We’ve seen some f/0.95 lenses in the last few years, but what about f/0.65? It turns out that insane aperture is possible with the new Nikon Z mount. 

Nikon France marketing director Nicolas Gillet delivered the news in an interview with the French photoblog Mizuwari, in which he stated that Nikon’s F mount is limited to f/1.4 autofocus lenses, but the new Z mount can go all the way out to f/0.65. f/0.65 is about 1.1 stops faster than the Z mount’s current fastest lens, the 58mm f/0.95 Noctilux. It’s also 2.2 stops faster than the more typical f/1.4 aperture characteristic of fast lenses. It’s even wider than the insane f/0.7 Zeiss lenses NASA used during the Apollo project, later adopted by Stanley Kubrick. Of course, theoretically possible and coming to the market are two wildly different things, and it’s not clear that Nikon has any intentions of ever going that wide. Besides likely having some serious technical challenges, it’s probable such a lens would be prohibitively expensive, so much as to discount it from being reasonable to bring to market. Nonetheless, the fact that it’s even possible shows Nikon has left some serious room for expansion with the new Z mount, which should bring some interesting and fun possibilities down the road.