70,000,000 Nikkor lenses and counting

Nikon is celebrating the 70 millionth lens produced under the brand Nikkor since 1968 and the first Nikko R lens designed for a single lens camera. Nikon seized the opportunity of this threshold celebration to announce two interesting new lenses, the AF-S Nikkor DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR and the AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR lenses. Nikon states in its press release that the 70,000,000th Nikkor lens was produced earlier this month. Last November, Nikon announced having produced 65 million Nikkor lenses which means that in just 7 months, they have produced an other 5 million units. They also say that they have now built over 30 millions lenses featuring the ultrasonic autofocus drive, the SWM system and that it is incorporated in 90% of today’s produced lenses. The first SWM lens was launched back in 1996.

On my side, to celebrate this and to complete my switch from Canon L series with the EOS 5D MKI and EOS 1D MKIV to Nikon’s D800/D7000 universe, I just placed an order for the AF-S 85mm 1.4, the 70-200mm f2.8 VR II and the 16-35mm F4. And I find their (nice) lenses a bit overpriced, knowing that they have sold 5 million of them in half a year….