Nikon announced three new lenses at PMA as expected. What wasn't quite expected was which ones:
- 24mm f/3.5D ED PC-E. This FX-capable tilt and shift lens provides perspective control at a wide angle. Tilt is up to 8.5 degrees and shift is up to 11.5mm. Available in spring.
- 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro-Nikkor. The shortest macro lens gets its update, ala the 105mm, though minus the VR. Also FX capable.
- 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR DX. The one expected announcement: basically the DX equivalent to the 24-120mm. Bundles with the D300 are expected in addition to being available separately.
Also announced was development of a 45mm f/2.8D ED PC-E Micro-Nikkor, and an update to the current 85mm PC, both to be available in the summer.
Most Nikon users are going to be puzzled by these announcements. Indeed, even though I've known about these lenses for awhile, I'm perplexed as to why Nikon is putting so much macro effort into the 105mm and under range. What's startlingly missing from the lineup is any new macro with a working distance that's suitable to outdoor work (e.g. 70-180mm, or 200mm). The European press release for the 60mm originally used the words "leave animals and insects undisturbed," so apparently no one there has ever tried to photograph insects in the wild with a 60mm macro whose front element is a few millimeters away from the insect.
Moreover, we now have a full line of tilt-shift lenses to match our lineup of macro lenses, but we're missing a DX counterpart. In other words, Nikon is trumpeting a "full" lineup of macro and PC lenses now, but their definition of full isn't mine or the market's. Do we really need 60mm, 85mm, and 105mm macro lenses? Do we really need a 45mm PC lens more than a DX one? I think the answer to both questions is no.
However, there is an interesting point to all this: Nikon appears to be returning to its roots. Nikon's early success in 35mm SLRs was not just due to having a great professional SLR (and a constant stream of consumer ones). Much of the early interest in Nikon was that they augmented the camera with lens choices that went beyond their great basic wide, normal, telephoto offerings (in those days, 28/35mm, 50/55mm, 105/135mm). It appears that Nikon's current thrust is stealing from their old playbook: establish lens capabilities that other mounts can't match. Personally, I'm all for that--I like new options to play with. But I can't help wonder whether or not whether the digital crowd will react the same way the film crowd did.