A Complete List of Nikon Z Lenses

The new Nikon Z-mount with the 55mm diameter allows for improved lens designs for faster autofocus lenses with improved overall IQ. 

As Nikon Z mount cameras grow in popularity we will see many 3rd party lens manufacturers jumping on board as well as new lenses developed from other manufacturers.

This is a complete list of every Full Frame Nikon Z lens. I may consider adding APS-C but that gets messy. 

Nikon Z-Mount Lenses

Use this guide to find every Nikon Z Lens. Including all Nikon Z zoom lenses and all Nikon Z Prime lenses as well as third-party lenses made for the Z-Mount.

There are still a few quirks with the system, one of the big ones I’ve seen some people complain about is that the Z cameras will not remember your focus position if you power it off then back on again.

Nikon Z-Mount Zoom Lenses

The Nikon Z Mount zoom S lenses like their prime lenses have been designed as multipurpose video and still lenses. Nikon is approaching the whole system with video in mind and they are building in technology that allows for optimal performance when shooting video as well as stills.

The S lenses have minimum focus breathing, smooth motion aperture, and silent autofocus which is very useful for videography. This is the big advantage the Z system has over the older F mount lenses.

So far none of the Z lenses have manual focus couplings and will be focus-by-wire.

I’ve also included all lenses on the Nikon Z Lens Roadmap with their expected release dates.

Nikon Z-Mount Prime Lenses

The f1.8 lenses are significantly improved over their older G and F mount lenses with new focus technology, weather-sealing and mechanical improvements for video. These are the best f1.8 lenses we’re seeing made by anyone so far.

Some of the lenses like the 35mm and the 85mm have a dual focus system to help with close focus. Their 50mm f1.8 does not but is the fastest focusing lens of the lineup.

The S lenses have also been designed with video in mind.

The S lenses minimize field of view shifts when focusing and both aperture and the stepping motor focus systems are completely silent when shooting video. The aperture has also been designed for a smooth motion for exposure changes during video shooting.

The f1.8 S lenses are more expensive than we’re used to but the quality is supreme.

These are mid to high element count lenses, so you will not get a 3d tonal pop, as you do with some of the lower element lenses from other brands.

Nikon Z-Mount Adapters

So far we only have the official Nikon F to Z mount adapter. It will autofocus AF/AE with E, G, D Lenses.

D lenses will not be able to have autofocus.

Third Part to Nikon Adapters

When buying dumb adapters, I’ve found Kipon to be the best quality although they are a bit more expensive, except for maybe Novoflex. It’s important to get a higher quality adapter when buying an adapter for Leica M or M42 since those lenses are a bit more difficult to get on and off and sometimes can get stuck.

For Leica M lenses, you can jump up to a Helicoid adapter. Leica M lenses have a pretty far minimum focus distance. Having the Helicoid allows you to adjust the length of the adapter for a closer focus.

For AF adapters, I have the Techart Sony FE to Z adapter. It’s great for adapting AF lenses and autofocus works, but it’s not very fast or reliable. It seems to use contrast-detect mostly so there is a lot of pulsing action as it tries to fine-tune focus. If you put it on AF-S and use a center point, then it’s fine. It’s like shooting with an old DSLR.

The Autofocus Techart Adapter will not allow you to use non-CPU Sony lenses. You won’t be able to engage the shutter for some reason, I had to buy a Pixco Sony FE to Z adapter to use my non-CPU MF Sony lenses.

Note: The Techart FE to Z adapter does not fit on the Nikon Z50 APS-C camera. There isn’t enough space for part of the adapter to recess into the camera since the Z50 is a little shallower near the mount.

There are a million other adapters out there for various exotic lenses. It would be futile for me to try to list them all here. But here are some nice options for what’s popular.

Japanese Third-Party Z Lenses

Yasuhara Lenses for the Z Mount

Yasuhara has made a small and lightweight manual focus 35mm f1.8 lens. They may release a few more in the future.

The new Anthy 35mm f1.8 Features 9 elements in 7 groups. So far I’m seeing nice contrast and sharpness with the weakness being the vignetting. This might be a great place to start if you’re looking to build out their prime manual lens collection.

Korean Third-Party Z Lenses

Samyang / Rokinon Z Lenses

These are DSLR style lenses. Meaning they were designed for DSLRs and have been adapted for mirrorless.

They released a mirrorless 14mm autofocus lens for the Canon RF system, I imagine they will do the same for Nikon soon.

I’m linking you to Samyang lenses. Do manually look for Rokinon lenses before ordering when there are sales. Sometimes Rokinon will be on sale but Samyang won’t.

DSLR Style – Manual Focus

American Third-Party Z Lenses

Lensbaby Nikon Z Lenses

Lens baby has released their lenses in the Z Mount. These are all manual focus.

Swiss Third-Party Nikon Z Lenses

Irix has a set of Swiss designed Cine lenses that use Japanese optics.

List of Irix Cine lenses for the Canon RF system.

Chinese Third-Party Z Lenses

7Artisans Nikon Z Lenses

Like Meike, 7Artisans now makes some really fun cheap manual focus lenses for the Z mount. These lenses aren’t perfect, but for the price, they can be a lot of fun. I often use these Chinese lenses as burner lenses for when I’m shooting in questionable neighborhoods.

These Chinese lenses are often based on classical designs tuned for mirrorless. Usually, their main flaw is poor inner element coatings so you’ll lose clarity in bright environments.

Kipon “Elegant” Lenses For Nikon Z Mount

Kipon has a new lens line of manual focus Elegant lenses for the Canon RF and Nikon Z Mount. These are essentially new Handevision lenses. Handevision is actually owned by Kipon and they make lenses with a classic style in both physical design and rendering.

Laowa / Venus Optics Nikon Z Lenses

Laowa has produced some manual focus mirrorless specific lenses like the 15mm f2 and the 10-18mm. But the rest are DLSR converts. Basically F lenses with a built-in adapter. I don’t know how I feel about buying that DSLR designed lenses in the Z mount when it’s the same lens in the F mount. If you still use your dslr it might be better to just buy those in the F-mount then adapt it with the F to Z adapter since it is the same lens. I’m also not sure if Laowa tunes each lens for the different mounts or camera systems, usually, these third-party companies do not so you will see slightly different behavior between camera brands or sometimes mounts.

Meike Lenses For Nikon Z Mount

Meike has engineered its 50mm f1.7 lens for the new Nikon mount. This was a fairly popular low budget lens for the Sony FE mount and it’s nice it has moved over to Nikon. The Meike lenses are cheap Chinese lenses but their optical formulas are actually quite nice.

Right now Meike only has manual focus lenses for the Z mount but they do have an autofocus lens now for the F mount.

Mitakon Z Mount Lenses

Mitakon has brought over their 50mm f1.095 manual focus Speedmaster to the Nikon Z mount. This is the latest version III of their lens.

NiSi Lenses For Nikon

NiSi, a popular company known for its ND and UV filters has started making lenses.

They also have a line of Cine lenses in the PL, E and EF mounts that you could adapt to Nikon.

TTArtisans 

TTArtisans is a new company from that ring of Chinese companies that all make very similar lenses. TTArtisans manual focus lenses are looking a little more expensive with possibly some improvements to build?

Viltrox Lenses For Z Mount

Viltrox has been working hard at pumping out new lenses for these mirrorless camera systems. Their first lens for the Nikon Z mount is the manual focus 20mm f1.8. A full manual lens with a few interesting features. Short-wavelength high transparency. Not sure what that means, Short-wavelength is UV light.

4 ED elements and a Nano-coating.

Brightin Star

There is yet another Chinese lens company now making lenses for the Nikon Z Mount. Most of these Chinese lenses seem to share the same formula. 7 elements in 5 groups. Brightin Star lenses so far are all manual focus.

Nikon Z Mount Lens List Conclusions

There are a lot of lenses coming from Nikon and third-party manufacturers coming 2019 and 2020. I’ll continue to update this list with everything with reviews of what I can get my hands on.