One of my complaints about Nikon’s F-mount DX system started with the release of the full frame cameras starting in 2007. Up to that point, Nikon was only making DX DSLRs, and the lens selection tended to reflect that. Post D3, DX lens development slowed, then crawled, then stopped.
I’ve long used the term "buzz, buzz" as a shorthand to remind Nikon of their lack of effort, like a fly circling constantly to annoy them. Here in the Z-mount world, I’m starting to wonder if the buzz, buzz should be applied to cameras ;~).
But I’ve diverted from my original intention: what autofocus DX-specific lenses are currently available for the Z-mount? As it turns out, we now have 14 DX autofocus lenses to select from (manual focus has a motherlode of them). Here’s the list:
- Nikon — 12-28mm, 16-50mm, 18-140mm, 24mm, and 50-250mm (5)
- Sigma — 16mm, 30mm, and 56mm (3)
- TTArtisans — 27mm (1)
- Viltrox — 13mm, 23mm, 33mm, 56mm, 75mm (5)
Yes, I’d like some additional wide angle prime choices, some additional smaller primes, but the big missing category of DX lenses at the moment is faster, better wide angle and mid-range zooms. Which brings me back to my tongue-in-cheek remark earlier: should buzz, buzz be applied to DX cameras now?
Given the small size and reduced feature sets of the current DX camera triplets, we don’t yet really need fast aperture zooms. From Nikon, the most needed missing DX lens would be something like a pancake-to-muffin size 14mm f/2.8. Next on the list would be some way to get to 10mm.
Remember, we also have FX 26mm, 28mm, 40mm, and 50mm (macro) lenses that are DX size appropriate that can be added to the above list. Thus, it’s pretty easy to put together a traditional three-prime set (e.g. Nikon 24mm f/1.7, Viltrox 33mm f/1.4, and Sigma 56mm f/2.8 is very close to 35/50/85).
It’s interesting that we’re not seeing Tamron or Tokina add their wide zoom to the lenses available. Could it be that we’ll see a Tamrikon 11-20mm f/2.8 and 17-70mm f/2.8 when Nikon finally gets around to a Z60/70/80/90 offering?
In the absence of evidence, you have to start reading into why there’s an absence of evidence. Simply put, I believe that we don’t currently have fast zooms for DX yet because we don’t have the camera that would take full advantage of them.
Until we get that camera, I’m comfortable with the available DX lenses for the available DX cameras, and you should be, too.
