On the eve of the Nikon Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S, Hotspot Technology interviewed Muto Azusa, the optical design director, Kitano Kenichi, the director of product planning, Sakai Takahiro, the director of optical design, and komatsubara Yoko, the director of optical design, to discuss more technical details of the lens.
Azusa Muto, Kenichi Kitano, Takahiro Sakai, Yoko Komatsubara
The Nikon Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S is the industry's first built-in telephoto prime lens, which consists of 19 groups of 25 lenses, and its 3 groups of 7 elements belong to the built-in 1.4X multiplier, which can quickly switch between 400mm F2.8 and 560mm F4.0 through the switch on the side of the lens. In addition to the built-in multiplier, the lens also optimizes the optical structure, barrel structure, and material, so that the lens weight is controlled at 2950g, which is almost the same as the 428 lens without a built-in multiplier. It can be said that the emergence of the Nikon Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S is equivalent to redefining the 428 lens, and many photography enthusiasts are more interested in the technology behind it, and Nikon developers revealed a lot of details in the interview.
Q: How does the NIKKOR Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S guarantee image quality performance and focus speed after using a 1.4x teleconverter?
Answer: The built-in teleconverter has a special design, and the picture quality will not degrade. If used with the Nikon Z 9, the change in focus speed is almost imperceptible.
Question: Will the stabilization level be reduced when the 1.4X teleconverter is turned on? Is gear 5.5 tested at the 400mm end?
Answer: This value does not change with or without the built-in teleconverter.
Question: Will the gold circle be a sign of professional telephoto in the future?
Answer: This design scheme is intended to be used as a logo for professional ultra-telephoto lenses.
Q: The Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S is not equipped with an OLED screen, what are the considerations, and will it become the norm for S-Line lenses in the future?
Answer: Feedback from professional photographers said that when shooting with telephoto lenses, many scenes are used with monopods and there is no opportunity to see the OLED screen on the lens barrel, so Nikon takes into account the characteristics of the lens and the characteristics of the target user, this lens does not have an OLED screen installed.
Question: Since the VR switching lever on the mirror body is canceled, how can I quickly switch VR mode? (Especially bird photography users who have just switched from DSLR to Z series may need to know)
Answer: Depending on your shooting habits, we introduce the following three switching methods here.
1. Switching method in user settings (shooting menu)
For example, in the case of the Z 6 or Z 7 series, you can set the U1 (VR-SPORT) and U2 (VR-NORMAL) settings, and select the VR settings by switching dials.
For the Z 9, you can memorize 4 shooting menus. For example, by storing shooting settings A (VR-SPORT) and B (VR-NORMAL) in them and assigning the shooting menu to the Fn button, you can press the Fn button to toggle shooting menu A or B to select the VR settings.
At this point, because vr settings take up user settings, you can't use the switching method described above if you want to remember other settings.
2. How to switch in my menu
By logging into vr in my menu and assigning my menu to the Fn button, you can use the Fn button to display my menu and switch VR settings using a multi selector.
3. How to switch with i key
Click the i button, select the VR stabilization menu from the i menu, and then use the command dial to toggle the VR settings.
Q: What is the smooth high-speed voice coil motor on the Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S?
Answer: Our smooth high-speed voice coil motor combines the new AF drive system actuator pioneered by Nikon with the guide mechanism. In the guide mechanism, the clearance between the lens cavity and the guide rod is set to "0" as much as possible for smooth drive. In terms of cluster results, we have achieved "high speed", "high precision" and "silence" at the same time, which can achieve more accurate AF performance.