Nikon F Mount Lenses on the way out?

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Rodamu

Rodamu

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The popular Nikon F mount 105 mm Micro Lenses is no longer available in the USA. Is this the first of the F mount lenses that will no longer be manufactured as the Z mount cameras supplement the DSLRs? According to the B & H catalog there are 97 Nikon F mount lenses and already 75 Z mount Nikon lenses.
 
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There are several reasons for Nikon to move forward to Mirrorless lenses. They are easier to design because of less restrictions of a small exit pupil. The fact that the designs are new, enables better optics, both in design and materials used. It also enables a higher price point, always a good thing for a company.

Whether or not they continue making the old lenses (or cameras) is going depend purely on demand. My guess is that demand due to the secondary market will go down, so the move to Mirrorless for the company will almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 
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They will cease to make specific F mount glass when the demand is low enough and/or there is a Z equivalent. There are some that have probably already ceased production, just that there is stock and then that will be it once that stock is finished.
 
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It would make perfect sense for Nikon to stop producing F mount glass, the likelihood is that the F mount bodies will follow.

This doesn't mean that all the F mount glass out there is obsolete (or indeed the camera bodies). For example I could replace my F mount 70-200 with a Z mount lens but I don't see the need. Some tests of the lens on a Z8 show it to be perfectly serviceable and to give very good results. The case is even stronger for the 8-15 fisheye zoom - a quirky lens but one that currently has no Z mount equivalent.

I have traded quite a few F mount lenses when I bought the Z8, but three are still in the kit cupboard, the fisheye, the 70-200 and the 500PF. I have no plans to sell these as they will continue to work as well on the Z8 as they did on the D850 - better indeed with the much improved auto-focus options.

Chaz
 
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Lance B said:
They will cease to make specific F mount glass when the demand is low enough and/or there is a Z equivalent. There are some that have probably already ceased production, just that there is stock and then that will be it once that stock is finished.
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My blind guess is they'll keep up manufacturing until have enough lenses/spare parts for the pro level lenses and bodies (and that may have already been hit), but a lot of the consumer stuff is probably already done in terms of new production.

I want to say the consumer d3xxx/5xxx/7xxx have been done for a while now, for example.
 
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From my view of the resale market selling F mount gear is becoming harder and harder. Nikon likely has millions of dollars of F mount related inventory sitting in warehouses and they certainly don't want to take losses on all of that. So, I'd imagine they aren't producing F mount stuff anymore (unless something is selling well).
I don't think the time has come yet but at some point I think we might see some good pricing on F mount gear as Nikon tries to purge inventory.
 
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It will be interesting to see how long Nikon continues to offer SLR gear compared to Canon. Let's not forget, Nikon produced a 35mm film camera long after Canon stopped.
 
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Rodamu said:
The popular Nikon F mount 105 mm Micro Lenses is no longer available in the USA. Is this the first of the F mount lenses that will no longer be manufactured as the Z mount cameras supplement the DSLRs? According to the B & H catalog there are 97 Nikon F mount lenses and already 75 Z mount Nikon lenses.
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The 500mm PF was the last new f-mount lens from Nikon and it was introduced in 2018.
 
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Thus will be like when Pentax went from the 49mm screw to the K mount, there will still be a limited market for F mount lenses but it will slowly shrink over time. Some used F mount lenses will retain decent value for a good while but anytime poor/mediocre will just be paper weights.
 
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BlackRockArt said:
No more F-mount lenses have been produced since the beginning of last year, the production capacity has shifted to Z-mount.
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You may be right - though I have not seen any Nikon source supporting this.

There seems to be some anomalies with what nikon list as currently available in the UK.

No F mount macro lenses are shown, yet the 100-400 replaced in 2018 by the 180-400 is still listed.

I understand some of the lenses listed as current in the UK do not have an order code for a retailer.
This means that although apparently "current" there is no way a retailer can order one for a prospective customer.
LATE EDIT - when an F mount lens has no retailer order code even if apparently current on Nikon web-sites it may no longer be available.

My speculation is no F mount equipment will be available new 5 years from now - and maybe in less than 5 years time.
 
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Rodamu said:
The popular Nikon F mount 105 mm Micro Lenses is no longer available in the USA. Is this the first of the F mount lenses that will no longer be manufactured as the Z mount cameras supplement the DSLRs? According to the B & H catalog there are 97 Nikon F mount lenses and already 75 Z mount Nikon lenses.
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This is hard to forecast because of the long legacy of the F mount. If there's demand I would expect Nikon to continue certain lenses. All the engineering is done and in the files so that part of the cost has already been amortized.
 
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Actually I think they are on the way out…but it will take a few more years until all the DSLR folk have upgraded. There won’t be any new ones released and it wouldn’t surprise me if the production lines for them have been consolidated and or shutdown and they’re selling from inventory…because I imagine that the demand for a new F mount at retail is essentially zero. While there is still nothing wrong with F gear and it takes great images still…tech has moved on and the Z bodies with faster processors and newer sensors will usually produce more keepers and wall hangers from an outing than F bodies will. Add in t(ex wider throat and newer/better optical design software and you get Z lenses that are pretty much better across the board than F equivalents…but none of that detracts from good images with older gear…but the number of people sticking with F gear will continue to decrease…especially as some of the higher end features in the Z8/9 filter down to lesser priced bodies.
 
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Rodamu said:
The popular Nikon F mount 105 mm Micro Lenses is no longer available in the USA. Is this the first of the F mount lenses that will no longer be manufactured as the Z mount cameras supplement the DSLRs? According to the B & H catalog there are 97 Nikon F mount lenses and already 75 Z mount Nikon lenses.
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F Mount Lenses, parts, and service will gradually fade as expected.
The amazing pool of used gear in F mount is also as expected and is getting larger and cheaper.
Its all a matter of which pool we want or can afford to swim in.

Only an opinion
 
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The tricky part is deciding when to trade in the F mount lens and cameras before their trade-in value becomes very low. I still have a D850 and two lenses for it to evenly replace with mirrorless equivalents.
 
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Cameron T said:
The value is only going to go down, so sooner rather than later is my opinion.
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I’ve kept five F lenses because I have a small collection of Nikon film cameras and I use them on occasion. I’ll keep all five lenses until there’s a problem and I can no longer get them repaired.
 
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