Nikon Produces 600mm Self-Teleconverting Lens

2022.11.02

This morning Nikon unveiled a new extremely long telephoto lens with Full-Frame coverage for their Z-platform of Mirrorless Digital Cameras. This native lens becomes the longest native lens for the platform when the builtin teleconverter is activates.

The Nikkor Z 600mm F/4S TC VR is essentially two extreme telephoto lenses in a smaller size than either one of its equivalents. When its builtin teleconverter is disengaged, this is a 600mm F/4 lens. When activated, the teleconverter switches the lens into an 840mm F/5.6. The 840mm is the actual imaged focal-length and not just an equivalent as it happens with a cropped sensor.

This extremely long lens captures either a 2.4° or 2° field-of-view which is typically used for wildlife photography. It does so in a rugged weatherproof body equipped with a builtin optical stabilization mechanism which delivers 5 stops of efficiency compared to the usual 1/focal-length rule. The VR system does most of the heavily lifting yet an extra ½-stop of stabilization can be provided by a Z-mount camera with IBIS.

The lens looks quite enormous at 44cm in length with a wide front element to achieve its F/4 maximum aperture that is impressive for a 600mm lens. The entire lens weighs 3.3kg which is just a little heavier than the Nikkor Z 800mm F/6.3S that has less reach and is less luminous. This is advantageous for wildlife photography where a lens needs to be carried a considerable distance. Any two lens to capture 600mm and 800mm would be much more of a burden to carry!

Expect this lens to become available later this month for $15,500 USD or $20,000 CAD. This is really within the price-range of other high-end wildlife lenses. It is already possible to pre-order one at Adorama and B&H Photo.

Along with news of the above lens, Nikon also announced a completely unrelated product, the MC-N10 remote grip. This is an extremely sophisticated and ergonomic wired-remote that provides dual control-dials, a focusing joystick and no less than 11 buttons! This replicated most controls of a high-end camera, minus the Mode-Dial. There are dedicated buttons for EC, ISO, AF-On, Menu and Playback plus a standard two-stage shutter-release and video record button. Two function buttons are provided. The MC-N10 grip connects via USB-C and relies on standard AA batteries for power. Similarly to professional Z-series cameras, the grip with weatherproof and also freezeproof down to -10C.

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