Will Nikon lenses shrink?

If Nikon continues to produce 1.5 cropping factor DSLRs does it make sense to maintain lenses with the 35mm diameter for how long?
I believe that you wont disagree that in few years very few people will be using film, if so either Nikon must be thinking in decreasing lenses, like Olympus did, or increasing sensors, what do you think?

Well it would only make sense if they are abandoning the 35mm film SLR arena or if they are going to have two completely separate lens lines - one for film and one for digital.

Alexandre Vaz wrote:I believe that you wont disagree that in few years very few people will be using film, if so either Nikon must be thinking in decreasing lenses, like Olympus did, or increasing sensors, what do you think?

Ahh, but I do disagree. Many of us still use and enjoy film. The world is not all digital yet, and while digital will surely replace film for many people, there are to many film users out there to make jump to such a conclusion.

I'm not a physicist, but I believe that you can only really build significantly smaller lenses in the wideangle end rather than telephoto. I believe that the limitations in size of a 300/2.8 has more to do with the front of the lens than the mount/sensor at the rear.

The Olympus 300/2.8 is not 'that' much smaller than a regular 300/2.8, but it is a LOT smaller than a 600/2.8 (or /4) that you would require to get the same level of apparent 'magnification'.

However, in Nikon the new DX 10.5/2.8 fisheye is the same size as the regular 16/2.8 fisheye and a undoubtedly smaller than a 10.5/2.8 fisheye would have to be to cover 35mm. Similar story with the 12-24/4 and why the forthcoming 17-55/2.8 DX is similar size to the existing 17-35/2.8, or the new 18-70/3.5-4.5 is similar sized (or even smaller?) than the current 18-35/3.5-4.5.

I would not expect Nikon to make any DX format lens above 100mm zoom or otherwise, but I could perhaps see them making a 24/2.8 tilt/shift DX lens or similar.... A modern tilt/shift lens is definitely lacking at the moment.

Of course, I may well be completely wrong

Cheers,
Simon
In sunny Bolton...

Please Canon, just one reduced coverage lens: 12-24L F whatever. 1.3x coverage. Makes me want to buy a nikon > EOS adapter.