Tokina introduced an 8mm f/2.8 fisheye lens for the Fujifilm XF and Sony E mounts. Conspicuously missing, considering that Tokina was partially enabled by former Nikon optics engineers, is a Z-mount version. It's not as if the Z-mount communications are all that hard to decipher for the basic EXIF information, as they're based on the F-mount communications (autofocus is much more complex).
------------
According to interviews with Nikon lens designers, the gold ring "will be used for professional super-telephoto lenses." In addition, it appears that Nikon sees the high response to the 400mm f/2.8 with the built-in teleconverter (TC) as being driven at least partially by the TC, and is now considering which lenses to use that same embedded TC approach on in the future.
In the same interview, Nikon was asked about how to switch VR on and off quickly when lenses don't have VR switches any more, and I have to say their answer was so condescendingly paternal that they need a customer lashing (the answer was: use banks/menus, use MyMenu, use i button). I and others are constantly trying to dial in settings in response to what is happening in front of the camera. Nikon went from being one of the best camera platforms for that to second best, and removing buttons and burying functions (and continuing to rely on the broken "banks" method) simply isn't responsive to our needs. Not even close. To tell us that we should be satisfied with what they provided us is the condescending part. I'd guess that many of the people making these poor UI/UX decisions have never had to use their product in the heat of photographic battle.
------------
Nikon quietly changed their release notes for quite a few firmware updates (e.g. Zfc 1.20, Z6 II 1.30, Z7 II 1.31, Z9 1.11). In the first few cases, it was lens support that was suddenly revealed, so Nikon basically didn't want to document a lens in a firmware update before it was released. I can understand that. However, in at least the Z9 firmware, though, additional changes were noted that weren't in the original notice. That seems more suspect, and indicative of a process that isn't functioning properly.
Nikon has long had "silent" updates, both in hardware and firmware. These are things that get changed or fixed but never disclosed. That's a more common practice than most people realize, and one I don't agree with. More communication with customers is better than less communication with customers. I think the fear is that customers might see the company being sloppy or inept if everything they had to change or fix got disclosed. I see it the other way: a company that documents everything clearly is showing that they have good processes to detect and eradicate errors, and to improve even their existing products. There's simply no way in today's complex world that you ship a product without it having some issues. Often you ship with some features not yet implemented (8K raw video support on the Z9, for instance). The question is whether or not they do anything about that. I want to see that the company is doing that, and the only way I can is via clear, constant, and accurate communication.
——————
Update: I see a lot of sites and folk commenting about Nikon’s relationship with Cosina having produced new Z-mount lenses. Some have gone so far to suggest that Nikon is working directly with Cosina under some exclusive deal, maybe even designing the lenses to be produced by Cosina.
Let’s put that fire out, shall we? The same new Cosina lenses appear in other mounts. All of them. In particular, the 35mm f/1.2 and upcoming 23mm f/1.2 Z-mount lenses also appear in…wait for it…competitor Fujifilm’s XF mount. It seems highly unlikely that Nikon would enter an exclusive deal with Cosina and then let them produce the same lens in slightly different external cladding for the clear rival to the Zfc: Fujifilm’s X cameras. Possible, I suppose, but that’s not been Nikon’s modus operandi in the past.
I’m surprised the “other disinformation” campaign hasn’t gotten going: that Nikon is welcoming and marketing the APS-C lens additions because Nikon isn’t committed to Z DX. Let me see if I can paraphrase what one person tried to sell me: “Nikon isn’t going to produce any additional DX bodies, but they want to sell off the bodies they’re committed to produce. Thus they’re looking for and working with lens partners to do the lens proliferation necessary to sell bodies, only to eventually pull the rug out from them. This is the reason why Nikon hasn’t done anything about Viltrox.”
Again, no. Don’t believe it. For sure, DX isn’t a sure thing, as we discovered with DSLRs and as Canon M users have discovered. Both Canon and Nikon really want to sell you a full frame body, and this has been true now for Nikon for over a decade. That doesn’t mean, however, that either company will let competitors pick up scraps all around them.
