Hi all, as I try to justify saving up for a new lens — maybe the 85/1.8 S — I thought it’d be fun to consider a few questions about Nikon’s lens range. I’m sure some are old hat. In no particular order:
1) Apparently an 85/1.4 might be on the way. I can see the appeal of a cheaper, less-corrected lens for portraiture, but having lived the Fuji 56/1.2 life (and it is a nice lens for sure, and a focal length I like very much), I’m ready for some optical correction. Or might Fuji surprise us and position it between the F1.8 and F1.2 lenses in price?
2) Nikon has neglected the 28mm focal length a little: there are 1.8S primes at 20, 24, and 35 mm, not to mention the F1.4 and F1.2 options at 35 mm, and the 28 mm focal length is served by the cheaper 28/2.8 lens. Surely there is an appetite for at least a 28/1.8 S lens.
3) Nikon’s 58/1.4 for F mount was a cult favourite for portraiture. The Z mount prime in that focal length is a halo lens and very expensive. What are the chances of an 56/1.4 coming out?
4) On the topic of the Noct, Nikon has some nice manual focus aids in its cameras and Cosina Voigtländer makes a business creating and selling manual lenses for Z mount (and others). Will Nikon be tempted to create a range of manual focus lenses? They certainly don’t seem afraid of producing many autofocus primes of the same focal length already, so what’s one more? (And could there be any integrations with possible film-focused bodies being released in the future?)
5) Nikon’s latest 70-200/2.8 was a triumph of weight-saving. Will Nikon replace other lenses in its range with smaller, lighter versions?
6) If Nikon were to release another statement lens with no equivalent in other camera systems to generate excitement about the Z mount, what could it be? A 35 mm Noct, perhaps?
You'd have to ask Nikon those questions; without inside information, all we can do is speculate and guess at the probabilities.
1) A Z 85/1.4 non-S version, as a complement to the Z 35/1.4 and Z 50/1.4, seems likely.
It’s one of the few lenses that has been the subject of rumors for quite some time.
2) Sooner or later, they’ll certainly offer a faster 28mm S-line lens, though I’d expect that to happen over a longer timeframe.
I’m also not sure if it would be a Z 28/1.8 S.
If that were the intention, they could have introduced it alongside the other f/1.8 S lenses.
So it’s possible they’re saving this slot for something special.
28mm is a wonderful focal length for environmental portraits; maybe Nikon will release something like a successor to the 28/1.4.
But that’s just speculation.
3) I think that's pretty unlikely right now; I think the standard focal length range is well covered—the Z 50/1.2 S basically fills that niche.
That said, there's also the Noct in 58mm.
4) A range? No, I just can't imagine that, no matter how hard I try.
Maybe at some point there could be another feasibility study—like the Z Noct with manual focus in a different focal length—but definitely not a series of manual-focus lenses.
There is a wide selection of very high-quality, licensed manual-focus lenses available here from Cosina, including the Z-mount Voigtlander lenses and the Z-mount Zeiss ML Otus series.
In addition, there are plenty of unlicensed, non-CPU third-party manual-focus lenses for the Z-mount.
5) That's safe to assume, but it's not something that happens overnight.
6) I have no idea.
That said, I don’t currently see the need for a lens as exotic and limited in production volume as the Z-Noct.
I think Nikon would be wise to focus on other areas, especially since they apparently want to be active in the cine lens market as well.
I think most likely next lenses are:
100-400mm II
85mm f1.4
14-24mm II (though not sure how to improve it really..)
I‘d love a reimagination of the 58mm f1.4 in Z-mount - optimized for portraits over ultimate sharpness (which btw the 50mm f1.2 and 35mm f1.2 are too, even though they’re plenty sharp). Maybe make it a named prime like the Plena - not Noct though, that would require a completely different set of corrections. And make it quite compact, similar to the new SL Summilux 50mm f1.4.
Extremely unlikely but a „classic“ line that builds on some of their legacy lenses like the 105mm f2.5 would be amazing, too. I think would make the most sense with autofocus though, to widen the target audience. And it’s still so niche, I don’t think they’ll ever do it..
Nikon is so slow in creating new lenses and still so far from their F-mount offerings.
1 - A small, light Z 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VR would be most welcome, but I suspect their lens designers will insist that f/6.3 or 6/7 is goof enough. They seem to only think about AF capability, and don't car a wit about DoF. I realize there is the Tamron Z 70-300, but is is an unambitious lens with no image stabilization, and I think relying in IBIS at 300mm is not a good idea,
2 - A Z mount fisheye is long overdue.
3 - A Z mount 180 or 200mm f/2 or 2.8 1:1 macro.
4 - If they are planning a "Pro" grade Z DX camera, they will need a fleet of new DC lenses to support it. The current Z DX Nikkors are mostly slow, almost toy lenses.
I expect none of this to actually happen. These aren't the kind of high-end lenses, which Nikon seems to be betting their future on.
