Two recent patent applications suggest Nikon might be working on several macro probe lenses. A probe lens allows you to capture a 'bug-eye' close-up perspective, with the long, thin barrel enabling the lens to nestle into a scene in a way a conventional, larger-diameter macro lens couldn't. What's more, most probe lenses already on the market have a waterproof tip, allowing you to also capture underwater close-ups.
Probe lenses have traditionally been quite niche though. Laowa - a company synonymous with weird lenses - kicked off the probe lens phenomenon around seven years ago, followed soon after by Astrhori. I'd assumed probe lenses would stay a preserve of third-party Chinese manufacturers, but Nikon might have other ideas.
One of the patent applications shows what appears to be three full-frame lenses, two around 300mm in total length, and the third roughly 350mm. Interestingly, all three lenses are zoom, but with limited focal ranges. There's a 13-16mm and a 19-22mm (both with a fixed f/14 aperture), while the 350mm-long lens has a 17-23mm range and an f/11 aperture. Magnification ratios appear to range from 1.1x to 2.16x, depending on the lens and focal length. Though these fixed apertures may seem slow, we've come to expect this from probe lenses, and it enables a deeper depth of field, which is useful for close-up work.
The second patent shows an APS-C lens: an "MC 10mm F8". At 180mm long, this is physically shorter than the full-frame probe lenses, and it's at least an f-stop faster.
However, it's important to remember that a patent application does not mean we should expect any Nikon probe lenses to make it to production any time soon, if ever. Nikon will inevitably conduct research and development into ideas and concepts which may influence its retail offerings, but not directly result in the exact products shown in a patent application. That said, with its acquisition of Red, and more recently the launch of its first Z CINEMA camera - the ZR - it's at least plausible that Nikon could be considering further product expansion, this time into the probe lens sector.
