No More Production of Nikon F Mount (2024)

Nikon is no longer making any F mount lenses or bodies. There are still many available from stock already in stores, and of course there are some great deals on used gear (and will continue to be). But if you want new F mount equipment, it is now or never.

In spring of 2022 my 18-month old 600mm f/4E lens had its autofocus module fail and I had to wait 4 months for Nikon USA to get the part in stock and do the repair. It was evident that this failure was relatively common for them to have no spare parts in stock, and that they were doing fewer production runs of the parts for the lens. I had the same module fail on my 70-200mm f/2.8E lens and Nikon as with the 600mm f/4 refused to acknowledge that this was a manufacturing defect as they had in the past with other Nikon lenses and cameras I have owned.

This should be a consideration when buying any f-mount lens or camera that it may not be repairable in the future as the parts needed will not be available.

Thank you Fred for this update. The day we knew was coming is here. I accelerated the purchase of a 19mm f/4 PC lens last summer because I wasn't sure how much longer Nikon would make them.

It will be interesting to see the impact on the F-mount used market. Might be negative given fewer repair parts or lower priority by Nikon to do F-mount repairs (per Carlson's comment above), or for certain popular F-mount lenses, it may boost prices as supply vs demand creates a bump.

That is a good point @Calson . Sure you can get some good deals on a lens you might not otherwise afford, but if you spend three thousand dollars on a lens that is normally nine thousand but it fails and no parts are available, it is still a three thousand dollar paperweight.

This only happened to me once, but thankfully it was not an expensive lens. I bought a Sigma 100-300 f4 used (in Canon EF mount and it was a great lens) but the autofocus failed within a year and it could not be repaired due to parts no longer available. I sold it for around a hundred bucks with a note it worked in manual focus only.

Calson said:

In spring of 2022 my 18-month old 600mm f/4E lens had its autofocus module fail and I had to wait 4 months for Nikon USA to get the part in stock and do the repair. It was evident that this failure was relatively common for them to have no spare parts in stock, and that they were doing fewer production runs of the parts for the lens. I had the same module fail on my 70-200mm f/2.8E lens and Nikon as with the 600mm f/4 refused to acknowledge that this was a manufacturing defect as they had in the past with other Nikon lenses and cameras I have owned.

This should be a consideration when buying any f-mount lens or camera that it may not be repairable in the future as the parts needed will not be available.

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I asking about parts for bodies and lenses in nikon service center. They told me - service support for F-mount will be available many years. Especially the last generation DSLR (D5, D6, D500, D850, D780) and lenses with sign "E" (electromagnetic diaphragme).

Carmel Nikon said:

Thank you Fred for this update. The day we knew was coming is here. I accelerated the purchase of a 19mm f/4 PC lens last summer because I wasn't sure how much longer Nikon would make them.

It will be interesting to see the impact on the F-mount used market. Might be negative given fewer repair parts or lower priority by Nikon to do F-mount repairs (per Carlson's comment above), or for certain popular F-mount lenses, it may boost prices as supply vs demand creates a bump.

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The prices of exotics will remain the same as now, maybe a little bump for the likes of the 200/2. The rest of the prices will crater. It's not just the transition to ML, Nikon sells 10% of the number of bodies they sold 15 years ago. There will forever be an oversupply of common F mount lenses.

I think we all knew this was coming. Some of the F-mount designs have been around a long time and there are Z-mount alternatives. The F-mount versions were falling further and further behind. Nikon would much rather sell out than produce too long and have to discount deeply.

I think we will see some real bargains in F-mount gear. If the new lenses are discounted, it pushes down the price for used gear. We've seen the prices for used long lenses fall a great deal. Some of these lenses work very well on Z camera bodies.

This also suggests that Nikon will shift production into more Z lenses. Z lenses only took up a fraction of capacity two years ago, but today, it's got to be over 90% anyway. Discontinuing production of F-mount lenses, parts production, and reducing inventory makes a lot of sense.

EricBowles said:

I think we all knew this was coming. Some of the F-mount designs have been around a long time and there are Z-mount alternatives. The F-mount versions were falling further and further behind. Nikon would much rather sell out than produce too long and have to discount deeply.

I think we will see some real bargains in F-mount gear. If the new lenses are discounted, it pushes down the price for used gear. We've seen the prices for used long lenses fall a great deal. Some of these lenses work very well on Z camera bodies.

This also suggests that Nikon will shift production into more Z lenses. Z lenses only took up a fraction of capacity two years ago, but today, it's got to be over 90% anyway. Discontinuing production of F-mount lenses, parts production, and reducing inventory makes a lot of sense.

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Agree completely but Nikon stated shortly after the Z9 release and shipped, they stated they were done with F mount bodies and lenses. A bit surprising it took them basically 2 years to make it official.

Interestingly Nikon has made this statement. But think the F mount systems (which I own and still use) are reaching their 'end of life' production, with mirrorless products the company's primary way forward.

https://petapixel.com/2024/01/25/ni...t-it-is-no-longer-producing-f-mount-products/

EricKlees said:

Agree completely but Nikon stated shortly after the Z9 release and shipped, they stated they were done with F mount bodies and lenses. A bit surprising it took them basically 2 years to make it official.

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Please provide link to official Nikon announcement. Thanks.

Alistair said:

Please provide link to official Nikon announcement. Thanks.

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Lol I'm not about to go searching for 2 year old news. It was from an interview of some Nikon exec that said they were concentrating on mirrorless and that no new R&D would happen in DSLR gear. That they were moving on from DSLRs and the F mount.

Another vacuous NR post
Where's the official statement from Nikon?
NR has tripped up badly recently eg we are still waiting for the Z9 Firmware update that NR predicted for December 2023 (?)

The day is nigh for the Z to replace F entirely - at least sales of new ILCs and new lenses made by Nikon. But DSLRs are still shipping, and selling - according to CIPA data. Europe is the largest market. As of mid 2023, approx 1 DSLR was sold for every 3.4 MILCs

Value of MILC vs DSLR sales is the important differentiator, which must be shaping Nikon's strategy, especially as one can predict more MILC buyers also buy new Z lenses versus the purchaser upgrading to a new DSLR.

However, CIPA does not publish separate statistics of DSLR versus MILC optics. Nikon will continue to make sound profits where and when it sells F Nikkors as well as the remaining high end DSLRs. If NR is correct, production has already been stopped of newly released - and unique - Nikkors such as the 180-400 f4E TC14 (2018 -) and 120-300 f2.8E FL (2020 -)

Nikon USA still lists a full range of DSLRs for sale, yet Nikon Japan only lists 4 DSLR models for sale. So the message is obvious that Tokyo is winding down the F System as they crank up Z production and marketing

Contrary to NR - see a more realistic prediction:

One of the first official explanations/statement by Nikon was nearly 4 years ago - appended quote. One of the shorter answers in the same dpr interview portends interesting implications. The manufacturing techniques Nikon has built for its Z mount lenses are different from the F System. It follows Nikon may well have decided not to update its F Mount production line(s), or perhaps only modify specific procedures for priority F Nikkors.

Four years later (actually six since 2018), Nikon is still building its Z System, as Ohsh*ta explained recently in a PetaPixel interview earlier this week. This is going to be a few years ahead. Only then, can expect Nikon will cut clean from its F System, and assume "all DSLR customers will [ultimately] be satisfied by the features provided by mirrorless, and will shift to the Z system."

EricKlees said:

Lol I'm not about to go searching for 2 year old news. It was from an interview of some Nikon exec that said they were concentrating on mirrorless and that no new R&D would happen in DSLR gear. That they were moving on from DSLRs and the F mount.

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Do you have a sense of the timeframe over which you’ll transition customers away from DSLR, eventually?​

We haven’t finalized our plan yet. At this time I can say that we will prioritize both DSLR and mirrorless. We also want to complete our Z system: that’s the first priority. At a certain point, we hope that all DSLR customers will [ultimately] be satisfied by the features provided by mirrorless, and will shift to the Z system. That’s the goal. But until then, we will continue to develop DSLRs.

I'm not sure I completely buy the rumor. I suspect there is some confusion even internally and the answer is more nuanced. Nikon is not going to prematurely announce broad decisions such as discontinuing production of F-mount lenses in general.

Nikon has previously indicated they will discontinue sales of entry level products. The entry level D3500 and D5500 products and related lenses clearly fall into that category. Their previously communicated timeframe is to end all sales of those products by 2025 (they were not specific about when in 2025). This implies discontinuing a wide range of activities to support entry level consumer products. For example, sales through big box retailers require a lot of support in the form of marketing, staff, and advertising. That's not very scalable - a 50% decline in sales does not translate to a 50% drop in costs - so at lower levels it is less and less profitable.

On the other hand, Nikon is planning to significantly grow sales to enthusiasts and professionals. The DSLR and F-mount lenses has some value in this segment. Some companies own larger numbers of DSLR cameras and F-mount lenses. It's not always financially practical for them to replace all gear and go to mirrorless at once. If a core lens like a 24-70 f/2.8 or 70-200 f/2.8 fails and needs replacement, they need to be able to buy one. The same may be true for camera bodies - they may have proprietary reasons for needing certain camera models. Government contracts usually require product certification, and certifying a new camera is expensive and can take time. I don't think Nikon will be discontinuing production of ALL F-mount lenses - just some of them based on supply and demand.

I do see limited need for designing new lenses. F-mount designs can be easily adapted to Z-mount, but not the other way around. With F-mount adaptation, you just need a spacer on the back end and a Z-mount that communicates. Going the other way, you might need a negative spacer. Some of the long lenses are much more easily modified because they have a spacer type design already in place - and it could be removed. But even then, it's not a simple feat.

The end of F-mount lenses by Nikon does not mean the end of F-mount lenses. You still have designs from Sigma, Tamron and others that will be produced and can be reasonably modified for F-mount.

One other lingering issue for the future of DSLR cameras is the EU requirement for USB-C charging. I'm not sure how that applies to existing models such as the D850 and D6, but Thom Hogan points out the potential issue. This is an EU issue today, so those cameras could be sold in the US and turn up as gray market models in other countries. There is also potential for new battery designs that support USB-C charging and some of those designs already exist.

EricKlees said:

Lol I'm not about to go searching for 2 year old news. It was from an interview of some Nikon exec that said they were concentrating on mirrorless and that no new R&D would happen in DSLR gear. That they were moving on from DSLRs and the F mount.

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Sorry, I misunderstood your post. It implied to me that Nikon had recently made an official announcement ceasing F mount production.

i'm not sure you should need an announcement. it should be pretty clear by now that if you need a specific f-mount lens, you probably should get it now.

note, tamron has pretty long since stopped making my favorite f-mount lenses.

Alistair said:

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. It implied to me that Nikon had recently made an official announcement ceasing F mount production.

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It's all good. I just didn't have the motivation to go slu*thing for wherever i read that from 2 years ago

John Navitsky said:

i'm not sure you should need an announcement. it should be pretty clear by now that if you need a specific f-mount lens, you probably should get it now.

note, tamron has pretty long since stopped making my favorite f-mount lenses.

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This was kinda my point that i forgot it was pretty much a foregone conclusion

Geoff_G said:

I'd need to see an official Nikon announcement that they've discontinued all F mount products before I fully buy into this Nikon Rumors rumor.
That said I suspect sales of F mount products has greatly diminished in the last year or so (I'd wager the Z8 was a main impetus behind this) and it's only a matter of time.
I have no skin in the game any longer since I own no F mount stuff (except for a spare lens cap or two). I have fully embraced the future and I have no regrets. My Z8 and Z9 are superior to DSLR's...and S level Z mount lenses are superior to F mount glass.
I wish Nikon luck in depleting their F mount stock....

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I'd say, imo, that the Z9 has more to do with the diminished f Mount sales then the Z8. I said before the Z8 showed that the Z8 wouldn't have meat the sales numbers the Z9 has/had. I think that bares out.

Though the Z8 finished off the F Mount for sure