Perhaps someone can help me understand this....

[Keith M]

I have a refurbished Nikon Z 70-200mm purchased awhile back directly from Nikon that I had not used. Upon reviewing a series of photos that I had taken recently, I observed a level of edge falloff that seemed excessive to me compared to the falloff of my adapted VR 70-200 f2.8E. I took the attached photos from a tripod at a distance of 4'. I measured the distance between the front elements and the target, and there was no more than .5" difference in target to lens difference. The focal plane distance remained unchanged. It is obvious that the falloff of the Z lens is greater than in the E lens, however the Z lens is producing a much wider field of view at the same stated focal length. All literature states the FTZ adapter doesn't affect focal length or field of view, so I am at a loss to explain this. I had observed a similar, although less pronounced issue with my adapted 24-70/2.8 E vs native 24-70/2.8 Z mount which I had previously chalked up to lens variation. To achieve the equivalent level of zoom in lightroom, the Z image needed to be viewed at 110% to achieve the equivalent FOV of the 100% E lens. Thanks!
Nikon Z9
Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S
Nikon VR 70-200 f/2.8E
The EXIF information reports both images as 8256x5504.

 

[Nimi]

Focus breathing difference among the lenses. Difference will disappear as you zoom out, try doing the same teat at 30 feet.

 

[Lance B]

Focus breathing difference among the lenses. Difference will disappear as you zoom out, try doing the same teat at 30 feet.

Exactly. Focal length is measured at infinity focus, not at this close focus distance. As Nimi states, this is to do with focus breathing and all lenses suffer from it to some degree, especially internal focus zooms.

 

[DRwyoming]

I observed a level of edge falloff that seemed excessive to me compared to the falloff of my adapted VR 70-200 f2.8E.

I agree with the focus breathing observations above. In terms of light falloff (vignetting) did you have the lens hood on both lenses? If so I'd guess you're seeing some lens hood vignetting and more of that with the Z lens that has a bit wider field of view at closer distances. If you weren't using lens hoods then perhaps just a bit more vignetting at close distances.

I'd do as suggested above and try this test at a longer working distance.

 

[Keith M]

Thanks for the info!