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According to an interview on French website, Phototrend, Nikon plans to step up the speed when it comes to their Z mount lens roadmap. Nikon also talked about some of the needs and feedback they’ve received from users about the types of lenses they want.
Phototrend says that they had planned to put these questions to Nikon face to face during their visit to Japan in February. Due to COVID-19, however, this could not take place. Now they’ve received answers from Nikon’s marketing department.
One of the biggest issues any time a new camera system is released, is the lack of lenses. It’s what held back Sony’s first couple of generations, and it’s one of the hesitations amongst buyers towards Canon and Nikon’s mirrorless offerings – especially when the native RF and Z mount lenses are so expensive.
Fortunately, both Nikon and Canon have a long history and have released their own lens adapters for the new systems. But how does a Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens compare to the Nikon 85mm f/1.8S? That’s what Dariusz Breś wanted to find out, so he compared the $427 F mount lens to the $797 Z mount lens on the Nikon Z7.
Lens roadmaps never used to really be a thing. A company developed a lens, then they announced it, then you could buy it, and that was it. But consumer demand has changed. People are more fickle and prone to swapping brands if they think the competition will offer something better suited to their needs. So, now they seem to be coming thick and fast.
So, in order to try and convince people that they are going to deliver what people want, Nikon has updated their Z mount lens roadmap. There are 13 previously unannounced lenses in the list. It adds some popular classics, like the 60mm and 105mm macros, and completes the holy trinity with 14-24mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms.
It seems that Nikon has finally realised that they can’t just keep releasing new bodies with small incremental updates every few years. Japanese website Newswitch recently published an interview with Nikon Senior Vice President Nobuyoshi Gokyu, where he stated that they want to “increase the development speed of new products”.
He says that Nikon also wants to “shorten the lead time to put out new products”. That would be good, given that it’s over a year now since the Z6 and Z7 were announced, and we’ve not really seen anything new at all from them, camera-wise, since then other than a development announcement of the Nikon D6.
A new Nikon roadmap for 2020/21 appears to have leaked, according to Nikon Rumors. They have no idea if it’s legitimate, but the lenses are, as they say, plausible. With, perhaps the exception of one, which seems something of an odd decision to me. Overall, though, it’s a very healthy looking list that would round out the lineup quite nicely.
Finally, Nikon seems to be adding some more entry-level glass to its Z lens lineup. Today, they have announced the new Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S lens for its Nikon Z mirrorless cameras. It costs almost twice as much as its F mount counterpart, coming in at close to $800, but it’s a start.
This is the seventh lens to be announced in the Nikon Z system, although we probably shouldn’t be surprised by the price given that the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S costs almost $600 and the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S costs a pretty crazy $850.
Nikkei reports that Nikon is planning to release a new mirrorless model during the 2019 fiscal year. Specifically, a lower midprice model that sits below the Z6 and will have a retail cost of around $900. And Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, a newspaper specialised in Japanese manufacturer, reports that Nikon’s new CEO, Mr Umadate, says that Nikon will also be releasing a Flagship mirrorless camera equivalent to the Nikon D5 DSLR.
Last October, when Leica manager Stephan Schulz was badmouthing Sony’s E Mount, and how it simply couldn’t handle faster lenses due to its small stature, Sony come back not long after they said that they could absolutely do f/1.0 lenses. They just don’t think it’s worth the hassle and that the demand simply isn’t there.
Well, they seem to have taken things a little further now. With Nikon’s claim of theoretical f/0.65 lenses, Sony claims that they could produce f/0.63 lenses. And they have diagrams to prove it!
It looks like Nikon might actually be on track with their Nikon Z mirrorless lens roadmap, judging from these photos posted to Nikon Rumors. Nikon has a cabinet on their stand at CP+ 2019 housing an array of lens prototypes that sit on the roadmap to be released during 2019 and 2020.
So far, most of the lenses announced or expected for the Nikon Z and Canon RF mount systems have been quite pricey. Meike, a company famous for making low budget camera grips for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, sees things a little differently, though. The company has now announced that their 50mm f/1.7 manual focus lens is coming for Nikon Z and Canon RF mount cameras.
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