Does Nikon India really calibrate the lenses?

[nirmalya]

Hi friends

I am planning to purchase the Nikon Z 14-30mm F4 lens for landscape & monuments photography.
But this lens has severe copy variations. Some copies are much better than the others, especially at the corners. So, it's a must to test the lens before purchasing. But most of the photography stores don't allow it. As if I need to purchase whatever the box is opened. Though I am pushing hard, but not sure what will happen in the store.

So, suppose my copy is not that sharp, can I send to Nikon and they will calibrate it perfectly? Or they will actually do nothing and send it back in the same condition?

Do you have any such experience in the past? For any lens?

Thanks
Nirmalya

[Bharat Varma]

Hi friends

I am planning to purchase the Nikon Z 14-30mm F4 lens for landscape & monuments photography.
But this lens has severe copy variations. Some copies are much better than the others, especially at the corners. So, it's a must to test the lens before purchasing. But most of the photography stores don't allow it. As if I need to purchase whatever the box is opened. Though I am pushing hard, but not sure what will happen in the store.

So, suppose my copy is not that sharp, can I send to Nikon and they will calibrate it perfectly? Or they will actually do nothing and send it back in the same condition?

Do you have any such experience in the past? For any lens?

Thanks
Nirmalya

Unless there is a very significant deterioration in the IQ of the lens (and one that you can demonstrate, say by comparing the output with another copy of the same lens), Nikon is unlikely to do much with it. Seen someone having to send a 500 PF repeatedly for service before it was set right.

Are you sure there's a lot of variation between copies of a z mount lens? I thought all the new Z mount lenses were expensive and higher quality as compared to the F lenses.

[nirmalya]

Thanks a lot Bharat for the detailed information. Unfortunately I was away from internet for sometimes and hence couldn't reply. I understand that arguing with the Nikon service center and convincing them that the lens is indeed faulty is the most difficult part. I have taken many pictures with the lens and I need to now analyse them properly. This 14-30mm F4 lens is good from 16mm 6.3 onwards. 14mm F4 is weak. One or the other corner is unsharp, at least that's the review from many users. But 99% of the time people will shoot at F8-F11 and lack of sharpness at F4 doesn't matter much. Also giving a brand new lens to the service centre is risky. So, only after thorough pixel peeping I need to decide what to do.
Thanks again.