Popular for portraiture, the NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S from Nikon is a short-telephoto prime characterised by its flattering focal length and bright f/1.8 design. The maximum aperture strikes a balance between size, weight, and speed, offering suitable speed for working in difficult lighting yet remaining sleek enough for handheld use. In terms of optics, two extra-low dispersion elements are featured, and help to reduce colour fringing and chromatic aberrations in order to achieve high clarity and colour fidelity. Also, both Nano Crystal and Super Integrated Coatings are used to suppress flare and ghosting for greater colour fidelity and higher contrast.

Complementing the optical design, a multi-focus system, which employs two stepping motors, helps to realise impressively fast, accurate, and quiet focus performance, along with full-time manual focus override, to suit both stills and video needs. Additionally, a programmable control ring can be set for intuitive adjustment over a variety of camera and exposure settings.