Nikon’s insane Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens is officially available, costs $8,000

Nikon’s Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens has been rumored, announced and demonstrated over the past year and a half, and now it’s finally here. The insanely fast lens from Nikon is now officially out for preorders, the rumors were true: it does cost nearly $8,000. It’s designed for Nikon’s Z-series of cameras, and let’s dive in and see what you get for those 8,000 bucks.

The Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct is designed for full-frame Nikon Z-mount mirrorless cameras (Z 6 and Z 7). But of course, you can also use it on a crop body such as the newly announced Z50, where it provides an 87mm equivalent focal length.

The exceedingly fast f/0.95 maximum aperture gives you a really shallow depth of field, for all of you who love bokeh. As you can imagine, it’s also suitable for very low-light conditions. It has an 11-blade diaphragm, to make sure that the bokeh is also pleasantly soft and smooth. You can see some sample images on Nikon’s website and see how it performs.

The lens contains 17 elements in 10 groups, so it’s rather heavy, weighing 4.4 lb (2 kg). It features four extra-low dispersion elements to reduce color fringing and chromatic aberrations, and three aspherical elements to reduce spherical aberrations and distortion.

Nikon used ARNEO and Nano Crystal Coats to prevent ghosting, reflections, and flare with the light coming from different directions.in order to realize improved contrast and clarity when working in strong lighting and backlit conditions. There’s also a Super Integrated Coating for consistently accurate colors. And finally, fluorine coating to repel dust, dirt, and moisture.

The Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct is a manual focus lens, with the closest focusing distance of 1.6′ (50 cm). It features an OLED information panel on the top, which displays focus distance, depth of field, and aperture setting information. The programmable control ring is by default set to adjust aperture settings, but you can also use it to control exposure compensation settings.

Take a look at the specs:

As I mentioned, the Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct is available for preorders and it will set you back slightly under $8,000 ($7,996.95 to be exact). It’s expected to start shipping on 27 November 2019.