Nikon mentioned that the goal of the new Nikon Z Noct Nikkor 58mm f/0.95 lens is to beat the Zeiss Otus performance. My only disappointment is that the new Noct lens will not have AF, but as Nikon explained, it is very difficult and expensive to move large and heavy glass elements with an AF motor. Manual focusing a f/0.95 lens could be challenging because of the thin depth of field:
The upcoming NIKKOR Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct is more of a proof of concept for Nikon to show what this mount could do in terms of image quality and speed and we may even see faster lenses in the future. The Noct Z lens will have a new anti-reflection coating (ARNEO) that is supposed to be better than the current Nano-Crystal AR coating:
In addition to Nano Crystal Coat with its proven high tolerance for incident light from a diagonal direction as well as a vertical direction, a newly developed anti-reflective coating, ARNEO Coat, that is more eective for incident light from a vertical direction specifically, is adopted. Utilizing both of these coating systems, ghost and flare are radically reduced for incident light from any direction. (source)
There is still no info on the price of the Nikon Z Noct Nikkor 58mm f/0.95 lens. There are some guesses online ($6,000) that are most likely wrong. The official release is expected in 2019 and the first pictures of the lens have already started to appear on Instagram (the person who posted them works for Nikon and claims that the official release will probably be in January 2019):
Nikon Z Noct Nikkor 58mm f/0.95 lens additional pictures:
Previous coverage of the Nikon Z Noct Nikkor 58mm f/0.95 lens can be found here.
