Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 tele zoom review

I like tele lenses, not only for typical tele uses like birds, but also for the possibility to explore interesting compositions in narrow details of the field of view. However, tele lenses can be really large and expensive, and unpractical to lug around.

With this in mind, I was intrigued about the basic DX kit zoom lens, that you typically get in double lens kits: The Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR. As the name indicates, this is a "DX" lens, meaning that it only gives you a smaller image at 1.5x crop factor, corresponding to a field of view of 75-375mm in traditional film format terms. So on 45MP cameras like the Z9 and Z7, you will get images with just under 20MP.

The lens is small and light, and should be easy to bring along for the occational tele image, especially when you have good light during daytime. But is it good enough optically to be worth bringing along? I'll look into that here.

Physical appearance

The lens is quite comparable in size and weight with the 50mm f/1.8 S lens, seen to the left below. It is a bit longer, as you can see, but it is also slightly lighter. I also included the 24-70mm f/4 S lens to the right for scale, as these two lenses are familiar to many readers.

While the lens looks very similar to the 50mm f/1.8 S in the picture, they are in fact quite different. The 50mm f/1.8 S has a wide focus lens made of some aluminium like material, while the 50-250mm lens has a zoom ring covered with a ribbed, rubberized material. I actually like the latter better: The rubberized surface is better to operate. On the other hand, I suppose the 50mm lens is more solid. Also, the base of the 50-250mm barrel is made of some less expesive feeling plastic material.

Adding to the differences, the rear end shows more:

As you can see, the 50-250mm lens has a plastic bayonet mount, and the exit pupil (rear lens element) is way smaller. Also, although it is hard to see from the picture, the 50-250mm lens doesn't have a rubber seal around the mount. For a light lens like this, I think the plastic mount will be totally adequate, so I am not worried about it. It is a bit sad that it doesn't come with a seal, though, as you would not be as protected against water, dust, and the like.

To use the lens, you first need to rotate the zoom ring to the 50 mark, where there is a nice "click" stop. Rotating further extends all the way to 250mm:

Once zoomed, the two extended lens sub-barrels seem very solid: There is no play, they don't wobble at all if you push them. This seems to be a good feat, most inexpensive extending tele zooms like this wobble.

The lens also has a small control ring behind the larger zoom ring. This ring can be configures to control various items as usual.

As this is a basic lens, the contents of the box is rather sparse: Only the front and rear lens covers, and that is it. No hood is included. If you plan on using the lens a lot, I would recommend buying a hood, though. The Nikon HB-90A is the one that fits the lens:

Optical performance

To test the lens, I have compared it with the 50mm f/1.8 S at 50mm, and the 105mm f/2.8 S macro lens at 105mm. All lenses were used in DX mode on the Nikon Z9 for a fair test.

At 50mm

50mm f/1.8 S @ f/1.8	50-250mm @ 50mm f/4.5

To better see the differences, I have made 100% crops from the centre at various apertures, click to enlarge the image:

And here is a crop from the lower right corner:

At 105mm

105mm f/2.8 S @ f/2.8	50-250mm @ 105mm f/4.5

Again, here are 100% crops from the centre, click to enlarge the image:

And from the lower left hand corner:

At 250mm

I don't have any other lens that covers 250mm, so I'm only going to check the lens on its own merits here. Here are images taken at f/6.3 and f/8, respectively:

250mm @ f/6.3	250mm @ f/8

Looking at 100% crops is easier to compare the performance:

My conclusion from all of these tests, is that the Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR performs remarkably well. I have compared them with lenses that are absolutely stellar prime lenses, and of course it doesn't perform as good, but it is not far behind. For a basic kit zoom lens, I think it does very well indeed. I was especially happy with the image quality in the corner areas of the frame: This is usually the area that is problematic with the more basic lenses like this.

Bokeh

To see what the out of focus rendering looks like, I have some pictures taken at close focus and wide open, with busy backgrounds. First at 50mm f/4.5:

And at 250mm f/6.3:

In both examples, I think the background is blurred effectively, and I haven't seen any issues with the bokeh of this lens.

As a portrait lens

A portrait lens is traditionally understood to be an 85mm lens with a large aperture (small f-number), e.g., the Nikon 85mm f/1.8 S. This lens starts at 50mm, which corresponds to 75mm due to the crop factor of 1.5. So you could imagine using it as a portrait lens by having it at the shortest setting, 50mm, and wide open at f/4.5. The questions is: Is the aperture large enough to effectively blur the background?

Here is an example using a life size statue at a distance of about 1 meter (3 feet), which is a typical portrait distance with this focal length:

As you can see, the background is blurred fairly well even at f/4.5. So I would say you could use the lens as a portrait lens in a pinch, especially if you are able to choose the background and avoid the most messy scenes behind the subject. If you only have the double kit with the standard zoom and this tele zoom, then use this lens for your head-and-shoulders portraits at 50mm or zoomed in slightly more. Unless you invest in another prime lens later, this is your best choice.

Autofocus speed

Although this is a basic tele lens, the autofocus works well, and feels snappy. But it is clearly lagging behind more advanced tele lenses when it comes to how it holds up for continuous autofocus with moving objects. You can use this lens to photograph birds in flight, but you will have a lower success rate compared with more dedicated prosumer lenses. Here is an example image of a bird in flight at 250mm f/6.3 with the Nikon Z9:

As the picture was taken with a relatively slow speed, for a bird in flight, 1/400s, there is some motion blur, but it is otherwise well in focus.

Conclusion

While the Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR is an inexpensive and light lens, it handles well and it gives very good results. If you got the lens in a two lens kit package, then don't feel ashamed to use it. And if you haven't got the lens, it could be a worthwile addition for the times when you want to be able to take tele images, but not carry a large and heavy lens. Due to the small size, this lens will usually be able to slip into your bag easily.

You could use the lens to photograph birds, wildlife and nature. Or spectator sports during daylight or when you have reasonably good light.

For the class of lens, I think the image quality is very good, better than I had expected. Also, the lens has a good quality feel to it, and doesn't feel "wobbly" at all, not even when extended fully. Again, this is way better than I had expected. I have used many basic tele zoom lens over the last decades, and this is clearly the most solidly built at the price point.