Anyone who's ever been in a relationship knows that sending mixed signals will drive the other person nuts. Nikon is doing exactly this with their current lineup.

What made this weird thought and analogy pop into my head? Well I was browsing the newly redesigned Nikon website, browsing through their lenses, and then I hopped on over to the Sigma website to check out some lens specs over there.

I realized something that I've already known subliminally- Sigma has THREE HSM prime lenses made specifically for DSLR's, a 30mm f/1.4 HSM, a 10mm f/2.8 HSM fisheye, and a 4.5mm f/2.8 HSM circular fisheye.

While, on the other hand, Nikon has NO DX prime lenses other than the 10.5 DX fisheye, which is NOT SWM even. In fact none of Nikon's primes shorter (wider) than 100mm are SWM. I take that back, the new 60mm macro is SWM. But Nikon, what about the legendary 85mm f/1.4? The stellar 85mm f/1.8? Not to mention the bread-and-butter 50mm lenses, and the holy grail 28mm f/1.4?

With the death of screw-driver autofocus arriving in the form of DSLR bodies like the D40, D40X and D60, Nikon, you really need to act fast or people are going to start to get confused in this relationship. We need to start seeing SWM prime lenses. (which is AFS for all intents and purposes)

START by coming out with a 50mm f/1.4 AFS, to just barely start catching up with the likes of Sigma and Canon. Then if you want to kick some serious butt, come out with a 50mm f/1.2 AFS that doesn't have the major shortcomings that Canon's version has, and then for some REAL wow factor, make a 50mm f/1.8 VR. That would break new ground for sure, and I'd be the first in line to buy one.

THEN maybe move on to wide angle, and resurrect the mythical 28mm f/1.4, for all the D3 shooting pros out there, and PRETTY PLEASE also make a 16mm or 18mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 AFS DX lens, for ME! I'm dying for this lens!

Sincerely,
=Matt=