The 35/1.4 AI-S is one of the few AI-S lenses which survived the great discontinuation of January 2005 when the AI-S line was pared back to a very small selection. It was available new as of a couple months ago. While Nikon probably hasn’t done a production run in a year or two, they still do produce some AI-S lenses in small quantities including the 50/1.2 and 35/1.4. discontinuation of the 35/1.4 now would indicate a likely AF replacement as it remains one of the few AI-S lenses that still sells due to its speed advantage over the AF 35′s

The 50 1.8 is a flaring, ghosting nightmare compared to the 14-24, 24-70 or 17-55DX.

If Nikon is discontinuing their 35/1.4 AIS now also in Japan I suspect they have an improved version coming out, they wouldn’t dare remove it otherwise (just like they did not dare discontinue some AIS lenses although newer AF designs were launched).

oh, right, pixelpeelers and whiners only do that.

Nikon needs to update this lens seriously for photojournalists, and people who like to shoot the same was a photojournalists. As long as DX was the only choice, this was not an important lens. With full frame, this becomes a critical lens in the lineup they need to appeal to pros.

People will argue that with ISO 6400 we don’t need such lenses. Such people have not shot in the same situations that I do, and many, many photojournalists, documentarians and other pros.

And yes…don’t say MF…unless you mean it “/

But now, I see that most have been removed completely from the B&H site because they’re simply not available (even though all still exist on the Japan Nikon site) even as imports. On B&H, the 20, 50 1.2 and 55 micro are listed, but long backordered. The 85 2.8 micro PC is listed as discontinued. And the rest are no longer listed at all which usually indicates that B&H has given up on trying to get any.

But the reality is, are any of these lenses necessary aside from possibly the 1.2s? Is the IQ of any of these better than the AFs? Doesn’t the current AF prime line supersede them since on most of the lenses, you can switch off the AF? I actually think this will be more of an issue in the future, assuming that the new FX prime line will be “G” lenses (without an aperture ring.) Once that happens, and assuming that Nikon discontinues the current AF prime line, the only way to get a lens with an aperture ring will be via a used lens. IMHO, since the new AF prime line (assuming one is coming) will probably be expensive, I think Nikon should restore the aperture ring to maintain compatibility with the oldest bodies. (Nikon seems to think that only compatibility of old lenses with newer bodies is important.) I can understand that from a financial standpoint, it doesn’t make sense because how many photographers are still using bodies from before the advent of the F4-era bodies? But from a psychological standpoint, I think it makes a big difference and how much can the aperture ring actually cost to include?

Nikon USA used to say on their website that they are available by special order, however that is (was?) only for US customers, I checked with them a few months back.

Thus, I contacted my local Nikon Norway where a friendly gentleman told that they didn’t actually have any in stock, but there was a chance that some stores could have some specimens sitting on their shelves (FWIW, that’s also the case for the 50/1.2). However, because of the ridiculous list price, I decided to wait for a cheap, carefully used one on eBay. The new ones are just way too expensive for me.

I hope this information might be useful!

Crocodile’s tears ?

This announcement is only a pro forma, nothing more.

Next week, we will learn that Nikon stops producing the AiS 55/2,8 Micro : good grief, as if anyone kept on buying AiS