Just a quick update on yesterday's post, where I asked for you to reply with your three top choices of possible lenses that are not on the Z Road Map.
After 24 hours, the results are already illuminating, and Nikon's not going to like the data ;~).
I noted in passing in that article that I thought I saw a pattern, and it's clear I did from the current responses. Four lenses, in particular, are trending well beyond most of the others, with another 10 doing well. That's 14 of the 44 potential lenses I presented. I'll give you one clue about the results so far: despite having three FX cameras and one DX camera, 4 of the 14 lenses that are getting lots of responses are, wait for it...wait for it...yep, DX lenses (buzz, buzz!).
I'm going to make a comment here that is a little self-serving, but needs to be made. Because of my long history of supporting Nikon products on the Web—now over 25 years, and yes that number is correct—and because of my long list of books and detailed articles about Nikon gear, the large number of folk that read my sites regularly and respond to such poll requests are dedicated Nikon enthusiasts. Exactly the one group of people that Nikon needs to keep buying gear as the market contracts down to basically just the enthusiast and pro customers.
I'm seeing more and more signs that Nikon isn't correctly "tuned" to that customer. The long overdue CFExpress firmware upgrades, the missing DX lenses, no followup to the D500, the lack of a truly pro mirrorless camera, the lack of customer interaction, and more. Nikon seems to still be searching for "volume" over "quality" in a market where "quality" will eventually prevail.
I'm excited about the Z system, in case you haven't noticed. Nikon got a lot of things right, and we're about to discover if they've managed to extend that with their first mirrorless camera model updates. But I'll note, once again, that it isn't about selling boxes of cameras. It's about selling "systems." And it's in that last bit where Nikon is still struggling to make things right. Lenses are part of getting the "system right."
I'll have a lot more to say somewhere around the middle of the month ;~).
