A week ago we showed you a patent and reported on a well-established rumor that Nikon was on the verge of announcing an 800mm focal length lens, which would rank as the longest in its lineup since their last 800mm was discontinued in 2005. Today, that rumor became a reality when Nikon officially put up a press release announcing that development of the new FX, VR lens is indeed in the works, and that lucky attendees will get to see a display model at both The Open Championships golf tournament later this month and, of course, at Photokina in September.
Unfortunately, that’s all Nikon is disclosing right now, as a release date and suggested retail price for the lens have not yet been determined. But if you’d like to comb through the press release yourself, you can find it in full here.
Based on some patents filed by Nikon, the company is expected to announce an updated 800mm lens, which will be the largest lens in the current lineup, according to Nikon Rumors. As of now, the 600mm f/4G ED VR is the longest lens Nikon is offering, though Sigma and Canon both have 800mm f/5.6 lenses in their lineups. Read more…
A few weeks back an amazing Nikkor 6mm fisheye lens resurfaced for sale in London for an eye-popping $160,000. The lens was quickly snatched up by a camera collector. For those of you who missed out on buying the lens but would still like to see how 160 grand worth of fish-eye performs in real life, the folks who were selling it at Grays of Westminster put together a video just for you.
This is, in fact, the proper way to carry the Nikkor 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8.0 super telephoto lens. Weighing in at 36 pounds and measuring nearly 3 feet in length, the manual focus lens was introduced in 1993 and had a hefty price tag of $60,000. It would be interesting to see how it stacks up against the magical Sigma 200-500mm.
Canon has long offered its telephoto L lenses in white in order to keep the lens cooler under sunlight, but did you know that certain Nikon lenses can be found in “white” as well? The lenses were officially called “light gray”, and can be purchased for pretty reasonable prices on eBay — the AF-S ED 70-200 f/2.8G VR seen above was sold a couple days ago by eBay seller shrewd25 for $1,999.
Nikon has just announced the new AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G lens, which has a FoV equivalent to a 60mm on a full frame body. It boasts a minimum focusing distance of just 6.4 inches, and has a reproduction ratio of 1:1. Read more…
An unfortunate photo-lover in Hong Kong recently got into a fight with his girlfriend, who proceeded to smash his beautiful collection of Nikon lenses. Among the casualties were a Nikkor 28-70 f2.8D, Tokina 28-70 F2.6-2.8, Nikkor 80-200 f2.8D, Nikkor 17-35 F2.8D, and a Nikon TC-20E teleconverter. Read more…
Confused about what a certain acronym means when it comes to Nikon’s line of Nikkor lenses? There’s a helpful Lens Glossary over on the company’s website that provides a short explanation of each one.
After being accidentally leaked on Nikon’s website a couple weeks ago, Nikon’s new AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G lens was officially announced today. The lens — compatible with both DX and FX DSLRs — features an unusual aspherical element that typically isn’t found in lenses like this. It will be available starting June 16th for $220, which includes a lens hood. Read more…
Here’s an interesting video produced by Nikon that explains how their Nano Crystal Coat technology came about and how it works to reduce ghosting. The music and sound effects are pretty dramatic compared to what a Western company would put in a video like this.