Z7-Z6 Lenses

rmp

I love my Z7 with its 24-70, F4 lens. It is small, light, and has great IQ. I have looked at the "lens road map." I see the 70-200, f2.8 coming next year. But, I'm afraid of the size and weight. And, just how much better that the F-4 can it be. If I were Nikon ruler for a year, I would put out a 70-200 f4 as soon as possible.


What Z7-Z6 lens would you want first? Do you think the 2.8 series will have higher IQ that the f4 series?

mhedges

Definitely the 14-30 for me. I want a small, native mount ultra wide so I don’t have to lug my Sigma ART tank around and mess around with swapping out the adapter which is a bit of a nightmare when doing tripod work.

KnockKnock

Mass market budget primes, f/2.8: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm. <$300 each. Thinking about the AF-D series, updated.

PB_PM

Considering that the nifty fitfty (50mm F1.8S) is more expensive than the 50mm F1.4G, that doesn’t seem very likely. I doubt we’ll be seeing many lenses with a price tag under $1k.

mhedges

They claim there will be another line of lenses that will be cheaper than the "S" line but I'll believe it when I see it.

spraynpray

Z bodies and Z lenses categories added now guys.

donaldejose

Impressive 50 mm f1.8 S line lens.

donaldejose

It looks like the new S lenses will be very good lenses. https://photographylife.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-nikon-z-lenses

WestEndFoto

The new S line looks promising. I laugh at the dimwits that decry the 50 1.8S because it is much more expensive than the 50 1.8G. As if aperture is the only thing that determines quality.

I do think that the Photography Life article did not compare apples to apples when they could have, such as against the 1.8G lenses instead of the 1.4G lenses. I think that was an oversight on their part. This is too bad. The comparison is very favourable. The 1.8S lenses blow away their 1.8G counterparts.


I will invest in the Z mount when a suitable camera is available for the 58 0.95 Noct. To me a suitable camera is something with the ergonomics and size of a D5 or D850 with the grip. I tried the Z7 with some of my manual focus lenses (I have 7 that see regular use) and with the focus peaking, I think that the improved manual focussing is an excellent reason to buy a Z.

WestEndFoto

Nikon just posted the new 14-30. Here is an MTF chart comparison:

https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/z-mount/z_14-30mmf4s/spec.htm

https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/f-mount/zoom/widezoom/af-s_zoom14-24mmf_28g/index.htm

While somewhat misleading because it compares 2.8 to 4.0, it is still pretty impressive. Sharp corner to corner in a way that the 14 - 24 2.8, ground breaking in this regard when it was released, does not even succeed at.

mhedges

Looks good. A bit more $$ than I was hoping but still reasonable overall.

I’m curious about field curvature. It’s pretty noticeable on my Sigma ART 14-24 at wider apertures. Are all ultrawides like that? Any hope for this lens to be better?

WestEndFoto

mhedges said:

Looks good. A bit more $$ than I was hoping but still reasonable overall.

I’m curious about field curvature. It’s pretty noticeable on my Sigma ART 14-24 at wider apertures. Are all ultrawides like that? Any hope for this lens to be better?

THAT will be interesting to see. My 14-24 2.8G has field curvature and it is a bit of a trick to deal with. Fortunately, I rarely shoot an ultrawide wide open.

Symphotic

WestEndFoto said:

THAT will be interesting to see. My 14-24 2.8G has field curvature and it is a bit of a trick to deal with. Fortunately, I rarely shoot an ultrawide wide open.

The 14-24, and subsequently the 8-15 fisheye, have convinced me that the most fun I have is ultrawide. I am very happy to see the 14-30 is coming. I was on a trip to Japan last week and went to visit Sakurajima. With the 24-70 I just couldn't get wide enough to take in the volcano and surrounding sea. I was backpacking, so I left the 14-24 at home.

My next trip was to be to Ikushima, scheduled for April, but I had to cancel, so now I'm planning a trip to Shiretoko in July. I should have the 14-30 by then!

In the mean time, the 35 1.8 and the 105 macro, along with a few other of my F lenses with FTZ, work well for on the job. I just finished a training manual for by a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and all the new photos were done with the Z7 and F lenses.

BTW, When are you coming to LA? I owe you some Ramen!

mhedges

Looks like some folks already have the 14-30. Maybe it will be out sooner than we thought.

retread

The Z lenses have the largest mount opening and shortest distance from lens to sensor. How would it work for 3rd party lens makers to make a lens to fit the Z mount and then just put a different mount on it for other camera brands? A little smaller and a little longer to match other brands.

mhedges

Yes optically they should be able to use the same formula for all the mirrorless cameras, I think. The difficulty is in the electronics and software. Really depends on how locked down Canon and Nikon made their mounts. Realistically I think they could have made it near impossible for unlicensed third party lenses. Whether they chose to do that - who knows.

Thinking about it a little more - there does seem to be an exploit possible since third party lenses work (for the most part) on the FTZ or R adapters. So maybe they make lenses that fool the camera body into thinking it is an adapted lens. You woudn't get all the benefit of native glass but it should work.

retread

If the 3rd parties can "hack" their way into the F mount and others given time I think the will get into the Z mount and others.

Symphotic

retread said:

If the 3rd parties can "hack" their way into the F mount and others given time I think the will get into the Z mount and others.

Since we are already seeing third party FTZ type adapters, and the Z lens comms are the same as with the F lenses, it should be pretty quick work for third party lenses to be coming soon. The only thing stopping them is market size, as it does take capital investment to tool up. Right now the only maker who has the market size to justify the production of pure Z lenses is Nikon. But as they sell more bodies, it will be hard to keep others away.

Having said that, making lenses that take full advantage of the Z mount--not just adaptations of current mirrorless lenses-- is not likely to happen for some time. Nikon did themselves a favor by making a technically superior mount.

I just came back from the Nikon museum in Tokyo. Very cool. I got a Nikon Museum strap for my Z7 while I was there.

mhedges

Aren't all the current third party adapters “dumb”? Meaning no electrical contacts? I haven’t seen any with functionality.

WestEndFoto

Symphotic said:

WestEndFoto said:

THAT will be interesting to see. My 14-24 2.8G has field curvature and it is a bit of a trick to deal with. Fortunately, I rarely shoot an ultrawide wide open.

The 14-24, and subsequently the 8-15 fisheye, have convinced me that the most fun I have is ultrawide. I am very happy to see the 14-30 is coming. I was on a trip to Japan last week and went to visit Sakurajima. With the 24-70 I just couldn't get wide enough to take in the volcano and surrounding sea. I was backpacking, so I left the 14-24 at home.

My next trip was to be to Ikushima, scheduled for April, but I had to cancel, so now I'm planning a trip to Shiretoko in July. I should have the 14-30 by then!

In the mean time, the 35 1.8 and the 105 macro, along with a few other of my F lenses with FTZ, work well for on the job. I just finished a training manual for by a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and all the new photos were done with the Z7 and F lenses.

BTW, When are you coming to LA? I owe you some Ramen!

Sakurajima is lovely, but in all the times that I have been to Japan, Ikushima and Shiretoko are two places that I have never been, though I have been to Nagano a few times. Shiretoko should be very nice in July and your 14-30 would be perfect. It will probably be far superior to the 14-24 2.8 - sharper across the frame. And in all the images that I have taken with my 14-24 2.8, any I can find that I shot in 2.8 I would have likely only done that if I did not have a tripod. And so many of them would have been better with a filter.


I have no immediate plans to get to southern California, but I will be sure to try out some ramen when I do.

snakebunk

I would like to see a long z lens on the roadmap. Maybe a 600/5.6.

Symphotic

mhedges said:

Aren't all the current third party adapters “dumb”? Meaning no electrical contacts? I haven’t seen any with functionality.

For now, I think you are correct, but as my Sigma Lenses work fine on my Z7 with the FTZ, there seems to be no magic about the electrical contacts. The parts are in place, and I think there are prototypes on a workbench in China somewhere due to the irresistible appeal of making a knock-off FTZ adapter for 1/5 the price that Nikon is asking.
The four components of a working FTZ adapter are the housing, the two mounts, the locks, and the electrical contacts. They don't have other mechanical parts such as a drive screw.
Maybe by Summer?

mhedges

Symphotic said:

mhedges said:

Aren't all the current third party adapters “dumb”? Meaning no electrical contacts? I haven’t seen any with functionality.

For now, I think you are correct, but as my Sigma Lenses work fine on my Z7 with the FTZ, there seems to be no magic about the electrical contacts. The parts are in place, and I think there are prototypes on a workbench in China somewhere due to the irresistible appeal of making a knock-off FTZ adapter for 1/5 the price that Nikon is asking.
The four components of a working FTZ adapter are the housing, the two mounts, the locks, and the electrical contacts. They don't have other mechanical parts such as a drive screw.
Maybe by Summer?

They do have some mechanical parts - the activator for the aperture lever. Otherwise you would only get aperture control on the "E" type lenses.

Sure the sigma F mount lenses work but I'm not sure how much of a lesson you can draw from that. Nikon has such a rogues gallery of implementations on their F mount AF lenses that I think it would have been very hard to lock it down more without losing compatibility with their own product. But for Z mount since they are starting from scratch they could have put in much tighter security.

Symphotic

Good point. One more lever and activator.

moreorless

KnockKnock said:

Mass market budget primes, f/2.8: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm. <$300 each. Thinking about the AF-D series, updated.</p>

I'd guess your more likely to see that when Nikon are selling some kind of budget body as well, either a new release of when the Z6 is superceeded, also perhaps when 3rd party options come on the market and force them to compete?

In the end I went with a D850 upgrade from my D800 as it was just too much of a money saver relative to a Z7 but the 14-30mm definitely has me jealous.

donaldejose

Thom Hogan comment: "However, both Canon and Nikon have produced new mirrorless primes that outperform the equivalent DSLR prime (reviews of the Nikon 35mm and 50mm f/1.8 coming shortly)."