Nikon Hot Nikon 1 gear on the horizont

IVN

Veteran
It's time we got a gear and rumors thread in the N1 section. :)

The hottest news at the moment is about a patent for a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 native N1 super-telephoto lens. It has a radically different (more advanced) design than the 70-300mm full frame Nikkor: 20 vs. 17 elements, 13 vs. 12 groups, 6 ED and 3 fluorite elements vs. "only" 2 ED elements.

Nikon-1-native-super-telephoto-70-300.jpg

Poto of a mock-up at N1 announcement in September 2011.

The native N1 70-300mm, should it ever come to market, will have an equivalent focal length of 189-810mm and an equiv. aperture range of f/10.8-15.12. Sure, it's nothing to write home about in terms of DOF, but this kind of reach doesn't come cheap for any format. Judging by the 6 ED and 3 fluorite elements this one won't be cheap either, but it should have excellent image quality straight from max. aperture, especially at the long end, where other 70-300mm telephotos struggle. And it must, since stopping down to f/8 would result in diffraction taking its toll.

Advantages of such a native lens compared to the already available 70-300mm FF Nikkor would be the smaller size and reduced weight because of no need for the FT-1 adapter and smaller rear elements needed for the smaller 1" image circle, and full AF support (area AF with AF-C and target tracking instead of just center point AF).

This lens would open entirely new possibilities for N1 users. That's why I hope it didn't fall prey to Nikon's "rethinking" of the N1 system. I also hope that those ED and fluorite elements don't make it insanely expensive (>1000 bucks).

What's your take on this?
 
This is the lens the Nikon 1 system has been begging for, especially since the V2 came out with that meaty grip.

Considering how expensive the V2 is, though, I'd expect this lens to come in at $1299 or so.
 
Back
Top