Comments on: Nikon’s PMA press release

By: Gilbert Laraque

Gilbert Laraque — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:23:41 +0000

funny

By: knocker

knocker — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:41:45 +0000

If it was a typo you would never know what they had changed the corrected link to – the link contains the text Nikon-D400

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:44:12 +0000

SIC is applied to all Nikon’s glass. Nano coating is an extra coating in addition to SIC. I would be interested to know eactly where these coatings are applied in each lens – it’s a shame the lens diagrams don’t show this.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:00:43 +0000

The two 18-55’s are interesting. The non-VR is 7 elements in 5 groups and has ED. The VR is 11 elements in 8 groups and doesn’t have ED.

By: [NR] admin

[NR] admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:51:54 +0000

You are right – they took it out! Doesn’t this confirm that it is true and not just a typo? If it was a typo, they could just fix the error…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:58:32 +0000

To quote Nikon “ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements minimize chromatic aberration while providing higher resolution and superior contrast” and “Nano Crystal Coat virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections, effectively reducing ghosting and flare. High-performance Nikon Super Integrated Coating offers superior color reproduction, while minimizing ghosting and flare”.

The 24-70 has SIC and N coatings.

It clearly isn’t a case of “if it is needed by the design” but what quality-level and price-point the lens is aimed at.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:45:24 +0000

What “rest of the pack” ? You listed lots of old lenses.

Of the current modern designs (i.e. AF-S) in Nikon’s line-up, all but three use ED glass and all the premium glass uses N not SIC. Will the new 85 be a premium lens ? It seems likely.

Nikon have committed to using eco glass (no heavy metal additives) so ED elements have become almost essential for all but the most basic designs.

Your ideas were sound 20 years ago but things have moved on.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:22:52 +0000

oh, right, gearheads expect everything to be beyond perfect.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:24:43 +0000

Dissapointing indeed.

I think al the brands are waiting for eachother and because of the dip in the sales of DSLR they still have a lot of leftovers of current models before they can launch a new model.

For example Sony they can not lower the prices of their DSLR anymore. It’s at it’s bottom. So they can not make place for a new model in the same price range by putting it in Sale

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:05:24 +0000

Any lens that is prone to flare, veiling, internal or ghosting issues can also make good use of SIC. The key here is if you’d want an affordable 85mm f1.4 prime lens or an expensive one for the small gain of N over SIC. Lets also note that N was really designed to take care of the issues wide angle lenses had with SIC that were unique to them; i.e. SIC did not produce these problems under other focal lengths.

A coating of SIC will translate to a cheaper price than a coating of N.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:01:53 +0000

That’s a Micro lens, ergo it’ll have it’s own set of unique problems (like bringing light at close distances into focus). Plus, with an optical formulae of 12 elements in 9 groups, it’s more in keep with the rest of the pack for having ED.

Jessica

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:32:46 +0000

What about the new 60 micro ? That is ED and N and is a short focal length prime ?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:18:36 +0000

Nikon don’t rely on big events, it’s not their style. We might see something in a month or two, but the summer is the most likely.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:17:01 +0000

What? No new Flash??
Dissapointed.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:15:03 +0000

ED is useful for correcting coma with asphericals and composites, and raising contrast on wide aperture glass. Have you seen the contrast levels of the new 50mm AF-S f1.4 wide open ?

ED N is not code for a drunk engineer, but a serious redesign (like the 105VR which is both ED and N) that exceeds the quality of the current 85 f1.4; no easy task.

The problem is not the codes, it’s the price. I’d say US$1,000 at least these days.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:04:26 +0000

Released in 2003.

You can fix the problems v quickly in PP and ignore the extreme corners because they are irrelevant in real use. If you don’t know how, well, ……

Whining in a forum about the 70-200VR just demonstrates that the whiner is exactly the kind of photographer other people should ignore.

By: James

James — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:48:43 +0000

I disagree with your assertations on N coating. Any lens that is prone to flare, veiling, internal or ghossting issues can make good use of nano coating. Especially when a lens is at its widest aperature. Case in point, the old 85 PC vs the new 85 PC. Exactly the same optical formulae with one exception, N coating.

The 85 f1.4 is suseptable to veiling flare and ghoasting wide open so N coating would be beneficial.

By: WoutK89

WoutK89 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:10:46 +0000

Most of the time I just wait for new stuff, since it is sucky weather over here, I can not think of something sweet to photograph atm

PS, I am an outdoor photographer who likes photographing birds and such things

By: WoutK89

WoutK89 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:08:13 +0000

Damn, sorry for that, what would the next big event be that can possibly deliver the goods?

By: Gustav

Gustav — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:45:23 +0000

You could go out and take pictures instead. Does anyone who posts here actually take pictures, or spend all day waiting for new stuff?