Nikon’s Nikkor-branded lens have been produced since 1959. Today, there are over 75 million of them in the wild.
Nikon hit the 65 million lens mark in October 2011, then hit 70 million back in May 2012 – and Canon just rolled past the 80 million EF lens mark.
Nikon Press Release
TOKYO – Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce that total production of NIKKOR lenses* for Nikon interchangeable lens cameras reached seventy-five million at the beginning of November 2012.
- *Interchangeable lenses for Nikon SLR cameras and Nikon 1 advanced cameras with interchangeable lenses
Nikon (then Nippon Kogaku K.K.) released its first NIKKOR lens for Nikon SLR cameras, the NIKKOR-S Auto 5cm f/2, in 1959 along with its first SLR camera, the Nikon F. Since releasing that first lens many years ago and establishing the NIKKOR tradition, Nikon has expanded its lineup of interchangeable lenses, recently adding a line of interchangeable lenses for Nikon 1 cameras and bringing total production to seventy-five million.
At the end of May 2012, total production of NIKKOR lenses for Nikon SLR cameras reached seventy million. Since then, Nikon has continued to actively release new NIKKOR lenses.
In June 2012, Nikon released the compact and lightweight AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR, a normal zoom lens compatible with the Nikon FX format, offering a frequently-used range of angles of view, and support for a wide variety of photographic scenes, as well as the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, an ultra high-power zoom lens compatible with the Nikon DX format and offering a 16.7x zoom ratio. In addition, AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR was announced its release, the Telephoto zoom lens compatible with the Nikon FX format.
New lenses for Nikon 1, Advanced Cameras with Interchangeable Lenses, have also been released recently. In November 2011, the 1 NIKKOR 18.5mm f/1.8, an extremely light fixed focal length lens with the fastest maximum aperture of f/1.8 was released, and in September 2012, the 1 NIKKOR 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 2.5x normal zoom lens was released. In the year that has passed since the October 2011 introduction of the Nikon 1 system, Nikon has released six 1 NIKKOR lenses, including a low-profile fixed focal length lens, a normal zoom lens, and a high-power zoom lens.
NIKKOR lenses are extremely popular with a wide variety of users, from beginners to professional photographers. The lineup currently consists of more than 80 types of lenses, including zoom lenses, ultra wide-angle to super telephoto lenses, and specialty fisheye, Micro, and PC-E lenses for SLR cameras, as well as 1 NIKKOR lenses for NIKON 1 cameras. Nikon will continue to actively develop and release high-performance, highly functional products that meet and exceed user expectations.
The NIKKOR brand
NIKKOR is Nikon’s brand of photographic lenses. The NIKKOR name comes from adding “R”–a common practice in the naming of photographic lenses at the time the name was established–to “Nikko”, the Romanized abbreviation for Nippon Kogaku K.K. In 1933, the large-format lens for aerial photography was introduced with the name Aero-Nikkor.
NIKKOR lenses incorporate optical technologies that are always ahead of the times. The OP Fisheye-Nikkor 10mm f/5.6 fisheye lens for SLR cameras, released in 1968, was the world’s first lens to incorporate aspherical lens elements. The Ultra Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8, released in 1962, served as the template for projection lenses employed in Nikon IC steppers and scanners that currently boast some of the highest resolutions in the world. What’s more, NIKKOR lenses for the latest SLR cameras utilize a number of cutting-edge technologies that originated with the development of IC steppers and scanners, including Nano Crystal Coat, which virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections across a broad range of wavelengths.
From initial design to final packaging, production and quality is controlled in accordance with Nikon’s strict standards. The superior quality of NIKKOR lenses that fully satisfies users is ensured with the highest quality designs and manufacturing, as well as very strict final inspections.
Well, I have 15 lenses.
Range from 8mm f2.8 to 800mm f5.6 .
What do I need next ?
Nikon sold 75 Million lenses starting from 1959 to today.
Canon sold 80 Million EF lenses starting from 1987 to today.
Don’t get me wrong, I shoot Nikon and I use their lenses.
They are good, or at least good enough for many of us.
But I think this puts things in perspective, we can clearly see who’s
number one now! Sorry Nikon… it’s not really a celebration
at all, is it? “We’re number two, we try harder” Yea!!
… Joe Prete
Joe………..Its ” Quality ” over ” Quantity “.
Canon has been #1 in sales for ages, but, that doesnt worry me .. If you want cheap quality, buy Canon. Many years ago, I was being trained as a camera technician.. The chief tech there used to say ” Canon…Crap”.. He saw the insides of the stuff to understand.
I used to live in Japan and shoot motor sport. Alway saw the Canon tech service at the meetings pulling gear apart to service it. I never had any issues and Nikon just cleaned my gear. BTW.. I run 15 Nikon lenses from 8mm f2.8 to 800mm f5.6 and three Nikon digital bodies. D3S, D3 and D2Xs. Still have two off F5E bodies, but, not in use any more.
Canon is number 1 because it is a consumer brand first…the average joe smoe will think of canon because it was the camera that even the five and ten store sold. The average consumer does not know what is good or bad they just follow the herd. Nikon is late to the gate on selling to the average joe…..I shoot Nikon and I am glad I choose Nikon over canon 30 years ago. I prefer Nikon’s top quality glass and metering system over canon’s any day.
they should put who profited more instead of number of lenses. there are more crappy and cheap lenses from Canon, so two crappy lens’s profit equal to one nicer lens. If Canon profited more than Canon sold more… if not then it’s not~ that’s all… we all know Nikon lenses are better than Canon’s. Nikon glasses are used on microscopes, and even NASA, and many scientific studies use Nikon products.
Who was that that responded to my comment? I’m impressed, I’m glad people are reading it, I would just like to know who wrote the response. You don’t need to hide your identity, I’ve been shooting Nikon since about 1985 when Canon changed their mount and didn’t produce an adapter, but I’ve never said every other manufacturer is no good, I can appreciate good gear, no matter what brand it is. There is no way I’m going to call Canon lenses crap, just because I shoot Nikon. I have a few Tokina lenses that are great. My Mamiya lenses are superb also. .. Joe Prete
Guys,
I’m trying to help a girl with an 18-200mm VR Nikkor, the zoom slides back & forth when she moves the camera. Nikon said there’s only 5 Years on certain lenses. It’s less than 2 years old.
They want $160.00 to fix it. Apparently they know without doing an estimate, what it needs.
I almost bought one myself, it was always out of stock. Any ideas?
… Joe Prete
Joe, it’s funny that you mentioned the 18-200 VR Nikkor. I was having intermittent focusing problems with mine over the last couple of years. I was on vacation this past September in Oregon and it really pissed me off the with the focusing issues. I shut the camera down, took off the lens, remounted it but still I was forced to manually focus the lens. Two days after I came home I took the lens to the corporate headquarters service department. It was almost three years to the date that I purchased the lens. They replaced a ton of stuff (I don’t have the invoice with me to say what it was that they replaced) They honored the five year limited warranty and there was no charge for the replacement parts or labor. This made my day!!!