Last week I casually asked what lenses Nikon Z users were interested in seeing Nikon produce. I knew from experience that I wouldn't get any of those outlandish 10-1000mm f/1.8 type requests, but that the responses would be fairly practical. I ended up with several hundred responses, which I then collated and will summarize below.
What I was really interested in was how many of the F-mount lenses would be requested in Z-mount, and what real gaps existed in Nikon's current Road Map. Nikon could be either (1) getting closer to a full lens lineup; or (2) still a long way from a satisfactory lens lineup.
Let's start with the F-mount lenses you wanted in Z-mount. It's a surprisingly short list:
- full frame fisheye*
- 19mm tilt-shift*
- 24mm tilt-shift
- 105mm f/1.4*
- 200mm f/2*
- 200mm f/4 Micro-Nikkor
- 500mm f/5.6 PF*
- 16-80mm DX
- 70-180mm Micro-Nikkor
- 70-200mm f/4
- 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6*
- 120-300mm f/2.8
I have to say, that list squares up with my gear closet fairly well. The lenses with asterisks are ones that I keep around and use with an FTZ Adapter (though the 70-300mm is likely to go away now that the 100-400mm is here), and the bold-faced lenses are the ones I'd be most interested in seeing Z-mount versions of.
In terms of lenses that are in some way different than the available F-mount variants, we get another reasonably short list (again, what I want most is in bold):
- f/2.4 to f/3.5 compact, high quality prime set
- 10mm
- 12mm f/3.5
- 14mm f/2 or f/4 or DX
- 15mm
- 16mm f/2.8 compact (ala Canon)
- 20mm f/2.8 macro
- 70mm f/1.4 DX
- 135mm f/1.8 or f/2.5
- 150mm f/4 macro (2:1)
- 16-35mm f/2.8
- 18-35mm f/1.8 DX (ala Sigma)
- 20-50mm f/2.8
- 20-100mm
- 24-35mm f/2
- 40-100mm f/2.8
- TC1.7x
What struck me overall was that much of the "lens wish energy" could be simplified to:
- More and longer macro
- More and faster wide angle
- Faster zooms that aren't the usual trio
- A few well-considered F-mount conversions
If I had any advice for Nikon it would be that the first list (F-mount conversions) is probably more important long-term than the second list, particularly since I suspect many of those new lens requests are likely to be identified and filled by third party lens makers. For me, there are probably only 10 or so lenses in the lists that would interest me in Z-mount (and I've identified the five I'd most consider adding to my gear closet), and I suspect many of you would say something similar.
Put another way, Nikon's done a good job of building a decent lineup in three short years without a ton of perceived holes. At the current run rate of about eight new lenses a year, Nikon could probably satisfy most of you in two to three more years. That's not to say that there wouldn't be new ideas or lens demands in the future, only that the majority of the lens demand could have products sitting in those positions by the end of 2025.
