Scribblings About Things
Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-105mm f/4-7.1 Announced
Earlier this week, Nikon announced a new lens, the Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-105mm f/4-7.1.
The dedicated special contents page and technical specifications of the lens can be viewed here:
It was a relatively quiet announcement, given its modest and conservative specifications. On top of that, this lens also has only been announced in overseas markets and not in Japan yet as of the time of writing this article, which although uncommon has happened a few times in the past as well.
With the lens’ announcement, it is also reported that this lens would be available as a kit lens for the Z5II soon.
I think that this lens does fill a gap in the entry level FX kit lens lineup - we currently have the 24-50/4-6.3 and 24-200/4-6.3 as the consumer-oriented models, and the 24-70/4S and 24-120/4S as the performance-oriented models.
Keeping costs down while providing a larger focal length zoom range together with half-macro abilities would be very beneficial for new photographers buying their first camera as they would be able to try out different photography styles and subjects without stretching their wallets too much.
Unfortunately, as usual there seems to be some online flak going on regarding the announcement of this lens - pretty much the typical “Why did they even bother with this lens?” or “Why this lens and not [insert other focal length and aperture] lens instead?”, questioning the decision to release such a dark consumer-oriented lens.
Yes, if you already own the other lenses this lens would most probably not be for you, but for a new photographer or someone getting into the ecosystem for the first time, having a low cost option which is versatile is definitely a key selling point.
And perhaps also just consider that the world does not revolve around you and if the lens is not something you want there is no need to diss it.