Nikon NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.4 Announcement and Opinions
Just earlier today, the Z 35mm f/1.4 was officially announced.
The official press release and specifications of the lens can be viewed here:
This release came as an interesting surprise in several ways for most people, including me, though not in a bad sense.
As a f/1.4 lens, it is reasonably light and compact, not that different from the Z 35/1.8S itself. They also managed to keep its filter thread size at 62mm, so if anyone is thinking of switching to this from the 35/1.8S at least the filters can be reused.
It also comes with two rings - one dedicated manual focus ring and one customizable control ring. Most of the earlier f/1.8 S-line primes (everything minus the Plena), and the compact 28mm/40mm only come with one ring, so it seems like an new design and handling direction that they are going in.
In Japan the expected street price for the lens at launch is around JPY 95000, which comes in just a little under the Z 35/1.8S. It is indeed a nice change in times where everything just seems to get more and more expensive, so am grateful that they are coming out with affordable wide-aperture lenses.
Its direct competitor would be Nikon’s own Z 35/1.8S (as I have subconsciously compared to above), especially since they are in similar price brackets and size, and based on the specs shown so far, here are some of the key differences:
The 35/1.8S has the more advanced Nano-crystal coatings, whereas the 35/1.4 has the more standing SIC coatings.
Based on MTF curves the 35/1.4 is less sharp wide open with a steeper sharpness falloff, whereas the 35/1.8S is sharper wide open and maintains the sharpness across the frame better.
The 35/1.4 does not employ multi-focusing system found on the 35/1.8S.
Aesthetics wise, the 35/1.4 uses more plastic than the 35/1.8S, which has a metal focusing ring and metal “rear ring”.
There is no A/M switch on the 35/1.4.
With this as a reference, I think here are what are some of the concerns to look out for when reviews of this lens drop in the coming weeks from both reviewers and users:
When closed down to f/1.8, how does the performance of the two lenses compare?
How does the 35/1.4 perform close-up since it does not have close-range correction of the multi-focusing system?
How fast does the lens focus, and how well does it track moving subjects?
How flare resistant is it in backlit situations since it lacks the more advanced coatings?
And on top of this, I think this release also brings forth several questions regarding their lens strategy:
There was a 35mm S-line lens on the roadmap, and is this supposed to replace that or is a S-line 35mm still in the works? (Personal opinion: I think a S-line 35mm is still in the works, but they decided to launch this first to ride on the highly video-capable Z6III)
Does this release indicate the start of a new line of wide-aperture affordable non-S primes?
While I am not in the market for a 35mm lens, I am glad that they are giving users affordable options and sincerely hope that this indeed is the start of a new line of compact lenses - a modern compact version of the AI-S 105/2.5 would be a beautiful piece of work!