Nikkor Z 40mm f/2

[David H. Hartman]

There doesn’t seem to be an official hood, but maybe one will surface soon.

If the filter size if 52mm I'd put a Nikon HN-3 hood on it and if a cap is desired a Tupperware #G tumbler cap works. That cap was once recommended by the Nikon school for many Nikon lens hoods of the '70s and '80s. 

Dave

Oops! Roland beat me for this advice.

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I like the screw in HN-3 hood. The HS-XX hoods with the single plastic slider work quite well. Back in the day he hoods with two chrome buttons always popped off and the hood would roll down the sidewalk when an attractive woman was near by. These days the don't bother.

Dave

[Hans_S]

There doesn’t seem to be an official hood, but maybe one will surface soon.

Keep an eye on the JJC website, I'm sure they will produce one sooner than later. I have the JJC  ones for the 16-50  and the 50-250, both are very good and a fraction of the cost of the OEM ones.

[Snoogly]

On the subject of Z hoods, is there a really good reason why the hood for the 50mm 1.8 S is petal shaped?

 I hate the reversible plastic hoods with a passion, and try to replace them with a screw-in metal one when I can. Plenty of alternative round hoods available for the 50mm lens, but will there be any disadvantage to not being petal?

[David H. Hartman]

...but will there be any disadvantage to not being petal?

The petal hoods keep more stray light out of the lens. They will keep light from entering the lens that will not be a part of the image. Off the top of my head the shorter the lens the more important the petal design becomes. Also the more prone to internal flare the lens is the more important the petal design is. Am I right here or am I talking trash?

I'm going to boldly say, "Screw the petal hood on a 50mm lens!" 

Dave

[David H. Hartman]

I hate the reversible plastic hoods with a passion...

If it helps maybe don't reverse the reversible hoods. I don't reverse the hoods on my AF-S G Nikkors. 

Dave

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I like the plastic bayonet hoods and use them as added protection when the lens is in the bag. Sometimes the velcro-attached compartment walls fail and it's good to have extra bounce surface. So yes, I reverse the hoods systematically and with a purpose in mind. I dislike screw-on hoods as I always feel one of these days I will break the threads. I only have two such hoods, for lenses that are pretty ancient. ;-)

[Wally]

Seems the new lens started shipping! I was notified last night (B&H) to receive my sample tomorrow.
Will be interesting to compare to the Z 50mm and 35mm lenses.
Well, it's not "my" lens it's for my son's Z50 

[Wally]

The usual unpacking

[Jan Anne]

Received my copy yesterday and did some quick tests and sharpness wise it seems to behave like my trusted 50/1.2 Ai-S with comparable softness at f2 and sharpness at f4 and above.

Boke seems ultra smooth wideopen which is my main interest but need some more testing for the final verdict. If the character of the lens suits my needs the lack of blistering sharpness wide open isn’t a showstopper similar to my beloved manual focus 50 and 85 f/1.2 lenses.

Here’s a size comparison with the adapted 50/1.2 and Voigtlander 15/4.5FE on the Z6 with RRS plate. The 15 and 40mm combo makes for a very compact travel or hiking combo.

[Erik Lund]

Looks like a very compact solution.Very tempting to try it out

Did anyone test out the [IR] infrared capability?

[Jan Anne]

So far I am liking the little forty a lot as it definitely has tons of character with awesome boke and decent sharpness wideopen.

The only caveat is that I’ve traded in the optically perfect but boring Sony Zeiss 35/1.4 and already have character lenses like the 50/1.2 Ai-S and Canon 85/1.2 FD, so one side I am stoked to have a character lens in such a small package with native auto focus but I also mis an optical perfect lens below the CV125 for the times I need that distortion free clean look for a more balanced spread in types of image rendering. But maybe I am just finding excuses to buy one of the S primes haha.

The lens can hold its own for sure but would also be nice pocketable creative sidekick to the clean zoom lenses or S primes.

Here’s some quick snapshots from the garden with only minor tweaks in Affinity on the iPad, all images are at f/2 and uncropped except for the fly crop which is done at 100% to satisfy the pixel peepers

[Erik Lund]

Sharpness and Bokeh is obviously there! Very nice

[Øivind Tøien]

Since the 40/2 has a 52mm filter thread, the HN-3 metal screw-in hood for AIS 35/2 should do. Due to the slightly longer focal length and relatively small front element of the 40mm lens, the hoods for AIS 50/1.8 and 50/1.4 will probably work also, but these are mostly snap-on or rubber hoods which I don't like so much.

When my just acquired 40mm f/2 arrived I immediately found that the screw-in Nikon HR-1 hood I have used on my 75-150mm E was a good fit. I do not know if it is because of age, but the rubber is so stiff that I think it will provide quite good mechanical protection (with the disadvantage that collapsing and extending it is less easy. The diameter matches the lens nicely when collapsed, but of course then providing less protection. Edit: replaced with better image). I do not see any extra vignetting even at f/2.5.

[Birna Rørslett]

I'm using the HN-3 hood, in fact a very old version with a lot of nicely engraved lettering on it. So far, it has  protected well  the 40/2 during the inevitable falls to the ground, but it does have acquired some dents and nicks over time. The 40 lens itself seemingly has survived some very bad impacts including being dropped on frozen ground or pavements.

I'm very pleased with the 40/2 for IR, so am  about to buy  a second copy to allow other camera to share the pleasant qualities of the 40.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks, looks like it takes up less space than the un-collapsed HR-1. Seems like there are some offerings on ebay. The 40mm IR performance has been noted!