JD750 Loc: SoCal

Photography Websites are reporting the price of the upcoming Nikkor 58mm f0.95 NOCT Z-mount lens at $6000-8000.

I wonder who is going to buy that lens and how many they will sell at that price?

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Hard to imagine, but someone surely will.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Time will tell. I expected it to be expensive, but not that expensive. There are better lens choices for me at that price level. But then, we don't really know what it will cost yet, do we? Best of luck.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

The marketing analysis department gave them a number to justify start of production. Time will tell the wait time based on demand.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Primarily photography departments of companies and institutions with generous spending budgets. Not so much individuals.

BebuLamar

Some people would buy it but there won't be many and exactly why they priced it so high. There is a reason they made it f/ 0.95 but not f/1.0. f/1.0 would be a lot nicer as the Z can display f/1.0 but not f/0.95 and the actual difference is none.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

It's the old "black cat in a coal mine at midnight" concept. Perhaps there will be a market among photojournalists who are working in seriously difficult and dark conditions- shooting in an active war zone at night or some kind of clandestine undercover investigative operation? BUT, that's an old school concept stemming from the days of film when ISO 3200 was the fastest available stock film and if you pushed it by processing it in "dynamite" you got no shadow detail and grain the size of frisbees. Comparatively speaking, in a decent digital camera, even at outrageous ISO settings, the grain (noise) is comparatively little. At f/.95 I imagine you would have virtually ZERO depth of field if there is such a condition. So...waht would you do with this $6,000 wonder glass, even if you could afford it?

So...Being somewhat insane, I once bought a Canon rangefinder camera with an f/.95 lens- it had the resolution of the bottom of a shot glass at full aperture. When I worked on a newspaper staff, I had a Noctilux f/1.0 for my Leica M-3 and used it twice. The front element was so big it interfered with viewfinder!

I suppose at f/9.5 you could get good "bokeh" with a brick wall as a background?

Every major camera manufacturer, at one time or another, had or has an outrageously short, long, fast, or special purpose lens. Once. at a trade show I attended, Nikon had this monster fish eye, I think it was a 6mm job, that could see behind itself! The front element was the size of a radar dish. Just what I always wanted- a lens that would enable me to photograh my feet without aiming it downward! I think it had a price tag or $20,000 pre-inflation dollars! It might have been originally made to photograh star movements or tracings, or whatever you call that specialty of astronomical photography- after all, it has an astronomical price tag! Perhaps NASA could buy it out of petty cash! Of course, a guy decides to touch the front element and left his fingerprint behind and the guy at the booth nearly had a stroke! Good thing he didn't panic and clean it with his woolen tie. I wonder if the lens comes with a bottle of special cleaning fluid and a squeegee!

Many of these things make for a good conversation piece but what are you gonna do with one?

Whos gonna buy it? The same kinda person that buys a set of stereo speaker systems enclosed in cement that requires that his house be reinforced to take the load. Yes! they make that! If you have the money...! I think there is a buyer for just about everything.

BUT, theses lenses serve a purpose. Next time you suffer a GAs attack and come home for the camera t store and announce to your significant other that you have purchased a $3,00 lens, you can preface this with good news, that you left the $6,000 f/9.5 behind at the store! Just think of the sale tax you saved!

Festus Loc: North Dakota

The same type of person that would pay $33,000 for an Apple iPhone.

Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown

Is there a waiting list?

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Suckers

Bill_de Loc: US

Everybody should have one of these lenses and shoot wide open. What better way to improve your manual focus competency?

Looks like the $8,000 U.S. will be officially confirmed on Thursday.

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eadler

If Leica can do it why not Nikon. The Leica Noctilus f0.95 is priced even higher. They sell every one that they make. Usually you have to pre-order because they are in very short supply.
Of course Leica can price that way because nobody makes better glass then they do.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

The current F mount 58mm f1.4G lens is an awesome lens. While this f0.95, for the Nikon Z mirrorless, estimated to have a starting price of $6000, is a bit much high.

BebuLamar

Not really! The person who buy the $6000 lens can resell it for quite a bit of money but the person who bought the IPhone won't be able to.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The Leitz counterpart is $11,300, or $15,900 for the Cine model, making the Nikkor a real bargain. Yes, and people do buy them. Many more photographers rent them, though.