The Nikon Dx system – does it make sense?

The Nikon Dx z30 with content creator kit.

The Nikon Dx system – does it make sense?

There are three solid entry level cameras – z30, z50 and Zfc – in the Nikon Z system now, aimed at three different kind of users. However, how about the lenses? Of course, there’s the old and tiresome complaining by ‘buzz buzz’ Hogan that there aren’t enough Dx lenses for the Dx bodies – remind you that’s the guy who still wanted Nikon to release three more high end dSLR’s in 2021. He repeated that stance as recently as October 2021, without reconsidering it. What a disaster that would have been with dSLR’s sales declining year by year and claiming a market value of just 22% of all interchangeable lens cameras, with the lion’s share of 78% taken by mirrorless in 2021 according to the CIPA report.

Nikon Dx in context of the APS-C market

But how do things look like for APS-C, or Dx in Nikon’s parlance? As for total shipments the numbers between 35mm and larger (called FF from now on) and APS-C and smaller – including m4/3 – (called APS-C from now on) are roughly equal, at 4.6 million (FF) and 4.9 million (APS-C). However things look different over a longer period of time:

Year	FF lenses	APS-C lenses
2012	6.6m	23.7m (!!!)
2019	4.8m	9.3m
2020	3.6m (Covid)	5.4m (Covid)
2021	4.6m	4.9m

It seems that the FF market has largely bottomed out, bouncing almost back to the pre-covid level in 2021. The APS-C market did not recover after Covid, however, and is still shrinking – albeit at a slower pace.

It’s worth to note as well that the ratio of zoom versus prime lenses is about 1:1 for FF (2.3m zooms and 2.3m primes sold) while for APS-C this ratio is 6:1 (4.4m vs 0.7m). This shows that the majority of APS-C customers choose mostly zoom lenses while only few will have a setup which includes multiple prime lenses.

When looking at the value of the shipments things look different for FF and APS-C, too. The total value of all FF lenses sold is about 4 times larger than the value of all APS-C lenses – despite an almost even number of lenses sold. This clearly shows that the focus of APS-C buyers is on low-cost lenses.

Furthermore, FF primes are roughly twice as expensive as APS-C primes, while FF zooms are five times more expensive than their APS-C counterparts in average.

Value of the APS-C and FF market

The total value of lenses in 2021 was (in billion Yen):

FF primes	96b	APS-C primes	16b
FF zooms	167b	APS-C zooms	61b
FF total	263b	APS-C total	77b

Indeed there is a large number of APS-C cameras an lenses being sold, however at a much lower average price and mostly zoom lenses. And nope, this isn’t because the camera companies are “trying to force FF upon their customers” as claimed on the internet at times. If this was true the market share of Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic m4/3 would soar as there are full ranges of lenses available for those systems. However, this is not happening.

As a sign of times current mirrorless entry-level bodies cost way more money then their dSLR counterparts. With way less such budget bodies produced than compared with the heydays of digital cameras the unit price goes up. Simple economics of scale.

Data for this section was taken from the often neglected CIPA lens report.

How about the Nikon Dx line?

Looking at all this explains Nikon’s strategy when it comes to their Dx line. There are the most important zooms out there or on the roadmap, but just one prime lens on the roadmap. Yes, Dx zooms still sell in quite large numbers, primes simply don’t.

But that doesn’t mean that there are no useful lenses for the Nikon’s Dx cameras. Let’s take a look what there is:

Zooms:
Nikkor 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 VR (24-75mm FF reach)
Nikkor 50-250mm f4.5-6.3 VR (75-375mm FF reach)

Both zooms perform very well in terms of optics and make for a small, light two lens setup with a great range. As double kit with a body a steal as well. If you want an even smaller one lens setup there’s the:

Nikkor 18-140mm f3.5-63 VR (27-210mm FF reach)

Nikon’s two lens kits are great value – be it with the z30 or z50 series.

And that’s it. Well at least for now, and Dx lenses only. However two more Dx lenses are on the roadmap:

Nikkor 12-28mm PZ (18-42mm FF)
Nikkor 24mm (36mm FF)

This will add a wide angle zoom good for architecture, interiors, scenery – and video/blogging thanks to it being a powerzoom. And the obligatory 35mm equivalent small prime.

How about Fx lenses for Dx?

However, there are other interesting options for Nikon’s Dx system as well, fitting well in terms of size and price. These are:

Nikkor Z 28mm f2.8 (42mm in FF)
Nikkor Z 40mm f2.0 (60mm in FF)
Nikkor Z 50mm f2.8 MC (75mm Macro in FF)
Nikkor Z 50mm f1.8 S (75mm in FF)

More expensive but very interesting would be the:

Nikkor Z 85mm f1.8 S (128mm in FF)

And up on the road map the:

Nikkor Z 70-180 f2.8 (105-270mm in FF)

That’s 11 very interesting and well fitting options so far.
On top of these there are the Viltrox primes:

Viltrox AF 13mm f1.4 Z (20mm in FF)
Viltrox AF 33 mm f1.4 (50mm in FF)
Viltrox AF 56mm f1.4 Z (84mm in FF)

Plus their FF lenses as cheaper options to their Nikkor counterparts above:

Viltrox AF 50mm f1.8 Z (75mm in FF)
Viltrox AF 85mm f1.8 Z (128mm in FF)

So that’s a total of 16 lenses now, either already launched (13) or on the roadmap (3).

The three Viltrox Nikon AF Dx primes can be had for about US$300 as a set!

There’s more, of course

Of course there are more options one might opt for, but they were omitted here as they are either rather expensive or large and heavy and therefore perhaps not the best solution for the Dx bodies. Still, the Nikkor Z 105 MC S and the recently launched Tamron Z 70-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD will make sense for some, as might some of the other Fx Nikkors.

On top of the lenses mentioned above there are several manual focus lenses (mainly from Voigtländer) but I don’t look into these as they are for folks with a rather special use case.

Overall it can be said that there’s already more choice than most Dx users every buy if taking the CIPA numbers in consideration – and no, the echo chambers of internet forums or comment sections do not represent the the majority of Dx customers as they sample just a small and distinct number of users – however, very vocal.

And yes, of course there will be more options coming in the future, both from Nikon and other lens makers. Enjoy your Nikon Dx, it’s a very capable system, at very competitive prices!