Nikon Z 85mm F1.2 S

The Nikkor Z 50mm F1 .2 S gets a buddy – the Nikkor Z 85mm F1.2 S has been announced!

It’s going to be heavy, it’s going to be big, it’s going to be expensive.

1.16kg
10.2cm x 14.2cm (ø x L)
US$2800

It’s going to be optically great as well. Nikon designs their top-shelf lenses with the aim of best possible performance, not to make them somewhat lighter or smaller. That’s a good decision in my opinion, as there is the 1.8 series of primes for those who want to carry and spend less.

The Z 85mm f1.2 S – definitely not a light-weight.

But it’s too big, too expensive – where is the Z 85mm 1.4?

The excellent optical quality of these 1.8 primes is the reason I don’t really see Nikon going the f1.4 way this time – at least not for and in-between f1.8 and f1.2. At prices around US$1500 or more such f1.4 primes would be quite a bit more expensive than their f1.8 counterparts, but not offering that much of a step up really.

Where f1.4 lenses would make sense is in focal lengths where f1.2 simply gets too large, heavy and expensive. A 105mm f1.4 or a 24mm and 28mm f1.4, yes, in this range such lenses would be useful as f1.2 designs would likely not be feasible for above reasons.

85mm f1.2 S – What does it mean for the Z System?

Along with the Z 35mm F1.2 S on the roadmap this will lead to the completion of the high-grade f1.2 triplet of primes, with as little as possible compromises in terms of image quality. Going by the Z 50mm f1.2 S and Nikon’s marketing the focus is on very high sharpness already wide open yet beautifully soft background blur. I’m pretty sure they will achieve this as the entire Z lens range has been nothing short of excellent in their respective classes.

With the second such f1.2 lens launched and the third quite likely being released with this year the question about a new high resolution body arises. With three lenses perfected for studio, portrait, fashion and even landscape and looking at Nikon’s history a matching body would make for a perfect fit. The z8 has been in the rumors for some time being, and I think this would fit Nikon’s modus operandi perfectly. Z9, and lots of teles released the same year. This year 85mm f1.2, 35mm f1.2, 135mm (f1.8) along with a 60+ megapixel body? Yes, sounds very plausible, very Nikon.

Plus think of it – there was a time when 12mp was the standard and 24mp was high-res. Then 20-24mp became slowly the standard, high-res crept up to 45mp. With other manufacturers going for 33mp, the z9 and a1 bringing 45-50mp into the flagship range, yes, it all points to another step up in resolution. I think we will see a triple segmentation here, instead of double as before, with around 20-30mp for the lower tier, around 45mp for the mid-tier and fast pro bodies, and +60mp as the new high-res tier.

To buy or not to buy?

Focusing on a smaller and more compact setup, this 85mm f1.2 beast won’t be for me, of course. Still, it’s a great addition to the Z system and will make it more attractive for different kind of users – and even I will profit from this, because a more popular system will result in more lenses for my own use case in the long run.