Do Not Use This Nikon Lens If You Have A Pacemaker (it’s the Silky Swift Voice Coil Motor)

Not an everyday news. If you have a medical device, i.e. a pacemaker, you should not use this lens, Nikon says. The culprit is a technology named Silky Swift Voice Coil Motor (SSVCM).

The Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S, a lens that sells for almost $14,000, might affect a pacemaker and hence put your health in danger. The user manual for the lens (download here) contains the following warning:

Do not use this product if you have a pacemaker or other medical device. The magnet or magnets in this product could cause medical devices to malfunction.

As PetaPixel explains:

The reason for the warning is the newly-unveiled autofocus drive system in the lens that Nikon has named Silky Swift Voice Coil Motor (SSVCM).

SSVCM uses magnets instead of gears to move the lens focus groups forward and backward within the lens body. It’s a new AF system that, compared to Nikon’s older systems, boasts higher initial speed, higher accuracy, and the smoothest and quietest operation of any Nikon autofocus drive system released thus far.

The magnets, however, are so powerful that they could interfere with pacemakers and other medical devices, which could potentially be fatal to the person the device is implanted in or used by. The risk is apparently so great that Nikon is not taking any chances, warning anyone with any medical device to simply not use lenses with this autofocus system (which is currently just the 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S lens)

Curious about the Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S? Have a look at the short video below.

More about the lens after the break.

Pinnacle Prime Lens for Sports, Action, and Wildlife

Shoot for greatness with the NIKKOR Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S from Nikon. Ideal for sports and wildlife and offering impressive reach with impressive speed, this super-telephoto lens is characterized by its bright f/2.8 maximum aperture and sophisticated optical, autofocus, and VR systems. Distinguishing itself among most prime lenses, this 400mm lens features a built-in 1.4x teleconverter to allow for on-the-fly switching to an effective 560mm f/4 lens for greater reach.

• Built-in 1.4x teleconverter allows you to instantly extend your reach to 560mm simply by flipping the right-hand switch.
• Since the teleconverter is integrated within the lens housing, it is optically matched to the lens for improved imaging performance and also fully maintains the lens’s weather sealing.
• When the teleconverter is in use, this 400mm f/2.8 becomes an effective 560mm f/4 lens

• Fast f/2.8 maximum aperture excels in low-light situations and also benefits controlling depth of field to separate and isolate subjects from a busy background.
• Helping to virtually eliminate chromatic aberrations, color fringing, and comatic aberrations, this lens features two ED (extra-low dispersion) and one Super ED glass elements, two lightweight fluorite elements, and an SR (short-wavelength refractive) element.
• The SR element features a specialized high-dispersion design that refracts wavelengths shorter than blue; this helps achieve truly accurate color rendering and also aids in making the lens design more compact.

• Newly developed Meso Amorphous Coat offers the the greatest anti-reflective performance from a NIKKOR lens, and outperforms the Nano Crystal Coat in regard to diagonal incident light and matches the performance of the ARNEO Coat for vertical incident light.
• ARNEO and Nano Crystal Coats are still applied for even more well-rounded anti-glare protection from all angles, and help to suppress ghosting, reflections, and flare for higher contrast and more accurate color response when working in strong lighting and backlit conditions.

Silky Swift VCM Autofocus

• Silky Swift Voice Coil Motor (VCM) uses magnets instead of gears to move the focusing groups at higher initials speeds and with greater accuracy and smoothness. A guide bar is also employed, which helps reduce focusing vibrations for greater continuous focusing speeds. (WARNING: Do not use this product if you have a pacemaker or other medical device. The magnet or magnets in this product could cause medical devices to malfunction.)
• Using a high-precision sensor from the robotics industry, this lens features an optical ABS (absolute) encoder to detect and communicate lens position information with extreme accuracy to optimized fast and accurate AF performance.