End of Ais NIkkor

[Akira]

Yesterday, I noticed that the all information of Ais Nikors had been moved from the current model section of the Japanese web catalog:

https://www.nikon-image.com/products/nikkor/fmount/

to its discontinued item section:

https://www.nikon-image.com/products/nikkor/discontinue_fmount/

Apparently, Nikon finally has put an end to the handling of Ais lenses.

[Roland Vink]

The AF-S 12-24/4, AF-S 18-300 and all AF-D lenses are also discontinued.

As a user of AI-S lenses I am grateful that Nikon kept them in production as long as they did, but with the move to Z mount and the downturn in the photographic sales, it was only a matter of time...

[Erik Lund]

Truly remarkable they kept them for so long! Thanks for the heads up

[Jakov Minić]

That is very sad to hear. Thanks, Akira for letting us know.

[Airy]

This would have been worth an official communication or celebration. Sad news, but there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's just the official or, should I say, administrative end of a brilliant era. There may be others in the future (but, given the way technology is driven, that's slightly less likely).

[simsurace]

Strange that this would go so quietly given the large following that these lenses have among videographers and of course long-time Nikon photographers. Luckily I was able to acquire a good selection of Ais primes, many of which were already discontinued before. Maybe used market prices will now rise also for those lenses that were up to now available new, such as the 55/2.8? Or maybe there is still quite a bit of stock around to dampen the effect of this.

[F2F3F6]

Sad news... they could have bee waiting 2021, to celebrate 40 years of Ais (1981-2021) !

But Nikon is probably the brand that respected his customers for the longest times...(with Leica M). Thanks Nikon ! And many digital bodies (Df and others) can use these good old Ai-Ais lenses !

The story of Ais has not ended yet, there are millions of Ai-Ais and older F lenses that continue to make brilliant images... and here at Nikon gear we see and share a lot of it !

[Akira]

The AF-S 12-24/4, AF-S 18-300 and all AF-D lenses are also discontinued.

As a user of AI-S lenses I am grateful that Nikon kept them in production as long as they did, but with the move to Z mount and the downturn in the photographic sales, it was only a matter of time...

Thank you for the additional info on the discontinuation of AF lenses.  I also noticed AF-S 17-35/2.8 and 300/4.0 as well as DX 17-55/2.8 and DX Micro 85/3.5 have been discontinued.

Truly remarkable they kept them for so long! Thanks for the heads up

They also improved the coating from NIC to SIC during their productions.

That is very sad to hear. Thanks, Akira for letting us know.

Yes, it is somewhat sad.  I will miss the compactness of the MF lenses.


Some Ais Nikkors are used for the factory automation and special video cameras of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation): Ais 55/2.8 and 105/2.8 Micros on their high definition cameras and Ais 50/1.2 on the high-speed cameras.  There are cinematographers who fondly use MF Nikors.  There are still ways to go even after their discontinuation.

[Akira]

This would have been worth an official communication or celebration. Sad news, but there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's just the official or, should I say, administrative end of a brilliant era. There may be others in the future (but, given the way technology is driven, that's slightly less likely).

Maybe the production of the lenses had been put to an end before, and Nikon jas just run out of the stock.  Some lenses may re-emerge for the industrial use from Tochigi Nikon, just like UV Nikkor 108/4.5 or EL Nikkors.

Strange that this would go so quietly given the large following that these lenses have among videographers and of course long-time Nikon photographers. Luckily I was able to acquire a good selection of Ais primes, many of which were already discontinued before. Maybe used market prices will now rise also for those lenses that were up to now available new, such as the 55/2.8? Or maybe there is still quite a bit of stock around to dampen the effect of this.

Because they have been in production for such a long time, the second-hand market should still be so full of items in various conditions that it would be no more profitable for the manufacturer itself.  Ifonically...
 

Sad news... they could have bee waiting 2021, to celebrate 40 years of Ais (1981-2021) !

But Nikon is probably the brand that respected his customers for the longest times...(with Leica M). Thanks Nikon ! And many digital bodies (Df and others) can use these good old Ai-Ais lenses !

The story of Ais has not ended yet, there are millions of Ai-Ais and older F lenses that continue to make brilliant images... and here at Nikon gear we see and share a lot of it !

Indeed, I also found there are MF Nikkors that perform admirably on the digital cameras of all brands and formats.  Thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of mirrorless cameras, MF Nikkors can be used on any camera of any brand using adapters!

[Hugh_3170]

I should not be too surprised to see the last of the AiS and D Series lenses to pop up in increased numbers on the grey market  in the very near future.

[olivierssd]

Thanks to NIKON for sustaining the production of these superb lenses for so long. This allowed me to buy a new 50 / 1.2 2 years ago. Many of the lenses in this series are optical and mechanical jewels and are very pleasant to use even on the D850.

[Airy]

Now the next question is : how long will Zeiss and Voigtländer further spoil us with their manual focus lenses (AI-something) ?

By the way, among the oldies-but-goodies, do not neglect Leitax-mounted Leica R lenses. Some are disappointing (Elmar 180/4), others are exquisite (Summicron-R 50/2), and then some have even reached Noct-Nikkor pricing levels (Summilux-R 50/1.4 E60)...

[Akira]

I should not be too surprised to see the last of the AiS and D Series lenses to pop up in increased numbers on the grey market  in the very near future.

Let's ignore that until the sellers give up taking advantage of the NAS!

Thanks to NIKON for sustaining the production of these superb lenses for so long. This allowed me to buy a new 50 / 1.2 2 years ago. Many of the lenses in this series are optical and mechanical jewels and are very pleasant to use even on the D850.

It should be a good idea to get the necessary one now.  It's nice to be able to focus such a demanding lens on the OVF screen, which is no more my case...

Now the next question is : how long will Zeiss and Voigtländer further spoil us with their manual focus lenses (AI-something) ?

By the way, among the oldies-but-goodies, do not neglect Leitax-mounted Leica R lenses. Some are disappointing (Elmar 180/4), others are exquisite (Summicron-R 50/2), and then some have even reached Noct-Nikkor pricing levels (Summilux-R 50/1.4 E60)...

That's exactly what I thought when I finally purchased Nokton 58/1.4.  The Leitax modified lenses should be much more comfortable to use on mirrorless lenses.  Now they even offer conversion kits that allows these lenses to mount on the mirrorless bodies directly, although the modified lenses look a bit weird.

[Bill De Jager]

I've been wondering how long they would continue to produce these old lenses.  It's been 14 years since they dropped all film cameras except for the FM10 and F6 which had very slow sales before and after.  At that time they also discontinued a number of AI-S lenses.  Once they had a (very nearly) full range of G-type lenses on the market, there was no need to produce the old AF-D lenses for digital use but they continued anyway. As others have noted there are very large numbers of the old AI-S and AF-D Nikkor lenses available on the used market.

It's sad, but it's also good that Nikon is rationalizing its produce lineup.  I was concerned that they were spending resources on markets of little business value.

I'm glad I bought a number of AI-S lenses back when people were dumping them on the market in large numbers, often in excellent condition.  I still have my Df and my manual-focus Nikon film cameras.

[Bob.S]

Thank you to all for this 'heads up'....I showed it to my wife who has wanted the DX 18-300 for her D3300 and now she has one, just in the nick of time as it was quite hard to source here in the UK with stocks presumably being run down.