Nikon Z Lens Roadmap (Updated August 2024)

Spencer Cox
Nikon-lens-roadmap-illustration-pirate-map-fun

Nikon hasn’t added any new lenses to their Z lens roadmap for a while, and it looks like the roadmap is winding down. Still, there have been some big lens announcements both from Nikon and from third parties recently. As of August 2024, here’s what we can expect to see for the Nikon Z System over the coming months and years.

The Updated Nikon Z Lens Roadmap

The following is the latest version of the Nikon Z lens roadmap. It was officially released in September of 2023, and it’s still current as of August 2024. However, it’s a roadmap in name only. As you can see, just one lens remains to be announced:

Sadly, it seems like we are coming to the end of Nikon’s roadmap, unless they decide to release a new version. Nikon previously said that this roadmap would cover “to 2023.” As of August 2024, the only remaining unannounced lens is:

Even this lens may already have been announced, in the form of the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 that was revealed in June of 2024 – though the general consensus is that this is not the lens that Nikon was teasing on the roadmap. If you’re going by official sources, Nikon hasn’t clarified whether the Z 35mm f/1.4 is the same as the missing 35mm lens on the roadmap or something different. But the new lens isn’t from the S-line, so I think we can still expect to see a 35mm f/1.2 S at some point.

In total, every Nikon Z lens we know about is as follows. Lenses that have not yet been formally announced are marked in bold:

The official specifications of the unannounced 35mm lens are unknown. But if we do ever get a 35mm S-line optic like the roadmap said, it will most likely be a 35mm f/1.2 lens to match the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2 S and 85mm f/1.2 S lenses.

When Will Any Upcoming Lenses Be Announced?

The new roadmap doesn’t list any date projections for when the unannounced 35mm S-line lens will go on sale, and anyone who tells you more than that is just making things up or repeating unsubstantiated rumors.

Likewise, it wouldn’t be out of character for Nikon to release a lens that isn’t on the roadmap. That’s what happened with the following lenses, which were total surprises when they were announced:

I expect that there will be many more such lenses from Nikon in the future – in fact, probably all of Nikon’s upcoming lenses apart from a 35mm f/1.2 S will be this way, unless Nikon re-launches their roadmap with new lenses.

Third-Party Lenses

Already, there are well over 100 third-party lenses for the Nikon Z system, but almost all of them are manual-focus only. While there’s nothing wrong with manual focus lenses, to keep this article shorter, I’ll stick to listing third-party autofocus lenses below:

Of the bunch, some of the most exciting are the Tamron lenses. The Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 pairs very well with the Z system considering Nikon’s inexplicable lack of lightweight telephoto lenses (apart from their two superzooms). I’ve shot with the Tamron 70-300mm extensively and really liked it as a portable telephoto option. Hopefully it proves popular enough that Nikon releases a lightweight telephoto zoom of their own to compete with it! Also on the telephoto side of things, Tamron makes a 150-500mm f/5-6.7 that undercuts Nikon’s 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 (costing $1200 rather than $1700).

Meanwhile, the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 is a totally different type of lens that really flies in the face of typical lens design. For event photographers who want a single do-it-all lens, it’s an extremely appealing set of focal lengths that could replace a multi-lens set.

As for the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2, it’s essentially a version of Nikon’s own 28-75mm f/2.8 but with newer, improved optics and the Tamron label rather than the Nikon label. Nikon’s Z 28-75mm f/2.8 is based off the “G1” version of Tamron’s lens. I think that for most photographers, picking up the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 makes more sense than choosing Nikon’s Z 28-75mm f/2.8 at this point.

I’m also excited about the three Sigma DX lenses. Sigma is one of the best third-party lens companies, and these three lenses are a good start considering that there aren’t very many Nikon-brand Z DX lenses yet. All three Sigma lenses fill useful spots in the lineup, for anything from astrophotography to portraiture and street photography.

Finally, Viltrox has some interesting glass if you’re looking for a fast DX lens on a budget. The 13mm f/1.4 could be a good choice for DX Milky Way photography, while the 56mm f/1.4 and 72mm f/1.2 seem like good options for DX portrait photographers. Of Viltrox’s full-frame lenses, the one that interests me the most is the 16mm f/1.8, since no other Nikon Z lens offers such a combination of focal length and aperture.

Most of the other third-party lenses listed above have Nikon Z equivalents already, so they aren’t as exciting at first glance, but they could still make sense if you’re trying to save money.

NIKON Z7 + TAMRON 70-300mm F/4.5-6.3 @ 114mm, ISO 64, 1/30, f/5.6

Nikon Z Lenses Announced So Far

The list below keeps track of all the Nikon Z-mount lenses that have been announced so far, in order from oldest to most recent:

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

If you want to find out more about the Nikon Z lenses, see Nikon Z Mirrorless Lenses page at Nikon USA.

Nikon Z Cameras

All the lenses above are Nikon Z mirrorless only, meaning they will not fit on any Nikon DSLR regardless of the adapter you use. At the moment, these are the only cameras which work with Nikon Z lenses:

Of these cameras, the Nikon Z30, Z50, and Zfc have a DX sensor (AKA 1.5x crop sensor), while the others have a larger FX camera sensor. However, all of Nikon’s Z lenses fit on all of these cameras, DX or not. If you use one of Nikon’s DX lenses on an FX camera, your photos will be automatically cropped to fit the DX area. See more at Nikon DX vs FX.

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