Nikon Z 120-300mm F2.8 TC VR S Is the First F2.8 Zoom With a Built-In 1.4x Teleconverter
Nikon has made it official. The NIKKOR Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S ships in mid-November for $13,999.95, and flipping one switch on the barrel turns it into a 168-420mm f/4. Nikon calls it the first constant f/2.8 zoom with a built-in 1.4x teleconverter.
We’ve been waiting for this one since May, when Nikon said it was in development. Before that there was the F-mount AF-S 120-300mm f/2.8E FL ED SR VR from 2020, the last lens Nikon made for its DSLRs. It cost about $9,500 and weighed 3,250 grams. The Z version weighs 2,735 grams. So it’s 515 grams lighter, and it carries a whole teleconverter inside.
That’s the kind of lens built for big arenas: a subject crossing a wide field fast, a crowd behind it, and no time to swap glass when the action moves from 30 meters away to 80.
Photo: Media Gallery
Two lenses, one switch
The built-in converter is the whole story. At 120-300mm you get f/2.8 for night games and indoor courts. Engage the converter and you’re at 420mm and f/4 without taking the lens off the camera, letting dust in or missing a play.
Nikon already put converters inside its super-telephoto primes, the Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S and the Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S. Putting one in a fast zoom is new. The lens still takes Nikon’s external Z teleconverters too. A TC-2.0x on the bare lens makes it a 240-600mm f/5.6.
Zoom and focus are both internal, so the lens never changes length. That matters on a monopod and it matters for weather sealing. The body is magnesium alloy with dust and drip seals. Length is 353.5mm and the diameter 128mm.
What’s inside
The optics run to 30 elements in 24 groups, with ED, Super ED, fluorite, SR and aspherical glass. Nikon says that’s three fewer elements than the F-mount version, with fewer moving groups. Coatings are ARNEO and Meso Amorphous Coat, which Nikon calls the best anti-reflection coating it has ever made.
Autofocus uses Nikon’s Silky Swift VCM motors, the same type that made the Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S II so quick. There’s a focus limiter that ignores anything closer than 6 meters. Close focus is 0.98 meters at 120mm and 2 meters at 300mm.
Stabilization is rated at 6.5 stops, measured to CIPA standards on a Z6III at 300mm, and Nikon says that holds at the edges of the frame as well as the center. Bodies that support Synchro VR combine it with in-body stabilization.
The practical bits: 112mm front filters, a 46mm drop-in filter slot at the back, an HB-120 bayonet hood and a tripod foot cut for Arca-Swiss clamps. The collar rotates but has no click stops at 90 degrees, only markings. Small thing, but at this price people will notice.
Who should care
Pro sports shooters on Nikon, first. On a Z9 or Z8 this replaces a 300mm f/2.8 prime and a 70-200mm at the stadium, and the converter covers most of what a 400mm would. Wildlife shooters who work in poor light get a fast, sealed lens that reaches 420mm.
The obvious rival is Canon’s RF 100-300mm F2.8 L IS USM. It’s a bit lighter at 2,590 grams and much cheaper at $9,499, but you need an external extender to get past 300mm. Sony has no f/2.8 zoom in this range. Its closest answer is a prime, the FE 300mm F2.8 GM OSS.
For everyone else the sensible Nikon telephotos haven’t changed. The Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR and the Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S give you reach for a fraction of the money. What they can’t give you is f/2.8 under stadium lights. That’s what the $14,000 buys.
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