One thing I didn't mention in the previous Nikkor Nuggets article is the "congestion" in certain focal lengths. Okay, some would say alternative choices, but this notion is something worth paying attention to.
Of the (now) 96 autofocus lenses available for the Z-mount, here's the telling statistic:
- goes below <24mm in focal length — 7 FX, 3 DX 10 total
- stays within 24-200mm in focal length — 45 FX, 17 DX 62 total
- goes higher than >200mm in focal length — 11 FX, 2 DX 13 total
You're pretty much covered in the mid-range, as you have what's quickly becoming an overwhelming set of choices to achieve some focal lengths (24, 35, 50, 85, 200; see chart below).
While many think we have plenty of telephoto options now, that really boils down to two makers providing >200mm: Nikon and Tamron. It's difficult to imagine Nikon doing a lot more in this realm, though the two pro F-mount zooms (120-300mm f/2.8 and 180-400mm f/4 TC) are conspicuously missing, as are the two F-mount PF lenses (300mm f/4 and 500mm f/5.6). If Nikon and Tamron both round out their telephoto offerings as much as we can expect, we might get to 20 choices above 200mm, which should be more than enough. Should Sigma ever decide to come and play in the FX mount, we could go above 20 choices.
It's the wider-than-24mm end that I think needs attention. Nikon themselves only gets to 14mm, with two zooms. There's a higher burst of activity beginning at the 24mm mark, but below 20mm we're talking about only two third party FX primes and one DX prime. Yes, one could argue that we should throw in the manual focus lenses into the extreme wide angle end judgment, as you often either aren't focusing on moving targets or are relying upon depth of field when you're framed that wide. Still, it seems to me that wide angle is the current Z-mount hole: more useful autofocus lenses that go below 24mm, particularly primes, are needed.
For me, for instance, I want a small very wide angle prime to go with my safari kit when I want to go Galen-esque; the zooms start getting a bit on the big and slow side for that, as my packing is getting tighter and tighter with weight and size limits imposed by airlines and small plane hops to dirt airstrips.
Just for the heck of it, I also made a graphic look at the autofocus lens choices. Basically, if you needed a lens at a number of common focal lengths, how many choices would you have? Well, this:
Granted, the zoom lenses distort the situation a bit, as we have such things now as a 24-200mm, 28-400mm, and even 50-400mm. I'm not sure any of those lenses are the ones you'd pick if you needed 85mm (the second highest peak in the graph). However, the graph does confirm that for FX there's now a reasonable amount of choice in that 24mm to 200mm range, as noted above.
