Nikon Z System News and Commentary
Tamron Introduces Macro Lens for Z Mount
Things just changed. Today Tamron introduced a new lens, and for the first time it's available immediately in the Sony FE and Nikon Z-mounts. Prior to this, we saw Tamron first introduce with the Sony FE mount, and then later offer some of those lenses in the Z-mount. If this simultaneous release stays true for future Tamron introductions, it says something about the current state of the mirrorless mounts. (Canon has not approved any full frame autofocus lenses for the RF mount yet, a policy that's still giving their users grief.)
The new lens is the rebirth of the famous 90mm f/2.8 Macro lens, with a number of redesign bits that make it better than its DSLR predecessor, both optically as well as in usage. In particular Tamron points to the better flat field performance as well as the 12-blade aperture diaphragm for the former, with new buttons, hood design, and focus ring torque for the latter.
The Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro now provides an alternative to the 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor, at a lower cost (US$699) and using Tamron's standardized 67mm filter sizing. This brings to six the number of Tamron lenses available in the Z-mount (nine if you count the Tamrikons), making Tamron easily the first of the traditional third party lens makers to "fully" support the Z-mount.
Nikon Z6 III Firmware Update
Nikon today released firmware version 1.02 for the Nikon Z6 III camera, with two fixes. One deals with a problem where certain CFexpress cards wouldn't record videos, the other fixes a problem where an Ethernet connection (via dongle) would fail.
(Version 1.01 was skipped for most of the world, as it only applied to making Nikon Image Cloud available in mainland China.)
Lens Information Updated
I just spent a fair amount of time trying to verify and add information about third party autofocus lenses for the Z-mount. The Third Party Autofocus Lenses section of the Web site has now been completely refreshed, including links to this site's exclusive advertiser, B&H, should you care to partake.
A few odd things I noted: a number of Chinese lenses are still only regionally available. Some that are available worldwide have differing prices than you'd find in, say, Hong Kong. Even B&H seems a little inconsistent with whether or not they have a vendor's full Z-mount lens line available and their pricing compared to in Asia.
Here's the thing: there are now 53 distinct autofocus lenses available from third-parties for the Nikon Z-mount. Moreover, I identified another dozen+ such lenses that have been teased or shown at recent trade shows, but don't seem to have been officially launched yet.
Thus, we're rapidly approaching—or have passed the mark but it can't yet be verified—having 100 autofocus lenses available for the Z-mount. We'll likely be over 150 by the end of 2025.
All this poses a bit of a problem for me. I currently have nine lens reviews in progress, five of which are third-party lenses. My hopes of having reviews of every autofocus lens for the Z-mount are fading rapidly, as I'm just one person fending off an onslaught from dozens of vendors now. So bear with me. I'm going to put a little bit of priority on catching up with Nikon, where I'm currently six lenses behind.
Common Problems I Keep Having to Answer About
My books on the Nikon Z cameras have a full list of error messages and things that are commonly overlooked, but I thought it useful to put some of these that are generic on the Web site. (The Camera and Lens sections will appear as permanent articles in the relevant sections on this site.)
General
- You discover you forgot something. Make checklists and verify that you've packed everything before taking that trip.
- You gear falls to the floor. (1) You aren't re-zipping your bags after taking something out. (2) You haven't tightened something in your support system (leg locks, Arca-Swiss clamp, etc.). These can be very expensive mistakes.
Camera
- You don't see anything on the Rear LCD, or the automatic viewfinder/LCD change isn't happening. The eye detector mechanism in the eyepiece is dirty or you've accidentally set Viewfinder only with the Monitor Mode button.
- Interval timer shooting or Time-lapse is stuttering. Your interval is probably less than the shutter speed and/or image processing time (e.g. Long exposure NR is On). Note that the long shutter speeds from about 4 seconds to 30 seconds are actually longer than the stated number (30 seconds is close to 32 seconds).
- Camera won't let you set raw. You have pre-release capture or another JPEG-only function such as HDR (overlay) or pre-release capture active.
- Images aren't full frame (on a full frame camera). You have Image area set to DX or are using a pre-release capture setting that forces a crop. Make sure that you set DX crop alert to On (this is not the default!) and pay attention to the upper right corner of the display while photographing.
- Your images aren't numbered sequentially and/or your folder numbers are incrementing. You probably put a card into the camera that has been used by another camera. Nikon is following DCF rules here and picking up the "last image/folder" information from the card. Folder numbers also increment when the file number reaches 9999 or more than 5000 images are in the folder.
- You see DEMO on playback. You don't have a card in the camera. You need to change the Slot empty release lock setting to Release locked. Also, you're not paying attention to the frames remaining counter (-E-) or the no card icon that should appear.
- Camera is taking random photos of nothing. On a Z9 or a body with an MB battery grip, the vertical release lock is not engaged and you're accidentally touching the vertical shutter release. On other Z cameras, you probably have Touch controls enabled and have set Touch shutter/touch AF.
- Your customized settings aren't what you thought they should be. On a Z8 or Z9 the very first thing to look at is what banks you're in. On the Mode dial cameras, move the dial to one of the PASM positions and then back to U1, U2, or U3. Generally, my advice for all Z users is to carry a card around with your settings on it. When you get into an unknown state and you don't know why, and it starts taking too much time to figure out what's going on: (1) SETUP > Reset all settings; followed by (2) SETUP > Save/load menu settings > Load menu settings from that card I told you to carry.
- Your exposure is varying all the time. One of two things: (1) you've enabled bracketing; or (2) you're assigned Aperture or Exposure compensation to the lens control ring and are accidentally touching that ring and resetting your aperture.
Lenses
- You can't set Mechanical shutter. Some lenses don't allow this. Use Auto instead, which will manage the switch between shutter types for you.
- Camera not focusing on near subjects. Do you have the lens set to Full Range or a limited range?
- Camera not focusing. Do you have the switch on the lens set to M (manual focus)?
- Lens doesn't seem to work correctly. You might have accidentally pressed the Lens Release button and slightly twisted the lens. You'll know for sure when the lens falls off the camera ;~).
Nikon Updates the LUTs
Nikon today updated their LUT files for the Z system cameras (Z6, Z6 II, Z6 III, Z7, Z7 II, Z8, Z9, and Zf), incorporating color science from Nikon's RED subsidiary to create cinematic looks that are similar to what the RED cameras provide. Four new LUTs are available: Achromic (monochrome), Film Bias, Film Bias Bleach Bypass, and Film Bias Offset. (Note that this is just four of the 32 Creative LUTs that RED has produced for their cameras.) The Nikon-originated technical Rec.709 LUT is updated and also available.
The new LUTs are available from www.nikonusa.com/content/red-luts.
Nikon's Second f/1.4 Prime is Announced
Nikon introduced the 50mm f/1.4, giving us four different autofocus 50mm Z-mount choices (50mm f/1.2 S, 50mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.8 S, and 50mm f/2.8 MC). Couple that with the near-normal 40mm f/2 and some third party choices, and we have quite a range of lenses available now for the traditional "normal" lens.
The question I see a lot of Z users asking is "why?"
I understand the thought behind the question, as producing so many primes in such a narrow band—now seven lenses between 35mm or 50mm—feels like too much trying to do the same as before (film, DSLR), and not enough exploring new options. Still, I think Nikon has clearly revealed their hand with the prime lenses:
- Z5 and Zf users — being targeted with smaller, lighter, less expensive primes. The fact that these are 24mp sensor cameras targeting more the entry/casual full frame user means that optical clarity at high resolution isn't the design target. Lenses that fit this category are: 28mm f/2.8, 35mm f/1.4, 40mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4, 50mm f/2.8. Low price tends to be one of the design factors in this grouping.
- Z6 and Z7 users — a step upward. Many of these users were among the first to move from DSLR to mirrorless, and wanted more than just a "body switch." The got what they wanted in the primes with the initial f/1.8 S lenses, which have now extended to 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm focal lengths. Some might put the Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 S VR in this category, as well. Price isn't too high, but neither is pricing in this group what you'd call bargains, either.
- Z8 and Z9 users — the top group of camera users have been targeted with exceptionally good, fast primes: the not-yet-released 35mm f/1.2 S, the 50mm f/1.2 S, the 85mm f/1.2 S, and the 135mm f/1.8 S Plena. These lenses command top prices, but deliver phenomenal imagery that is likely to still be seen when these higher resolution cameras get megapixel bumps.
To some degree, the same can be said for zoom lenses (wide angle, mid-range, telephoto), though we have more missing choices there.
Building a full line of lenses for a mount is a long-term project, not one that gets done quickly. Nikon tackled higher capability lenses first, while Sony in the original FE push tackled the lower end. Now the trend is mostly reversed, with the latest Sony FE primes being mostly high end and Nikon now filling in the lower line. Next up in that lower line probably ought to be an 85mm f/1.4, though some might say 24mm or 28mm should be next.
Nikon doesn't have an easy job now. The Chinese lens makes, taken together, have made a huge dent in the autofocus prime lens market with very good optics at reasonable prices. Long term, I don't think that bodes well for too many more lower-cost Nikkor primes coming. My advice to the Nikkor team would be to fill out the missing middle and high end lenses quickly (both prime and zoom) before the Chinese manage to get there.
Nikon management set an attach rate goal—number of lenses sold per body—at 2.0 some time ago. They finished the previous year at 1.56, slightly lower than the industry average. Their current year forecast is 1.59, which doesn't seem to indicate much progress is being made towards the stated goal.
Frankly, I don't see them hitting their target, ever. Eight lenses a year is basically the top end of what Nikon has managed in the digital era (if we ignore one year when the Nikon 1 CX lenses distorted the numbers briefly). So far this year we've had three lens introductions, though I currently expect at least three, and possibly four more. But at that low number of new choices, Nikon would have to hit a couple of incredible home runs at very reasonable pricing to boost lens attachment rate. As the 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR proved, even when you have that home run lens, you might not be able to produce enough to change the attach rate.
