NIKKOR Z 17-28mm f/2.8

I'm a real estate photographer and videographer. This lens with my Z9 is brit, sharp and fast enough to use for all of my interior and exterior stills and video. For stills is use SB-5000 as a fill to help with the shadows. For video I just use the available lighting. I use the DJI Ronin RS3, and it handles the camera and lens very well I used to use 3 lenses for every job. Now, most of the time, I only need this lens. There is much less setup.

The 17-28mm 2.8 has been a real eye-opener for capturing both street scenes and indoor meeting/events in low light situations. I'm looking forward to using this lens in both still captures and occasional video work.

I had been debating whether to get the z14-30 or the newer z17-28. Owning the 18-35 for my DSLR, I felt like 17mm was wide enough. Pairing this 17-28 f/2.8 with my z24-200 seemed like enough overlap between 24 and 28 to avoid changing lenses too often, so I opted for the faster f/2.8 lens. What a difference having 2.8 has made. I love being able to throw the background out of focus wide open, however, this lens has more advantages than just the 2.8 over the 14-30. It doesn't have a "lock" position that you must rotate out of to shoot pictures. It's always ready to shoot. I love that feature. The weight difference between this lens and the 14-24 is massive, so for travel photography, it's so much easier to carry around all day. (That was my reason for getting the DSLR 18-35 instead of the bigger and heavier 17-35.) Enough about the WHY... the size, function and weight are reasons to buy it. What about the quality? I took it to the Galapagos Islands with my Nikon z6ii. I didn't want to drag my D850 and bigger lenses with me. WOW! I got shots that only a ultrawide zoom could get. I've attached 2 photos of the Lagoon on San Cristobal, their only fresh water supply, that only a 17 or 18 mm could get the entire lake in the picture. The clouds were rolling in and birds were fishing in the Lagoon. I originally thought while looking at my pictures that there was a spec on my sensor. Closer evaluation showed that it was a crisp photo of a bird, made possible by the sharpness of the lens combined with the IBIS of the z6ii. What a lens. For certain, this lens is the best choice for travel photography, but with the quality it exhibits, I'll NOT be opting for the heavier 14-24 or the dimmer 14-30!