Nikon
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Cinema camera maker RED acquired by Nikon
In a surprise announcement this morning, Nikon Japan – there has been no word from the UK subsidiary – announced they’ve acquired the cinema camera maker RED, making the US-based independent company a subsidiary. While it’s not surprising that RED has been acquired – James Jannard was the founder of Oakley sunglasses until moving onto RED cinema cameras- what is unexpected is that Canon has seemingly missed this opportunity. Press release: Nikon Corporation (President: Toshikazu Madate, Minato-ku, Tokyo) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with James Jannard, founder of RED.com, LLC (President: Jarred Land, California, hereinafter referred to as “RED”), a U.S.-based company that develops, manufactures, sells,…
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Nikon Nikkor Z 14-24mm F2.8 S lens data
Technical Data Manufacturer Nikon Model Nikkor Z 14-24mm F2.8 S Web www.nikon.co.uk Elements/construction 16 elements in 11 groups Angle of view 114° to 84° (diagonal) Max aperture F2.8 Min aperture F22 Min focus distance 0.28 m (0.92 ft) Mount Z mount Filter size 112mm (with hood) Length 124.5 mm (5 in.) Diameter 88.5 mm (3.5 in.) Weight 650 g (1 lb 7 oz) Price £2379 inc VAT Check Stock and Prices [Affiliate links] Amazon UK | Wex Photo | Park Cameras Amazon US | B&H Photo | Adorama Secondhand MPB UK | KEH US
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Nikon adds RAW file based Pixel Shift to Nikon Z 8
Nikon has announced a new firmware update (Version 2.0) bringing a host of new features to the already impressively specified Nikon Z 8. The most intriguing is the addition of ‘Pixel Shift’ which aims to improve detail while also reducing noise levels. A further attraction is diffraction mitigation by careful use of aperture selection. It’s not clear what the ‘effective resolution’ is from the press release but the fact that the Nikon Z 8 outputs RAW files to merge in their NX Studio utility (which was also upgraded today) is encouraging; Canon’s decision to add the functionality to the Canon EOS R5 outputting a finished JPEG missed the mark. As…
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Nikon Nikkor Z 14-24mm F2.8 S lens review
The Nikkor Z 14-24mm F2.8 S is one of Nikon’s high-end S-line triumvirate of high-speed zooms (at the time of writing) and in effect replaces the renowned F-mount lens of the same focal length and ratio that redefined the ultra-wide-angle zoom in the SLR era. Kevin Carter takes a closer look. As a ‘made for mirrorless’ lens, it’s much smaller and lighter than its esteemed forerunner (650g vs 970g), thanks largely to a far less wildly convex front element. Indeed, the two highly convex elements at the front of the F-mount lens have been replaced by a single double-sided aspheric front element in the new S-line. While the change in…
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Nikon Nikkor Z 135mm F1.8 S Plena lens announced
Nikon has announced the Nikkor Z 135mm F1.8 S Plena lens, which is said to be optimised for out-of-focus highlights, after teasing the new model on YouTube. The Plena lens adopts 16 elements in 14 groups and includes one element using a relatively new type of glass from Nikon called an SR (Short-wavelength Refractive) element: “Nikon’s original SR (Short-wavelength Refractive) lens is a high- and specialized-dispersion glass lens featuring characteristics to greatly refract light with wavelengths shorter than that of blue. By controlling short-wavelength light that is difficult to compensate, light of various specific wavelengths can be more effectively collected achieving highly precise chromatic aberration compensation. Because this lens can…
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Nikon Plena lens teaser debuts on YouTube
UPDATE: Nikon has announced the Plena lens. Nikon has published a video teaser for a new lens called Plena, which is due to be announced on Wednesday, 27th September. While not much is known about it at this time, the yellow-coloured font is similar to that used by Nikon with the Nikkor Z 58mm F0.95 S Noct and a nod to the Zeiss cine primes. The new Plena lens therefore is almost certainly aimed at the cinematography/filmmaking crowd and targeting the rental houses. While it could feature AF, if it is a cinema lens it is likely manual focus only and expensive (upwards of £3.5K more likely above £5k). Judging…
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Nikon Z8 and Z9 firmware out of sync
Reading about the Nikon Z8 and Z9 firmware being out of sync reminded me of how camera companies are set up in Japan. In the West, we tend to think of them as run top-down, working as one, but that’s not the case in Japan. Factories there are mostly autonomous with head offices having only limited control over them. Ironically perhaps, the bigger the companies are the more autonomy each factory has. And each in turn is run competitively against the other. Nikon hasn’t made it clear if both models are made in the same factory or not but, even if they are, it’s likely that they have different software…
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Images leak of two Nikon Nikkor Z MC lenses: 105mm F2.8 VR S and 50mm F2.8
Images have leaked of two, as yet un-announced, Nikkor “MC” lenses; the full-frame Nikkor MC 105mm F2.8 VR S, and what’s now confirmed as another full-frame model, the Nikkor MC 50mm F2.8. The “MC” designation has not been used by Nikon previously, but speculatively, it’s most likely a true macro (1:1) and without any de-focus image control DC function, like the Canon version or as per the older AF-Nikkor DC 105mm F2.0 D and 135mm F2.0 D models. Neither of those were macro lenses but it’s common for the 100mm macro lenses to double for portraiture due to their close focus capabilities. At least, that’s the current view based on…
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Nikon Nikkor Z 58mm F0.95 S Noct: Initial Impressions
The Nikkor Z 58mm F0.95 S Noct is one of Nikon’s showcase lenses – a sort of throwback to the early days of Nikon’s interest in optical research. It’s certainly a lens that splits opinions – I’m still not sure exactly how I feel about it – though there’s no denying it’s a beautifully made lens that’s capable of extremely high image quality in all its nuances. You can read additional opinion on this lens here. Build Like other Nikon exotics it’s delivered in a massively oversized cardboard box but inside it contains a large Pelican type hard-case, instead of the more usual soft-padded type. I didn’t weigh the case…
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Nikon to launch new Noct-Nikkor end of October
Update: Nikon UK kindly sent me one to review for a leading UK photo magazine – you can see my first impressions here. Nikon’s previously announced Nikkor Z 58mm F0.95 S Noct is set to ship at the end of the month (31st October) for a shade under $8,000 in the US, and around £8,299 (in VAT) in UK. The ultra-high speed Z-mount lens takes the Noct moniker from the AI/AIS 58mm F1.2 from the 70’s and early 80’s (first production was 1977) respectively. That lens was originally designed for low-light reportage and featured a single large diameter, hand-ground aspherical element in its optical design, where the brighter…
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