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MagyarNew Nikon NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 PF lens with Phase Fresnel element rumoured to launch this week
Nikon might be expanding its super telephoto range of NIKKOR Z lenses for mirrorless cameras very soon, if reports from Nikon Rumors are to be believed. What was a series of unreliable reports a few days ago is now said to be confirmed: Nikon will be launching a new NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 PF lens in this week itself, on or around October 10. The new lens will reportedly weigh 1390 g or 3 pounds, and be priced at around US$4,000.
Going by Nikon’s existing Z lens lineup, it’s safe to say the new lens will feature the S-Line designation with premium optics, build quality and weather sealing, as well as 5 stops of VR (optical stabilisation).
For reference, the Z lens lineup already has the NIKKOR Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S. However, due to its larger aperture and built-in 1.4x teleconverter (which turns it into a 840 mm lens), it weighs a hefty 3260 g and comes with an equally hefty US$15,500 price, putting it beyond most amateur buyers’ reach. There’s also the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR costing a reasonable US$1,700, but at 1955 g, it lacks the compactness and most likely the image quality of the putative PF lens. So what is a PF lens and how is it better?
Ordinary glass lenses use refraction to focus light, but since refractive index varies by wavelength, all colours do not converge at the same distance, causing ghosting and blurring/bleeding of certain colours, called axial chromatic aberration. A fresnel lens uses diffraction which affects different wavelengths in the opposite order as refraction, so combining the two effectively cancels out chromatic aberration, yielding sharper, ghosting-free images. This approach (called Phase Fresnel by Nikon) also significantly reduces size and weight compared to other methods. Currently, the only other NIKKOR Z lens with PF is the NIKKOR Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S.
Incidentally, a Nikon representative recently stated that the company will no longer share lens development roadmaps, which means that from now, all lens launches will be surprises, leaving rumours/leaks as the only indication of future products. Meanwhile, for a more versatile focal length range, you can buy the NIKKOR Z 100-400mm VR S premium telephoto lens, or the low-light champion, NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 S professional large aperture telephoto zoom on Amazon.
Source(s)
Nikon Rumors (1) (2) (3), NR Phase Fresnel explainer
