Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Updated for 2020: Complete List of Weather-Resistant Nikon Lenses


It's been almost 9 years since I compiled my original list of weather resistant Nikon lenses. Well, as time goes by, it is only natural that Nikon will launch new lenses, many of which belong on the weather-resistant list. So, here goes: the updated from 2011 list of weather-resistant Nikkor lenses.

Before delving into the list, a few points have to be made.

First up, Nikon does not market these lenses as “weather-proof,” only “resistant” to dust and moisture, which means that they probably won't go servicing your camera/lens that got dropped overboard on that fishing trip when your buddy was reaching for his beer but accidentally bumped your camera instead. If you want true weather-resistance, go buy a tough P&S like my 
Olympus Stylus 550WP or, if you don't mind shooting film, a Jacques Cousteau-inspired Nikonos film SLR.

Next, Nikon hasn't done that great of a job updating its website through the years and only a few lenses are actually marketed as dust/moisture resistant by Nikon. These lenses where there is such a mention on Nikon's website are in
bold red type. As for the others, references to dust/moisture resistance was found on retailers/reviewers websites. The common denominator between the two: neither exactly specifies as to what "dust/moisture resistance" actually is other than there being a rubber gasket at the mount. This is in sharp contrast to Tamron's revamped website, which offers cutaway views showing exactly where all the rubber seals are located in each lens. 

Lastly, as evidenced by this huge list below, Nikon has gone on a spree of adding rubber gaskets to its lenses of late as this list is much, much longer than the original from 9 years ago. Rubber gasket aside, this list actually says nothing about overall build quality of the lenses themselves. A good example would be the old Nikkor 28 f1.4D Aspherical I reviewed awhile back versus the contemporary fast primes. Having played around with both, I can confidently say that the old 28 f1.4 is far better built (it's solid metal) than any of the contemporary lenses, which are mostly plastic but that do have a gasketed mount. In fact, most of the lenses on this list, gasket at the mount aside, are anything but professional grade in terms of construction quality.

To keep this list somewhat concise, I only focus on lenses in the Nikkor lineup as of January1, 2020.


Current FX/DX Primes
20 f1.8 AF-S
24 f1.4 AF-S
24 f1.8 AF-S
28 f1.4 AF-S (not the 'D' mentioned above)
28 f1.8 AF-S
35 f1.4 AF-S
35 f1.8 AF-S
50 f1.4 AF-S
50 f1.8 AF-S
60 f2.8 AF-S Micro
58 f1.4 AF-S
85 f1.4 AF-S
85 f1.8 AF-S
105 f1.4 AF-S
105 f2.8 AF-S Micro
200 f2 AF-S VR II
300 f2.8 AF-S VR II
300 f4 AF-S VR II
400 f2.8 AF-S VR FL ED
500 f4 AF-S FL VR
500 f5.6 AF-S PF ED VR
600 f4 AF-S FL ED VR
800 f5.6 AF-S VR

Current FX/DX Zooms.
8-15 f3.5-4.5 AF-S Fisheye
14-24 f2.8 AF-S

16-35 f4 VR AF-S
18-35 f3.5-4.5 AF-S
24-70 f2.8 AF-S
24-70 f2.8 VR AF-S

24-85 f3.5-4.5 VR AF-S
24-120 f4 VR AF-S
28-300 f3.5-5.6 VR AF-S
70-200 f2.8 VR AF-S
70-200 f2.8 FL ED VR AF-S

70-200 f4 VR AF-S
70-300 f4.5-5.6 VR AF-S
80-400 f4.5-5.6 VR AF-S
180-400 f4 VR AF-S
200-400 f4 VR AF-S II
200-500 f5.6 VR AF-S

Current DX Only Primes:
10.5 f2.8 AF-S Fisheye
35 f1.8 AF-S
40 f2.8 AF-S Micro
85 f3.5 VR AF-S Micro

Current DX Only Zooms
10-24 f3.5-4.5 AF-S
16-80 f2.8-4 VR AF-S
16-85 f3.5-5.6 VR AF-S
17-55 f2.8 AF-S
18-140 f3.5-5.6 VR AF-S
18-200 f3.5-5.6 VR AF-S II

18-300 f3.5-5.6 VR AF-S
18-300 f3.5-6.3 VR AF-S

55-300 f4.5-5.6 VR AF-S


Z-Mount Mirrorless
As of this writing (January 1, 2020), all Z-mount lenses are marketed by Nikon as dust/moisture resistant except for the 16-50 and 55-250.







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4 comments:

  1. How do you know these are weather resistant when I cannot find that info on Nikon's site??

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow i just checked my 35mm 1.8g and it was true! i mean the rubber band was there

    ReplyDelete
  3. Are you sure about this list? The Nikon 12-24 f4 AF-S it does not even have the rubber gasket around the mount.

    ReplyDelete