The consensus seems to be that Nikon’s newly-announced Z 800mm f/6.3 is selling for a good price at $6500. But that assessment only scratches the surface. In fact, for the focal length and aperture it offers, this is the least expensive exotic supertelephoto in Nikon’s recent history, by far.
The metric I’m using to make that claim is entrance pupil. The diameter of a lens’s entrance pupil is its focal length divided by the aperture. For example, a 300mm f/2.8 lens has an entrance pupil of 300/2.8 = 107mm. As another example, this metric shows that a 400mm f/2.8 is pretty equivalent to an 800mm f/5.6 in total capabilities. This is borne out by the fact that a 2x teleconverter can be attached to the 400mm f/2.8 and turn it into an 800mm f/5.6.
Most of the time, what you’re really buying (and carrying around) with an expensive telephoto lens is a bigger entrance pupil. You’re not just buying reach – hence why the Canon 800mm f/11 is so cheap, for example. You’re buying reach plus maximum aperture.
Lenses from almost every manufacturer can be graphed by their entrance pupil versus their price to give you a remarkably tight trend line. Here’s a graph of all Nikon telephoto prime lenses announced since 2000, aside from specialty lenses (like macro lenses). The Y-axis is the lens’s entrance pupil, and the X-axis is the lens’s price at announcement, adjusted for inflation:
You can see that there’s a very tight spread across these lenses, which makes it easy to predict how expensive a Nikon telephoto lens will be, plus or minus about $1000. There are only two outliers in the entire chart, and both are 800mm lenses.
On one hand, the Nikon F-mount 800mm f/5.6E FL VR was much more expensive than it “should” have been according to this trend line, launching at $17,900 in 2013, which is about $21,800 in today’s dollars. That’s about $7000 more than Nikon’s history would have predicted.
The other outlier is in a more favorable direction: today’s Nikon Z 800mm f/6.3. Although it’s a third of a stop slower than the F-mount version, it still gathers a lot of light for the focal length, with a similar entrance pupil to a 500mm f/4 design. Because of that, a reasonable price estimate would have been about $10,000, similar to the Nikon F-mount 500mm f/4E FL VR. A higher estimate wouldn’t have been surprising either, considering the outlandish MSRP of Nikon’s other 800mm prime.
Yet Nikon went with $6500 instead. Maybe this is because Nikon is deliberately lowering the price of the lens and taking less profit per unit in an effort to shift high-end sports photographers to the Z system. Combined with the Nikon Z9 – which also launched at a lower price than expected – Nikon has created a uniquely-priced, highly competitive unit for sports photography. There’s simply no other system currently on the market that can match the specs of the Z9, plus the focal length and aperture of the 800mm f/6.3, for the $12,000 combined price.
And yes, the Nikon Z 800mm’s price is still high. $6500 is hardly cheap and not justifiable for many photographers out there. If you’re on a budget, the way to go is still the used route – something like a Nikon D500 with an older lens that matches your price range. The used market is filled with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S II lenses and similar, all of which cost much less than they did at launch.
But for photographers who want the most current telephoto glass, this one is worth a serious look. Compared to all other Nikon telephoto primes of recent memory, the Nikon Z 800mm f/6.3 is by far the least expensive for the focal length/aperture combination.
Given what I’ve covered in this article, you’d be wise to predict that the 800mm f/6.3 is going to be out of stock for a while. If you want the lens or even think you might want it in the next couple years, you should pre-order it today. You should also ideally sign up for NPS to link your order to your account if you’re a professional photographer who hasn’t done so already. The Nikon Z9 still hasn’t shipped for many non-NPS members who placed their order the day of the announcement; the 800mm f/6.3 is sure to be the same way.
We’re affiliates with B&H (pre-order) and Adorama (pre-order) and would love it if you support Photography Life through those links, but I also suggest pre-ordering from smaller retailers that may be able to ship sooner than the huge stores. Place some pre-orders online just in case, but also talk to your local retailer and see if you can get your name higher on the list there as well. With the Z9, we have heard more success stories from people who took that approach, aside from NPS members who were prioritized by B&H and Adorama.
Let me know below if you have any thoughts about the 800mm f/6.3’s launch and uniquely low price! I won’t be getting this lens myself as someone who rarely photographs wildlife (one more spot in line for everyone else!) but I’m interested in hearing your plans with this lens if you’re going to buy it.
Hi there. I’m upgrading my kit and debating a number of options. This 800 prime is a good price for what it is but I cannot afford to upgrade both lens and camera on the high end. What good but more moderately priced Z body can I pair this lens with? I am a bird and wildlife enthusiast. Many thanks
I was quite surprised by the price when it was announced. It was half the price I expected. I do appreciate your analysis. It was very well thought out… it is a useful tool.
With the ban on a certain Country receiving Imports of US produced Chips, there might be a increase supply to other industries and the impact of this might be that the lens becomes available to a non professional customer sooner than anticipated.
I have to imagine Canon shooters are VERY ENVIOUS now. After all they’ll have to shell out an extra $10K for both the 600 and 800 mm lenses.
I am! though the quality of the 800 f11 is not bad at all, it is totally useless early mornings.
Interesting, and I wonder if this does speak to the throat diameter in combination with the PF element.
I suspect that the same graph but with the variable of weight instead of diameter might also be interesting.
Dear Spencer, thank you for this interesting post.
Regarding the 5.6/800mm FL there is to consider that the item contains a TC 1.25x which fits perfectly to the respectiv lens. This is probably one reason for the outstanding high price of this lens.
Regarding the new 6.3/800m Z lens there is to consider that there the big front lenses are not made of special ED-, SR- or FL-Glass as it is in all other big Nikon lenses, especially the 5.6/800mm FL. The special glas of the 6.3/800mm Z is built in the rear parts of the lens and needs not be so big. I think that could be one reason why Nikon could provide us this outstanding low price for this lens. Kind regards, Christian
Good points, Christian. The 800mm f/6.3 does cut some of those features, especially the built-in teleconverter. Plus as you say, the special elements on the new lens are generally smaller and further to the back. Interestingly, this lens also doesn’t have any aspherical elements at all, which most likely reduces the manufacturing price (though neither did the 800mm f/5.6E). I’m just glad Nikon passed these cost savings onto the retail price!
The 800mm f/6.3 is a S Line Lens, so it is placed in the highest regarded stable of Nikons offerings.
It is the sibling of the 300mm and 500mm PF range of Lenses, but Nikon has kept the PF Icon out the Title given to the Lens.
Maybe they see the PF label being used outside of Nikon, as a distinguishing factor that suggests a lesser technology and level of performance.
The 800mm is not to be distinguished as anything but a Top of the Range, Top Performing ,S Line Lens for the Z mount System.
This lens can when finally obtainable, be purchased with a Top of the Range Z Body to function as a the latest generation of technology, for less outlay that would be needed to acquire many Prime Lens that come with a lesser focal length.
What’s Not to Like ?
With the Z lenses, Nikon has deliberately excluded technology nomenclature in lens titles. Designations in titles are:
DX
MC macro lens
S for S‑line high-end lenses
SE lens decoratively matches Z fc camera
VR
The barrel is marked:
(white) 800 / 6.3 S
(yellow) Phase Fresnel Lens
Good points. The reason the serial # of the bespoke 800-TC125 matches only one 800 f5.6E FL is because the optics of each pair is tuned by one of a select few expert optical meisters. If you lose or damage the TC and/or the lens, the entire ensemble can only be repaired in the same assembly lab of Tochigi Nikon.
This means one pays for 2 supertelephotos. Each prime has unique qualities: especially the 1000 f7.1. The 800 f5.6E also pairs very well with TC14 III, but it is impossible to “caravan” the TC125 with any other TC.
My comparisons of both Nikon’s 800 primes, is the f5.6E has distinctly superior optics, and it is very hard to detect any negative impacts of TC125. Of course the 800 PF is in its own category of ergonomics (besides relative affordability). 800 f6.3 PF also pairs well with the ZTC14, but loses acuity with ZTC2.
Atmospheric interference, exemplified by heat haze, can have serious impacts on image quality.
Boy Nikon are crushing it with the lenses. I’m guessing we’ll get a Z8 with a stacked sensor soon enough. That will be amazing.
The Z system arguably got off to a slow start with lenses but is really picking up steam. There aren’t very many gaps any more, other than the lightweight telephoto zoom that I’ve been bringing up for ages (and even then, the 24-200mm basically fills that gap).
As for the Z8, we’ll see!
My outside the box research has lead myself into thinking the Z8 is a little further away that wished for.
There is quite a back log of Camera Body Orders orders not being met as a result of chip shortages.
The use of the chips that are available, is creating a unprecedented complexity to how to make Camera Body Models available in the market place.
Stacked Sensors will mean that one lesser single sensor body being produced is the compromise.
I think there is a keenness within the industry to see a Single Sensor produced to
overcome the dependency on a stacked Sensor Array, with this in mind the Z8 might be a Body with a New Generation of sensor.
A Z7iii and Z6iii might be the next bodies to become available
It’s interesting that the linear correlation is with pupil diameter, not pupil diameter squared. Because I would suspect that the latter this is how the amount (mass) of glass scales (area rather than diameter).
That’s a good point, and now that you mention it, I’d agree. I wonder why their historical prices are so clearly linear instead. Maybe it *would* be more of an exponential curve if Nikon produced some huge telescopes with 300mm+ entrance pupils.
“Although large refracting telescopes were very popular in the second half of the 19th century, for most research purposes, the refracting telescope has been superseded by the reflecting telescope, which allows larger apertures.”
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/…_telescope
Thank you, Pete! Looks like I should have said refracting telescope.
As for the trend line, I’m thinking in terms of those rare 1200mm f/5.6 lenses we see every once in a while, which are much more expensive than the linear trend would have predicted, not to mention billion dollar lenses like the James Webb Telescope that clearly don’t scale linearly between entrance pupil vs price (even though it’s a reflecting telescope). With Nikon’s lens pricing, we’re probably just seeing the very bottom of a curve, so it looks linear to us.
The James Webb Space Telescope was an astronomical price, sky‑high, by Jove!
The volume, hence the mass, of a curved refractive lens element is proportional to:
• the cube of its radius (or it’s diameter) for its end caps
• plus radius² × thickness of the cylinder between its end caps
Hi Spencer, I too estimated the price correctly, but more by luck than judgment, I think. I just graphed the previous 2 PF f/mount lenses and extended the line to 800mm. So this is now my ‘bag’ for wildlife, Z9, Z800PF, F500PF, Z100-400, Z24-70 f/2.8 and Z20mm f/1.8 for my night work. After following and using Nikon for 30 years, I feel as though they have finally produced a winning combo that will benefit all of us. I cant get over how good that Z9 auto focus is or how good the 500pf is on the Z9. Still blown away.
Turns out that was the correct way to estimate the price this time! Very interesting because the 300mm f/4 and 500mm f/5.6 both had entrance pupils of about 80mm, while the 800mm is at a whopping 127mm. Anyway, I can’t complain by any stretch. The kit you describe is absolutely killer.
With the Z lenses’ short flange distance, I don’t think they can be adapted to other camera systems. So, I kind of thought that making this lens this price is a strong attempt at luring photographers from other camera systems as it is about the price-of-a-camera less than similar lenses. And you can’t just buy the lens, put an adaptor on it, and use it with your existing non-Z gear. This strategy might make switching camera systems almost free. My two cents.
Jason, to me, giving the Z mount such a short flange distance was one of the smartest things Nikon has ever done. It gives more flexibility to lens designers (especially with the mount’s huge diameter) and more importantly from a business standpoint, makes it impossible to use Nikon’s Z lenses on any other camera. The 800mm f/6.3 is the clearest example of that so far. I think it will convince people to switch brands at a greater rate than almost all other products, because it offsets the cost of switching and then some.
Appreciate the well written article Spencer. I definitely have interest in this lens & your info pushed me over the edge. I plan on using your link for preorder w/B&H I do have question if you are able to answer-When I follow your affiliate link the address is identical to the page as I searched for the Lens on B&H’s page (correction I do see a /qa at end of PL Link I hope that is the identifier.? I was wanting to be certain PL receives credit. Is there something I’m missing, Is the affiliate an internal thing but same page address? Thanks
Thank you, Kevin! We will receive credit if you follow the link in the article.
The brief explanation is that our link has a code at the end that’s visible only on our site. Once you end up on B&H, it directs you to the product page itself with no difference to the URL. Behind the scenes, there’s now a tag on your browser that says you got there through Photography Life.
Thanks for quick reply, I will be pre ordering shortly.