The 35mm f1.8 S was the first Z lens Nikon announced, so is it still the best option? Is the First Z lens now the worst value? If you’re new to Nikon and the Zf, lenses can be an overwhelming decision, so today I’ll walk through all my favourite Z lenses for street photography in one video.  I’ll compare my pick for street - the 35mm f1.8 S - against 7 Nikon lenses - all first party full-frame autofocusing primes.  Street photographers usually only go as wide as 28, and as tight as 50, but today we’ll stretch the boundaries slightly.  I’ll rank each lens by optical performance as well as suitability for street.

It took 100,000 frames on my last Japan trip, before I realised the Nikon 85mm f1.8 S had become my go-to travel lens for the Nikon Zf. 85mm is common, f1.8 nothing special, but to date none of the other options beat Nikon at anything other than price.  Sirui’s 85mm 1.4 is the first third party 85 offering something more than just a bargain, but is dreamy rendering the best choice for travel photography?  I want to capture the surroundings in a way that best matches my memories, because once the trip ends I’m forced to come back down to reality.

In the ZF Nikon created arguably the best manual focus experience, so why is it so hard to find the right adapter for their own vintage lenses?  With Nikon’s FTZii you lose almost all of the Zf’s special focus assist tools, and and I had to test 10 different adapter combinations til I found the best solution. Not one, but two stacked third party adapters, surely not how Nikon intended us to use the Zf?  I hope I’m wrong, I have a wishlist for FTZiii, but it’s never coming out.