Nikon announces Z Cinema lenses – here's what to expect

Nikon is officially balls-deep in the cinema game. Not only has it bought Red, and launched the first co-branded Z Cinema camera in the Nikon ZR, the Big N has also announced that a line of dedicated Nikkor Cinema lenses are being developed – and I think I know what they are.

"This is going to be big news for you!" Nikon exec Aihara Takashi told us. "Nikon is now developing Nikkor Cinema Lenses. They are under development right now, so it's going to take some time until they launch. We have done extensive research with Red to understand the needs in the cinema industry. But we have already begun development. So, yeah, look forward to it!"

Nikon is leveraging Red's equity in cinema cameras to kickstart the Z Cinema ecosystem, which currently consists of three bodies: the Nikon ZR, Red Raptor X, Red Komodo X and the new Red Raptor XE. But bodies need lenses – and now it's official that Nikkor Cinema glass is on the way.

So, what cine lenses can we expect from Nikon?

Nikon Z Cinema Lenses

While Nikon isn't spilling the beans on what lenses will comprise the Nikkor Cinema line, it's not hard to figure out what's on the way.

Ask most cinematographers and they'll tell you the most common lenses are about half a dozen primes, ranging from 14mm or 18mm through to 135mm. On top of that, there are a multitude of zooms that might feature in a cinema outfit – but fixed lenses are really the bread and butter.

Realistically, you can look at what Canon has done with its recent cinema lens output – which it has been repopulating with RF glass over the past few years, both in terms of its RF hybrid lenses and the RF versions of its Sumire cinema primes. So really, that acts as a rough template for what Nikon needs to do for Z Cinema.

I think we're looking at 18mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm primes, likely starting with the wide and standard lengths, though the speed will be interesting. Most of Canon's Sumire lenses are T1.5 or T1.3, slowing to T3.1 for its 14mm lens and T2.2 for the 135mm.

I'm intrigued to see where Nikon settles on this. On the one hand, the Nikon ZR is a very budget-friendly cinema camera, which invites the expectation of affordable lenses. On the other, the Raptors are 8K monsters that demand fast high-end glass.

I think we'll also see a zoom lens to complement the Nikkor 28-135mm f/4 PZ – which is distinct from the Nikkor Cinema line, being a hybrid lens, evidenced by the f-stop aperture as opposed to a T-stop.

This one is trickier to judge. Canon offers a 70-200mm in cinema and hybrid forms, which is a useful catch-all tool to cover the longer focal lengths that are less in demand by most cinematographers. But we could also be looking at wider 14-35mm or 20-50mm zooms to give ZR users a more budget-friendly access point to cinema lenses.

Until then, of course, the Z mount is widely adaptable to pretty much any lens you might want – including EF and PL glass. But it's super exciting to see Nikon building a cinema ecosystem from the ground up, and I can't wait for the first Nikkor Cinema optics!

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