Lot's of good input came in from those of you checking out my latest. Here's a number of suggestions that I didn't add to the Waiting for Nikon list, along with my reason:
- 70-180mm Micro-Nikkor. Oh how I'd love to think that they're working on it, but it's not really mainstream enough to warrant adding, as only ~18,000 were made in its seven-year life. AF-S, VR, and a better tripod mount are all that it needs, though someone suggested Nano coating, too.
- 18mm, 20mm, 24mm f/2.8 primes (or f/2 replacements). Maybe one of those might be refreshed at f/2 someday (and should be), but at the f/2.8 I'm pretty sure Nikon is going to tell you to "use the zoom."
- 105mm or 135mm f/2 DC. While I like the 135mm version, again we've got a non mainstream flavor. These focal lengths have fallen out of favor with photographers in recent times, and you'd really need to add VR to them to make them really useful. Too much work for too small a market.
- 180mm f/2.8. This suffers from the "use the zoom" problem. Yes, I know that the 180mm is much smaller, but Nikon doesn't seem to think a small, light, compact kit is of interest to anyone other than soccer moms, and they're not going to buy a 180mm f/2.8.
- I was tempted to add the 24-120mm as several of you mentioned it and it needs an optical lift, but then I realized that this really falls into the "any FX f/4 zoom" category. The replacement should be a 24-105mm f/4 AF-S VR.
- Radio Flash Trigger. While it sounds at first like it should be awaited, the problem is that current i-TTL wouldn't support it. You could do it for a single flash, but if you're asking for radio wireless i-TTL, well, existing bodies wouldn't support it without major firmware reworks (if even then). Thus, this is a "next generation" type of thing, and frankly, I'm not in a hurry for a next generation of flash to learn.
- 64-bit Capture NX2/ViewNX. I know some are waiting for this because they're running Windows Vista 64-bit and the current versions are broken, but with software everything comes to he who waits. Basically, this item will certainly come, it's only a question of when. The list I made is a little more emphemeral: most of those things may or may not happen, and I'm prodding to try to help make them happen faster. I don't think I can prod Nikon's software engineers to code faster.
- Retro DSLR. Essentially anything like an FM2n up through an F3. Simple. Probably manual focus. No battery if possible (means no LCD, too). While I've written about such a camera before, it's not really mainstream and no one knows if the camera companies see any opportunity for this type of product, thus you can't really say that we're waiting for it. It might happen, it might not. If it does, some people will be happy. If it doesn't, very few people will be unhappy.
- Rangefinder. Same thing as the Retro DSLR only more so.
I did add the 17-35mm (or any other wide zoom with filter rings) to my list since I don't believe the 14-24mm is really a substitute. Also added was the 200mm Micro-Nikkor, which I plumb forgot about. And the month count went up by one...