New Nikon AF-S Primes
It should not come as a surprise that Nikon is upgrading it’s prime lenses as a result of full-frame adoption. Nikon is riding high on the Nikon D3 wave and is giving the final touches to it’s high-resolution full-frame flagship D3X. The only missing pieces, to complete the full-frame episode are, the upgraded prime lenses.
No Vibration Reduction
Quite a few people are going to be disappointed for the lack of Vibration Reduction. Nikon could score huge brownie points and one-up Canon by adding VR in all it’s professional lenses. Unfortunately, they left out VR from the newly announced Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 AF-S and Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 AF-S. They are repeating the same for the all professional lenses with focal length below 100mm.
Reliable sources say that the legendary Nikon 85 f/1.4 lens is upgraded to include the silent wave motor (AF-S). It is supposed to be announced in PMA 2008. Personally, I think professional lens announcements have been made (historically) in the middle of the year. More importantly these announcements are made together with professional digital SLR announcements. I don’t think Nikon is ready to announce the D3X yet and will save it for the Photokina 2008.
My bet is that Nikon will delay the announcement to May/June 2008 or even better wait till Photokina 2008 in September. That said, here are the next set of primes from Nikon:
- Nikon 24mm f/1.4 AF-S
- Nikon 28mm f/1.4 AF-S
- Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S
- Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-S
Referral: