5 tips to make the most of the NIKKOR Z 17-28mm f/2.8
Get creative at the wide-angle end of NIKKOR’s affordable f/2.8 trinity and fourth up in our series celebrating 90 years of NIKKOR
The NIKKOR Z 17-28mm f/2.8 is a super-flexible wide-angle zoom lens that gives you lots of options and amazing quality and performance in an affordable f/2.8 package. Read on for some ways to test its abilities and push your creativity.
1. Stop down to tell a story
Wide-angle lenses are fantastic for telling a story in one scene. Stopping down the aperture (i.e. increasing the number of the f-stop to increase the depth of field) lets you get background and foreground in focus in situations where everything in the frame tells part of a single story. Start at f/2.8 then move to f/4, f/5.6 and f/8.
2.Take to the stars
Wide-angle lenses are perfect for night sky photography and using a long exposure means you’ll be able to create star trails that show the rotation of the Earth. Use a tripod and remote trigger (the Nikon SnapBridge app is your friend here), set focus to infinity and use a shutter speed of at least 15 minutes to capture the movement of the stars. For the best results, choose a clear night in a location away from urban light pollution.
3. Have fun with distortion
Ultra-wide lenses can radically distort subjects and things such as facial features taken up close, but you can use this to your advantage in a creative and fun way. Try it out with a pet or a self-portrait.
4. Take beautiful interiors
The NIKKOR Z 17-28mm f/2.8 is in the sweet spot for interiors photography, allowing you to take in an entire room but not so wide that you get a lot of distortion at the edges. Take a walk around your house or apartment and try out different angles in rooms of varying sizes to see how you can make the most of each space.
5. Set people within a landscape
Sweeping landscape images can be fantastic, but sometimes adding people into the space can provide a sense of scale and drama. Take a friend or two on your next landscape session and experiment with placing them far away (but still visible!) to show the size and scale of, for example, rocks or trees.
The key stats: NIKKOR Z 17-28mm f/2.8
Type: Nikon Z mount
Format: FX
Focal length: 17-28mm
Maximum aperture: f/2.8
Minimum aperture: f/22
No. of diaphragm blades: 9 rounded
Minimum focus distance: 0.19-0.26m
Weight: 450 g
Dimensions: 75 mm x 101 mm
Check out our 90-Second NIKKOR video below to see the NIKKOR Z 17-28mm f/2.8 in action.
90-Second NIKKOR: NIKKOR Z 17-28mm f/2.8
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Celebrating 90 years of NIKKOR
Introducing a new video series from Nikon Europe. In each episode, we’ll take a NIKKOR Z mirrorless lens and tell you everything you need to know in 90 seconds
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