4 ms·

Most of these are pretty meaningless in my view, but the AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II is legendary and will be missed. They have not yet announced a mirrorle

by D13Fd 5y ago

Most of these are pretty meaningless in my view, but the AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II is legendary and will be missed. They have not yet announced a mirrorless version to my knowledge, which makes sense because it has to be a pretty low-sales-volume lens. Mirrorless is clearly the way of future, though, and hopefully they will eventually release a mirrorless-native version (with, I'm sure, even more incredible performance).

giuliomagnifico 5y ago
> Most of these are pretty meaningless 16-35mm f/4G and 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G are pretty common among amateur photographers and standard kits. Not a great lenses but very usefuel to a lot of people. Nikon is having a lot of financial trouble for that I think it halted the production of those lenses, and it's correctly moving to the mirrorless systems, like every other brand.
- D13Fd 5y ago
  Sure, but those lenses don't offer particularly exciting performance, and there are lots and lots of options in those ranges. I don't think there are a lot of professional or serious amateur photographers who are going to miss them, and newcomers likely won't even know they existed.
- rhines 5y ago
  16-35 is pretty common for pros too. It's a very versatile lens - has VR so it's good for run and gun shooting at events, takes screw on filters so it's good for when you need to get fancy but don't want to lug around a huge filter kit, and has a zoom range that pairs well with lots of other lenses if you have a two camera set-up. It's definitely not the sharpest lens out there, but it's more than sufficient for all but the most demanding gigs - honestly it's probably amateurs that more often demand better, because they shoot to their own high standards rather than just meeting the needs of clients. So I'm very surprised that Nikon's discontinuing it - the 14-24 meets a completely different need, and the 18-35 isn't nearly as versatile despite being sharper, due to the lack of VR and the missing 2mm. I suppose on the mirrorless side the 14-30 f4 isn't a bad replacement, but for DSLR users it's a significant gap.
perardi 5y ago
Yeah, nobody is going to miss those DX lenses. That’s not a surprise at all. But I am a bit surprised they discontinued that 200mm, as they don’t have native Z mount super-telephoto lenses yet. Maybe there was a weird supply chain issue, and they basically had to cancel it now ahead of new Z big-gun lenses. (I’ll be curious to see if these big wide-aperture telephoto lenses get appreciably better with the new mount. The lack of a mirror really, really improves shorter focal lengths, as you don’t have to deal with complex retrofocal designs as much, but these bazookas don’t have that design limitation as the exit pupil is way out in front.)
- mnw21cam 5y ago
  I have the DX 18-140mm VR lens (that was the high-end kit lens option). It's surprisingly good, and it's clearly going to be smaller and lighter than could be achieved with a full-frame equivalent. You could argue that noone will miss this lens, because they should have got it with their camera. Long lenses, I can use any FX lens, without any problems. The only thing that I would really miss if DX lenses disappear is a super-wide lens, because no FX lens is going to be super-wide on my DX camera body.
  - perardi 5y ago
    I was oversimplifying a bit. I should say “most will not miss these DX lenses as Nikon moves to Z-mount APS-C cameras, which have the potential for both better optical quality and smaller size.” To whit: https://www.zsystemuser.com/z-mount-lenses/nikkor-lenses/nikon-z-mount-lens-reviews/nikon-16-50mm-f35-63-lens.html https://www.zsystemuser.com/z-mount-lenses/nikkor-lenses/nik... — it’s the cheap pack-in kit lens, but the optics are off the charts relative to its size and price.
- vr46 5y ago
  I imagine there is enough inventory in the channel to fulfil orders for the next N months. Also am curious to whether there's an improvement in telephotos with mirrorless. The big selling point for rangefinders over the years has been the image quality bonus with compact lenses.
choppaface 5y ago
Is there a favored alternative to the 200 f/2? (Any manufacturer). Was just thinking of buying one.
- formerly_proven 5y ago
  Just buy one? They is still a bunch of stock at distributors.

by D13Fd 5y ago

giuliomagnifico 5y ago

> Most of these are pretty meaningless 16-35mm f/4G and 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G are pretty common among amateur photographers and standard kits. Not a great lenses but very usefuel to a lot of people. Nikon is having a lot of financial trouble for that I think it halted the production of those lenses, and it's correctly moving to the mirrorless systems, like every other brand.

D13Fd 5y ago
Sure, but those lenses don't offer particularly exciting performance, and there are lots and lots of options in those ranges. I don't think there are a lot of professional or serious amateur photographers who are going to miss them, and newcomers likely won't even know they existed.
rhines 5y ago
16-35 is pretty common for pros too. It's a very versatile lens - has VR so it's good for run and gun shooting at events, takes screw on filters so it's good for when you need to get fancy but don't want to lug around a huge filter kit, and has a zoom range that pairs well with lots of other lenses if you have a two camera set-up. It's definitely not the sharpest lens out there, but it's more than sufficient for all but the most demanding gigs - honestly it's probably amateurs that more often demand better, because they shoot to their own high standards rather than just meeting the needs of clients. So I'm very surprised that Nikon's discontinuing it - the 14-24 meets a completely different need, and the 18-35 isn't nearly as versatile despite being sharper, due to the lack of VR and the missing 2mm. I suppose on the mirrorless side the 14-30 f4 isn't a bad replacement, but for DSLR users it's a significant gap.

perardi 5y ago

Yeah, nobody is going to miss those DX lenses. That’s not a surprise at all. But I am a bit surprised they discontinued that 200mm, as they don’t have native Z mount super-telephoto lenses yet. Maybe there was a weird supply chain issue, and they basically had to cancel it now ahead of new Z big-gun lenses. (I’ll be curious to see if these big wide-aperture telephoto lenses get appreciably better with the new mount. The lack of a mirror really, really improves shorter focal lengths, as you don’t have to deal with complex retrofocal designs as much, but these bazookas don’t have that design limitation as the exit pupil is way out in front.)

mnw21cam 5y ago
I have the DX 18-140mm VR lens (that was the high-end kit lens option). It's surprisingly good, and it's clearly going to be smaller and lighter than could be achieved with a full-frame equivalent. You could argue that noone will miss this lens, because they should have got it with their camera. Long lenses, I can use any FX lens, without any problems. The only thing that I would really miss if DX lenses disappear is a super-wide lens, because no FX lens is going to be super-wide on my DX camera body.
- perardi 5y ago
  I was oversimplifying a bit. I should say “most will not miss these DX lenses as Nikon moves to Z-mount APS-C cameras, which have the potential for both better optical quality and smaller size.” To whit: https://www.zsystemuser.com/z-mount-lenses/nikkor-lenses/nikon-z-mount-lens-reviews/nikon-16-50mm-f35-63-lens.html https://www.zsystemuser.com/z-mount-lenses/nikkor-lenses/nik... — it’s the cheap pack-in kit lens, but the optics are off the charts relative to its size and price.
vr46 5y ago
I imagine there is enough inventory in the channel to fulfil orders for the next N months. Also am curious to whether there's an improvement in telephotos with mirrorless. The big selling point for rangefinders over the years has been the image quality bonus with compact lenses.

choppaface 5y ago

Is there a favored alternative to the 200 f/2? (Any manufacturer). Was just thinking of buying one.

formerly_proven 5y ago
Just buy one? They is still a bunch of stock at distributors.