The 300mm f/2.8 zoom has always been one of the oddest and most valuable lenses in sports photography. Few people buy one, but the photographers who do tend to plan their whole kit around it. Nikon’s new NIKKOR Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S adds a 1.4× teleconverter built into the barrel. Nikon says no other interchangeable zoom has paired that with a constant f/2.8 aperture, based on its own research.
In practice, flipping the converter in stretches the lens from 300mm to 420mm in one movement, with no need to take the lens off the body. That matters most on a touchline or at the edge of a rink, where swapping glass or adding an external converter means missing play. There’s a cost: with the converter engaged, the maximum aperture drops to f/4. That’s a normal penalty for a 1.4× converter, but it will be noticeable in dim arenas.
Nikon has used this idea before. Its AF-S 180-400mm f/4E for DSLRs and the Z-mount 400mm f/2.8 and 600mm f/4 TC primes all have converters built in. Bringing it to a faster, shorter zoom puts the feature in reach of photographers who work at closer range, like those shooting courtside tennis, indoor skating or football from behind the goal. Canon’s RF 100-300mm f/2.8, its nearest mirrorless rival, has no built-in converter.
The weight figure is a big part of the story. The new lens weighs about 2,735 g, roughly 515 g less than the AF-S 120-300mm f/2.8E it replaces, even with the converter inside. Zooming and focusing are both internal, so the lens stays the same length and balance doesn’t shift on a monopod. That matters to anyone carrying it through a full match day.
Autofocus is handled by Nikon’s Silky Swift VCM motor, which the company says is built to track athletes, vehicles and birds in flight. Nikon claims up to 6.5 stops of stabilisation, but only on bodies that support Synchro VR, and only with the converter switched off. That claim comes from the company’s own tests on the Z6III. Nikon also says its Meso Amorphous Coat has the strongest anti-reflection performance of any Nikon lens, alongside ARNEO coating for flare under floodlights.
For handling, the tripod collar works with Arca-Swiss screw-type clamps but not lever-type ones. The lens accepts both front screw-on filters and rear drop-in filters, and the magnesium-alloy body is sealed against dust and drips. Nikon notes that this sealing isn’t guaranteed in every condition.
Nikon hasn’t said what the lens will cost in the region. That is the obvious open question: a lens that does the job of two will almost certainly be priced like two.
