taken its winning formula in a bid to make it even better. I’m here to find out whether or not these changes are warranted. To put this premium Nikon telephoto zoom through its paces, I visited both WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre and the Hawk Conservancy Trust so I could test the lens via one of the most challenging subjects, birds in flight, as well as capturing some wildlife portraits. I then set up a small diorama with fairy lights to test the optic’s close focusing and bokeh.

Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II: Specifications

Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II: Price

Just like the Nikon Z 24‑70mm f/2.8 S II, the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II doesn’t come cheap, priced at $3,199.95 / £2,999.00 / AU$5,399. That’s more expensive than the already pricey last-generation optic, which has been retailing for around $2,899.95 / £2,599.00 / AU$5,099.

But in Nikon’s defense, this is an S-Line ‘trinity’ lens, placed firmly within the professional camp and representing the finest in Nikon’s optical technology (and it really is fine). The good news for anybody in the market for a ‘trinity’ zoom is that the price of the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S will surely plummet on the used market once its replacement is readily available, something we’ve already seen with the original Nikon Z 24‑70mm f/2.8 S.

Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II: Design & Handling

*SPOILER ALERT* The Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II is optically superb, but so is its predecessor. As such, the biggest real-world difference between these two optical titans isn’t their image quality, but their design and handling. At a glance, you’d have trouble telling them apart. Their dimensions really aren’t that different, and given that both lenses are internal zooms, they’re not small by any means. Then you pick the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II up.

Its predecessor weighs 1440g with the tripod collar and 1360g without. The mark II weighs in at 1180g and 998g, that’s up to 362g lighter, which is a huge difference. I’m not sure what kind of enchantment Nikon has put on the mark II, but it’s very effective. What I can only assume is that the biggest weight-saving measure is the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II’s 18 elements in 16 groups. The old lens had more elements (21 in 18 groups).

You’re getting one ED (Extra-Low Dispersion), one Super ED, two aspherical, one aspherical ED, one fluorite and 1 SR lens element, with Meso Amorphous and ARNEO Coat, as well as a fluorine-coated front lens element. In other words, the Mark II might contain less glass, but Nikon has upped the quality.

The lens feels as solid as you’d expect an S-Line Z lens to feel and although the internal-zoom mechanism sacrifices a bit of camera bag space, it boosts the optic’s premium feel. Another big upgrade is a clickable/de-clickable control ring, toggled via a physical ‘on/off’ switch. This means photographers can enjoy a bit of tactile resistance when using it to change, say, their aperture, while videographers can keep things slick, smooth and silent.

And that’s not all the control ring has to offer. Thank the ‘Big N’ for putting it in a much more sensible position this time around. The mark I’s control ring sits behind the fixed tripod collar, almost butted up against the camera. As far as ergonomics go, it couldn’t be in a worse place, so I was very pleased to find that the Mark II’s control ring has been shifted in front of the tripod collar in a much more comfortable position.

The collar and foot deserve a bit of a mention, too, in that they’re both completely removable, whereas before, you could only remove the foot. Getting the thing on/off is a little bit fiddly, but the fact that it’s removable is another big boon for handheld photographers who want to save space/weight. And this lens is so light, I think you could get away with mounting the camera to the tripod in a pinch. I’m also pleased to report that the foot is Arca-Swiss compatible for quick tripod attachment and release.

One area where the Mark II’s design could be considered a downgrade from the Mark I is that – like the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S II – it has ditched the OLED information screen. I’ll be honest, I love the original S-Line ‘trinity’ lens’s little OLED screens; it certainly adds to the premium feel, but in a practical sense, I don’t think I’ve ever needed to use them.

You’ll find a pair of L-Fn buttons on the barrel, along with duplicates so you can still access them no matter the angle you’re holding the lens, as well as a focus-limiter and A/M (AF/manual) switch right at the base of the lens. I should also mention the HB-119 lens hood, which has a stamp-sized sliding window so you can access variable ND filters without removing the hood. Something that’s less important for photography, but will come in handy when shooting video.

Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II: Performance

When the original Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S was released, I was blown away by its imaging performance and I still am today. In the real world, I found the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II to be, at the very least, comparable, if not better. Optically, both of these lenses are so good, attempting to split them apart feels a little superfluous. I’m only human after all… Still, there’s an abstract feeling you get when you’re using an outstanding lens and the word I’d use to put that feeling into context is confidence. I felt exceedingly confident, armed with this lens.

And I didn’t just walk around my local town. I put the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II through its paces by photographing one of the world’s most challenging subjects, birds. These feathery little blighters are small, fast and erratic, a veritable headache for even the very best camera-and-lens combination.

But my experience using the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II with my Nikon Z8 was overwhelmingly positive. I’m not Superman, I can’t actually tell if the Mark II actually acquires focus 3.5x faster than the Mark I, as Nikon says it does, but what I can tell you is that Nikon's proprietary Silky Swift Voice Coil Motors (SSVCM) acquire focus bloomin’ fast. I’ve no doubt that this lens is throttled by the Z8’s ability to acquire AF, which bodes well for the future.

The lens also comes with Nikon’s proprietary image stabilization, Vibration Reduction, which is capable of achieving up to six stops of compensation when used with a Nikon camera that boasts Synchro VR. This essentially means that the lens’s optical image stabilization and the camera’s in-body image stabilization combine to offer maximum stabilization. And indeed, during my time with this lens, sharp shots felt exceedingly easy to come by.

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As you’d expect from an S-Line Nikon lens and a high-resolution Nikon camera, the full-frame images that I captured are of stunning quality. And one area where the Mark II has the Mark I visibly beat is the quality of its bokeh. The Mark II has an 11-bladed aperture, whereas its predecessor only has nine. The result is noticeably smoother and more spherical bokeh. As always, the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II was sent to our lab for more formal testing, where it performed very well.

Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II: Sample Images

The gallery of sample images (below) was captured with the Nikon Z8 at both the Hawk Conservancy Trust and WWT Slimbridge. This enabled me to test the lens in a challenging real-world environment, where it performed admirably.

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Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II: Lab Results

The Digital Camera World lab runs a range of tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the lens’s zoom and aperture ranges (where available), which are then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

The lab manager uses Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

Nikon’s S-line of Z-mount lenses are always very sharp, but the new 70-200mm f/2.8 is especially impressive. I’ve compared it against our lab results for the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S II and it’s roughly 10% sharper in the center of frame than the original lens, and even wide open at 105mm and 135mm, it’s still incredibly sharp.

In fact, it completely outclasses its predecessor at f/2.8, aside from a notable dip at 70mm. From f/4 to f/11, all focal lengths are sharper than the Mark I lens in what is an exemplary display of sharpness. The Mark II’s performance essentially equals its predecessor at f/16, but at f/22, the Mark I might be marginally sharper, which is little consolation. Overall, these center sharpness figures would be excellent from a prime lens, let alone a zoom.

Corner sharpness is also strong, but is more comparable to the original lens. It exhibits a noticeable dip at f/4, below its predecessor, but recovers very well from f/5.6 to f/11, where it’s sharper. It does dip at 135mm f/11 and is slightly softer at f/16 at all focal lengths apart from 70mm. It’s also marginally softer at 200mm f/22, but everywhere else, it’s sharper. The lens performs particularly well at 105mm, where it reaches a level of sharpness at f/5.6 that exceeds anything the older lens was able to achieve.

Fringing:

Lateral chromatic aberration is borderline visible in the corners of the frame, but these results are obtained with in-camera corrections disabled. At 135mm, fringing is impressively minimal.

Distortion:

There’s a little barrel distortion at 70mm, transitioning to negligible pincushion distortion by 135mm. These scores appear significantly worse than those from the original lens, and any Nikon Z lens for that matter.

This is because Nikon's firmware-based, in-camera distortion correction cannot be disabled, which makes all Z lenses seem essentially ‘distortion-free’, when actually their optical distortion is just being corrected by the camera. The 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II is a rare example of the lens’s ‘true distortion’, as the firmware of the Nikon Z8 test camera hadn’t yet been updated to correct the new lens at the time of testing.

Overall, the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II’s center sharpness is absolutely incredible and it roundly outperforms its predecessor. Corner sharpness is a closer race, but still very strong. And even without Nikon’s in-camera corrections, the lens still performs exceedingly well in terms of color fringing and distortions. Ultimately, I’m extremely impressed with this lens’s optical performance, but knowing that Nikon has achieved this by simplifying the optical construction in order to save a significant amount of weight, I consider it to be jaw-dropping stuff.

Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II: Verdict

I guess we lied. The Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S isn’t “the best 70-200mm zoom in the world. Ever.” And that’s because the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II is probably the best 70-200mm zoom in the world. Ever. When Nikon announced the Nikon Z 24‑70mm f/2.8 S II, I was of the mind, why bother? How much better can it get? That lens proved that there’s still optical headroom and the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II has proven that once again.

What makes this lens so special isn’t its exquisite optical performance. It’s the fact that it largely betters or equals its predecessor while being up to 362g lighter. It’s not the smallest lens in the world, but when you pick it up, that really doesn’t matter. As somebody who spends most of their photography life carting around heavy telephoto and super-telephoto equipment, anything lighter is a big deal.

And then you have the features. Arguably redundant OLED screen aside, it’s clear that Nikon has really thought about what the working content creator needs. I’m not just talking about the dual L-Fn buttons, click/de-click control ring, and removable collar and foot. It’s the little things. The Arca-Swiss tripod foot, the window in the lens hood for variable ND filters, and the decision to move the control ring into a more ergonomic position.

The price of a lens like this is always going to ruffle a few feathers, especially as Nikon’s ‘trinity’ lenses creep ever closer to the US$3,000 mark. But it’s important to note that this is a pro-grade lens through and through, where the finest of margins make a difference. If the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II isn’t for you, there are plenty of more affordable options out there, including the still exceedingly good Mark I, which has plummeted on the used market.

I’m very much of the opinion that if you’re going to spend big on just one lens in your arsenal, then it might as well be a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom. It’s a zoom range that’s ideal for wildlife, sports, portraits, close-ups and landscapes. And the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II is about as good as it’s ever going to get. Until the Mark III…

Alternatives

The Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 comes highly recommended for Nikon Z photographers on a budget. It’s roughly 1/3 of the price of the Nikon Z 70‑200mm f/2.8 VR S II, is super-sharp and produces lovely discs of bokeh. It even features a few premium appointments, including optical-image stabilization and a function button.

It might not be a super-fast ‘trinity’ zoom, but the Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR delivers arguably the finest balance between versatility, image quality and price. It’s compact considering the focal range, features optical-image stabilization, and is weather sealed. If you’re looking for a one-and-done everyday companion, this could be the optic for you.