LENS TEST
EXPERT OPINION ON THE L ATEST KIT
Practically perfect in every way, the Plena is both super-sharp and deliciously blurry
www.nikon.co.uk £2,699/$2,497
The Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena has a tough act to follow.We were impressed by the Z 85mm f/1.2 S, but the Plena takes everything to a whole new level.
Naturally, it doesn’t have such a fast aperture rating (which would be impractical), but the longer focal length still enables a tight depth of field. We love the way the lens is perfectly suited to tight head-andshoulders portraiture, but also to still-life photography, and any situation where you want to compress perspective with a medium telephoto focal length while isolating the main subject by blurring its surroundings.
Key features
The performance of the Plena is top drawer, thanks to an impeccable design that puts its glass at the top of the features list. The optical path incorporates 16 elements in total and includes four ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, one aspherical element and one SR (Shortwavelength Refractive) element. Nikon’s ED glass is renowned for delivering excellent sharpness, contrast and colour accuracy, even at wide apertures, while reducing chromatic aberrations. The newer SR glass further reduces chromatic aberration at the blue end of the spectrum, while the use of an aspheric element can also reduce aberrations, as well as the physical size of a lens.
Building on the quality of the glass itself, the lens features ARNEO coating, which is particularly effective at minimising ghosting and flare, as well as Meso Amorphic Coat, which is even more effective at minimising reflections from light entering the lens from just about any angle. The overall design is tailored to deliver scintillating levels of sharpness across the whole frame, along with beautiful bokeh. A particularly well-rounded 11-blade aperture diaphragm helps to maintain topquality bokeh when stopping down.
Build and handling
As we’ve come to expect from Nikon’s S-line lenses for its Z-system cameras, build quality feels robust and solid. For a full-frame-compatible lens that combines a 135mm focal length with a fast f/1.8 apertur, it’s not overly large, and it weighs just under a kilogram. As such, handl
