Nikon 20mm 1.8 g review
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Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S (FX, DX and coverage, 77mm filters, 12.5 oz./354g, 0.66'/0.2m close focus, $797 new or about $500 used). enlarge. I got mine at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. Show
This free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. It helps me keep reviewing these lenses when you get yours through these links — but I receive nothing for my efforts if you take the chances of buying elsewhere. Thanks for your support! Ken. 2:22 PM, 22 February 2022 Nikon Reviews Nikon Lens Reviews All Reviews Why Fixed Lenses Take Better Pictures How to Use Ultrawide Lenses Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AF-D (1989-today) Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s (1984-today) Ideal for: Perfect for use on FX digital and . Not for: I wouldn't bother with this on a DX camera. I'd use any DX lens, like the 18-55mm VR II kit lens, instead. With this 20mm, you're paying a premium in price for the ultrawide FX coverage, which is wasted on a DX camera. For speed on DX I use the 35/1.8 DX, for wide on DX I use the 10-24mm and for 20mm I use that setting of the 18-55 kit lens. Sample Images West 18th Street at dusk, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 280, hand-held, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution. Ryan flies a Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar," 28 November 2014, Friday. Nikon D810, Nikon 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,100, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original file to explore on your computer. Radio City Music Hall blurred action shot at night, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/2.2 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 100, hand-held, Perfectly Clear. bigger. The 20/1.8 is so fast that we can shoot it out moving taxi windows at night at ISO 100 for ultra-clean professional images. West 30th Street looking west at night, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750 in HDR mode, 20mm f/1.8, f/2.8 at 5 seconds at ISO 400, hand-held against tinted hotel window, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution (13 MB JPG). Outside Penn Station at night, New York City, 07 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 500, hand-held, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution (10 MB JPG). Extremely sharp even at f/1.8! Introduction This new Nikon 20mm f/1.8 FX is Nikon's sharpest fixed ultrawide lens. Not only is it over a stop faster than any previous Nikon ultrawide lens or zoom, it's ultrasharp (even wide-open), it focuses super-close, has no ghosts, has great sunstars and only minimal distortion. You can read the rest of this review if you like, or just do as I did and get yours now and just start shooting. I can't find anything wrong with it; it even works great with two stacked filters with no vignetting on full-frame! It's ultrasharp, ultrafast, and small and light. Nikon hasn't updated the optical design of its other 20mm ultrawide lens in over 30 years since the original 20/2.8 AI-s lens of 1984, so this new 20/1.8 is a real eye opener in what Nikon has learned in 30 years. This new lens makes any old 20/2.8 look broken by comparison, especially at large apertures (the AF, AF-D and AI-s lenses all have the same optical design). You may turn the focus ring at any time for instant manual-focus override. I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. Compatibility This works great on the FTZ, with autofocus and all features. It has no internal optical stabilization. Everything works perfectly on every digital Nikon ever made, both FX and DX, from the best Df, D4s, D810, D750 and D610 to Nikon's cheapest digitals like the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D3200, D3300, D5000, D5100, D5200 and D5300. It's also perfect on decent or recent AF film cameras like the F6, F100, F5, N80 and N75. The incompatibilities for older or cheaper 35mm cameras are that: 1.) It won't autofocus with the cheapest new AF 35mm cameras like the N55, but if you focus manually, everything else works great. Even if you lose autofocus, these cameras have in-finder focus confirmation dots to help you. 2.) Late 1980s ~ early 1990s AF cameras like the N90s, N70 and F4 will focus and meter perfectly. You'll have Program and Shutter-priority modes, but you won't have Manual or Aperture-priority since you have no way to set the aperture on the camera or on the lens. 3.) You're really pushing it with the oldest AF cameras like the N2020, N6006 and N8008. You'll have no AF and confused exposure modes. Manual focus is fine, along with electronic focus indications. 4.) Since it has no aperture ring, it's just about useless with manual focus 35mm cameras. It will shoot every shot at its minimum aperture. See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S, AF-I" and "G" columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" () is a deliberate handicap which removes features and compatibility . I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S. enlarge. Specifications I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. Name Nikon 20/1.8G. Nikon calls this the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED N SWM RF Aspherical ∅77. and SWM: Silent Wave Autofocus Motor. NIKKOR: Nikon's brand name for all their lenses. : for cost-reduction and removing compatibility with older cameras. : Magic Extra-low Dispersion glass for reduced secondary chromatic aberration. : Magic Nano-crystal coating, meaning a coating which varies its index of refraction continuously to achieve even greater reflection reduction. It's probably only on one surface, and is used mostly for marketing purposes. : Rear focusing; nothing moves externally as focused except the rear element. : Specially curved glass to give even sharper pictures. ∅77: 77mm filter thread. ↓10↑: Lead-free RoHS solder used. For worry-warts, beware tin "whiskers". The "10" means a 10-year expected life before being thrown away. More on tin whiskers from NASA and more here (page 41). MADE IN CHINA: Offshored to be made as efficiently as possible. Optics 13 elements in 11 groups. 2 are of glass. 2 are aspherical. One surface, usually the inside rear of the largest element, is Nano-crystal coated to eliminate ghosts. It's multicoated, which Nikon calls Nikon Super Integrated Coating. Diaphragm Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S at f/16. 7 blades. Rounded at large apertures, heptagonal at medium and small apertures. Stops down to f/16. Coverage 35mm film, FX and DX. Focal Length 20mm. When used on a DX camera, it sees angles of view similar to what a 30mm lens sees when used on an FX or 35mm camera. Angle of View 90° on FX digital and . 74° on small-format DX. 80° on Pronea APS. Close Focus 7.5" or 19 cm from the image plane, measured. 5" or 125mm from the front of the lens, measured. Nikon specifies 0.66 feet (8" or 0.2 meters) from the image plane. Minimum Working Distance 5" (125 mm) from subject to front of lens. Maximum Reproduction Ratio 1:4.3. (0.23x). Hard Infinity Focus Stop? No. You have to let the AF system focus at infinity. Focus Scale Yes, abbreviated. Depth-of-Field Scale Not really, only one pair of ticks for f/16. Infra-Red Focus Index No. Aperture Ring No. Filter Thread 77 mm, plastic. Does not move, ever. Size Nikon specifies 3.2" (82.5 mm) diameter by 3.2" (80.5 mm) extension from flange. Weight 12.488 oz. (354.05g), actual measured. Nikon specifies 12.6 oz. (355 g). Hood Hood, Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S. The plastic bayonet HB- 72 hood is included. Case CL-1015 pouch, included. Included 77mm front lens cap. LF-4 rear cap. HB-72 hood. CL-1015 sack. Quality Made in China. Warranty 5 years, USA. Announced Midnight, 12:01 AM, Thursday, 11 September 2014, NY City time. Available since Shipping since late September 2014. Nikon Product Number 20051. Price, USA February 2022$797 new at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield. About $500 used if you know How to Win at eBay. February 2020$717 new. About $500 used if you know How to Win at eBay. May~November 2016$797. The price has never varied since introduction. September 2014$800 at introduction. Packaging Gold-tone box: Box, Nikon 20mm f/1.8G. In the box is the lens and hood in a translucent plastic holder. The folded pouch lies on top, while the paperwork is tucked away on the side, behind a cardboard wall. Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S internal packing. Performance I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. Overall The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S is a total winner. It's optically and ergonomically near perfect. Autofocus Typical for ultrawide lenses, AF is very fast and always accurate. Manual focus is also superb; just grab the ring at any time for instant manual focus override with perfect speed and feel. Bokeh Bokeh, the character of out of focus backgrounds, not simply how far out of focus they are, is superb. As an ultrawide lens, backgrounds are rarely out of focus. The only way to get backgrounds out of focus with this lens it so have the subject very close (like one foot/30 cm) and shoot at f/1.8. Otherwise, as with all ultrawides, everything is always pretty much always in focus. If you want out-of focus backgrounds, use a normal or telephoto lens — not a fast ultrawide. Color Rendition Avenue of the Americas at night, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 800, hand-held from inside taxi, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution (6 MB JPG). The color rendition is the same as my other Nikkor AF lenses. Coma Coma (saggital coma flare) often causes weird smeared blobs to appear around bright points of light in the corners of fast or wide lenses at large apertures. In lenses that have it, coma goes away as stopped down. This aspherical lens has nearly no coma; that's now a thing of the past. Distortion The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S has very mild barrel distortion. It's much less than I had expected. The good news is that recent digital cameras like the D90, D3100, D3200, D3300, D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300, D7000, D7100, D4, D4s, D600, D610, D750, D800, , D810 and Df can be set to correct the distortion automatically in-camera — so long as you have the latest camera firmware installed in your camera! My D810, purchased before this lens was announced, already has the ability to correct the minor distortion. Nikon was thinking ahead. In-camera correction does a great job. With in-camera correction on my D810, there is no distortion. Without in-camera correction, what little distortion there is can be corrected for critical use by plugging these figures into Photoshop's lens distortion filter. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data. 30' (10m) +2.0 10' (3m) +1.8* 3' (1m) +2.5* 0.66' (0.2m) +3.0* © 2014 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved. * Slight waviness remains Ergonomics (handling and ease-of-use) Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S. enlarge. Ergonomics are perfect; just grab and go. Most of the lens is the perfect manual focus ring, and the bell-shaped front end comfortably keeps my fingers out of the way. Bravo! Falloff (darkened corners) Most modern DSLRs correct for this automatically. If you turn of the correction on FX or are shooting on , falloff is minor to moderate at f/1.8, and gone by f/2.8. It won't be an issue at all on DX (see crop factor). I've exaggerated this by shooting a gray field and placing these on a gray background. Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S falloff on FX and at infinity, no correction. © 2014 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved. Filters, use with There is no problem with vignetting, even with combinations of thick filters. On full-frame I can shoot with two stacked filters with no vignetting. With three stacked filters on full frame I get vignetting — but not at the closest focus distances! The filter ring never moves. Don't use a polarizer on this or any ultrawide lens, unless you want s. Nature's polarization varies with angle, so with lenses this wide, weird things happen if used with a polarizing filter. Focus Breathing Of interest mostly to cinematographers focusing back and forth between two subjects, the image from the Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S gets larger as focused more closely. Ghosts With the Nano coating, there are no ghosts. If you want little colored blobs in the image from the sun, use the old 20/2.8 AF-D instead. Here's the worst I could get from this new lens, shooting the direct noonday sun on one side and the darkest black on the near side. Worst-case flare and ghosts at f/8 on full-frame D810. Hood Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S with included hood. The hood is included. It's not needed, but if you like hoods, this one is reasonably tough and will help keep dirt and salt spray out of your lens. Lateral Color Fringes There are no lateral color fringes on the D810, which corrects any automatically. If you push it shooting into the light, there are some very slight blue fringes, but not anything to worry about. Macro It gets right up to 5" (125mm) from the front of the lens. It gets very close, so close that this lens will never limit your point of view when you want to get very close and blow proportion all out the window for creative effect. Omega Constellation on full-frame at close-focus distance. Crop from above 36 MP image at 100%. If this is 6" wide on your screen, the complete image printed at this same magnification would be 75 x 50." (6 x 4 feet, or 2 x 1.25 meters!) Mechanics and Construction Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S. enlarge. The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 G AF-S is all plastic on the outside, with a metal mount. Filter Threads Plastic. Hood Plastic bayonet. Hood Mount Plastic. Barrel Exterior Plastic. Front Barrel Plastic. Focus Ring Plastic; rubber covered. Rear Barrel Plastic. Mount Dull-chromed brass. Markings Paint. Mounting Index Dot White plastic ball. Identity Plate Gold-look plastic. Serial Number Sticker glued into a recess on the bottom of the lens. US Model Signified by "5 years" sticker on outside of box. Yellow Nikon USA warranty paperwork inside box. Serial number is not prefixed by "US." Moisture seal at mount Yes. Noises When Shaken Mild clunking. Made in China. Weaknesses None; hit it against a demonstrator or a rock, and it should be fine. Sharpness Warning 1: Image sharpness depends more on you than your lens. Warning 2: Lens sharpness doesn't mean much to good photographers. While amateurs waste time worrying about lens sharpness, pros know that lens sharpness has little to do with making sharp pictures. This said, the Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S is the sharpest Nikon fixed 20mm ever made. It's super-sharp even at f/1.8, even at 36 MP. It's a little less contrasty in the far corners, but still super sharp. The corners are just as good as the center a stop or two down, and there's nothing limiting sharpness on 36 MP cameras until diffraction limits performance at the smallest apertures. Nikon 20 1.8 MTF. Spherochromatism Spherochromatism, sometimes mistakenly called "color bokeh" by laymen, is a minor aberration which can add slight color fringes to out-of focus highlights. It has some at close distances wide open. Background highlights might have slight green fringes, and foreground highlight might have slight magenta fringes. No big deal; this helps smooth background bokeh. Image Stabilization (VR)This lens has no internal optical stabilization, however it works with internal sensor-shift Image Stabilization (IS or VR (Vibration Reduction)) in some of Nikon's mirrorless Z cameras with the FTZ adapter. "Percent Perfectly Sharp Shots" are the percentage of frames with 100% perfect tripod-equivalent sharpness I get when I'm shooting hand-held while free-standing with no support or bracing. This is a very strict test; in actual shooting at typical print sizes I get acceptable sharpness at much slower speeds, but for the purposes of seeing how much improvement an IS system gives, this is the most precise method. Hand tremor is a random occurrence, so at marginal speeds some frames will be perfectly sharp while others will be in various stages of blur — all at the same shutter speed. This rates what percentage of shots are perfectly sharp, not how sharp are all the frames: % Perfectly Sharp Shots on Z9 on FTZ (center of image) 2s 1 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/15 1/30 1/60 1/125 Stabilization ON 0 17 33 42 50 100 100 100 100 Stabilization OFF 0 0 0 0 0 17 67 100 100 I see about a two stop real-world improvement. Sunstars Seventh Avenue, New York. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/16 at 1/60 at ISO 100, perfectly clear. Full-resolution. Yes! Its diaphragm becomes reasonably straight-edged at medium and small apertures, so the Nikon 20 1.8G makes great 14-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light. It does well at reasonable apertures, although the sunstars are a little softer than with the older 20/2.8 lenses: Sunstars at f/8. bigger. If you stop down to f/16, you can get big, sharp sunstars like this: Sunstars at f/16. bigger. Bravo! Survivability The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S is tough. The only thing that could likely be a future problem is if the AF-S motor dies and Nikon can't supply the part. No worries, it will still work as a manual focus lens, so by all means this ought to be a reasonably safe long-term buy. Usage I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. M/A - M Switch Nikon goofed. This switch is supposed to be labeled "A - M." The "M/A" position means autofocus. It's called "M/A" because you also can focus manually simply by grabbing the focus ring in this position. The "M/A" position means autofocus. It's called "M/A" because back in the old days, when Nikon had almost caught up to Canon who had been doing this for ten years before, Nikon was trying to show off that you could focus manually while in the AF position. Paint over the extra M if you're easily confused. Compared I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. Versus all 20mm lenses At f/1.8, this is the world's fastest serious 20mm lens with no serious competition. Sigma has made a 20mm f/1.8 for years, but pros won't trust their work to Sigma. LEICA makes a 21mm f/1.4 lens, but that's not a 20mm lens, and LEICA is shot mostly by rich people, not by serious photographers. The LEICA 21/1.4 is bought by impressionable amateurs, not realizing that it's not as sharp as the LEICA 21/3.4, and the LEICA 21/1.4 is so huge it blocks the LEICA finder! Pros generally chuckle amongst themselves after some rich guy comes over to brag about his 21/1.4, with no photos to show for it. Oskar's spirit lives in the SUPER-ELMAR-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH, not in the bloated SUMMILUX. Versus Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AF, AF-D and AI-s This all-new lens is optically and ergonomically superior to the old 20/2.8 lenses. There is no comparison. Versus Nikon16-35mm VR The 16-35 VR is a completely different lens. The 16-35 is much slower, bigger and much more expensive than this 20/1.8. The 16-35 is for people who want a zoom, aren't shooting action and don't mind the size, weight and expense of the 16-35. The 16-35 is for nature and landscape shooters who don't mind carrying a ton of gear. This 20/1.8 is for guys like me who travel light, and want the fast speed for low light and action. Of course this 20/1.8 is superb for astronomy. Each of these two lenses is about as sharp (and each is very sharp), but the 16-35 zoom is loaded with distortion. Canon 16-35mm IS The Canon 16-35 IS (2014-today) is the same as the Nikon 16-35 VR. Versus Canon 20mm f/2.8 USM The Canon 20mm USM (1992-today) is better made mechanically, with a metal filter thread and hood mount and front barrel, but its optics can't compare to this new Nikon lens. Versus Zeiss The big old Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 ZF (2008-today) was hot stuff in its day, back before Canon made any super-sharp ultrawides. Today, the Canon 16-35mm IS replaces the old Zeiss for Canon shooters, and the Nikon 14-24 and 16-35 VR zooms are as good as that old Zeiss as well. Today, this new Nikon 20/1.8 renders the old Zeiss completely obsolete. This new lightweight f/1.8 lens is half the size and weight, easily takes two filters on full frame without vignetting, and is less than half the price and over twice as fast. Not only are the optics of this new Nikon lens at least as good as in the huge old Zeiss, this Nikon lens has fast autofocus with instant manual override — while the Zeiss has no autofocus. Auf Wiedersehen, Zeiss! Recommendations I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. As you may have guessed, this is a flawless lens. It is so far ahead of Nikon's old 20mm lenses that it's not funny. If you want a super-fast, super-sharp, super easy to use ultra-wide lens, this is the best Nikon has ever made. Grab one of these and the 28-300mm VR and you're prepared for anything. I'd leave either a 77mm Nikon Clear (NC - UV) filter, or a 77mm Hoya Alpha MC UV on the lens at all times. If you want the best possible protective filter, the 77mm Hoya HD2 Protector is ultra multicoated, repels dirt and fingerprints and made of shatter resistant glass. If I was working in nasty, dirty areas and don't want to spring for the HD2 filter, I'd use an uncoated 77mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting. I would leave the hood at home. For color slides like Velvia 50, I use a 77mm Hoya HMC 81A or 77mm Nikon A2 filter outdoors. For B&W film outdoors, I'd use a 77mm Hoya HMC Yellow K2 or 77mm Hoya HMC Orange. Getting YoursI got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. This free site is supported by your using those or any of when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. It helps me keep reviewing these lenses when you get yours through these links — but I receive nothing for my efforts if you take your chances and buy elsewhere. Thanks! Ken. © Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Help me help you I support my growing family through this website, as crazy as it might seem. The biggest help is when you use any of when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. These places have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally. If you find this page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone. If you've gotten your gear through one of my or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks! If you haven't helped yet, please do, and consider helping me with a gift of $5.00. As this page is copyrighted and formally registered, it is unlawful to make copies, especially in the form of printouts for personal use. If you wish to make a printout for personal use, you are granted one-time permission only if you PayPal me $5.00 per printout or part thereof. Thank you! How good is the Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G Ed?The Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G ED starts out very strong at large apertures. Center performance is excellent wide open, with performance characteristics being very similar to those of the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G ED lens. At f/2.8, the lens yields very impressive sharpness in the center, which only slightly improves when stopped down. What is a 20mm f/1.8G Ed prime lens used for?This is an in-depth review of the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED prime lens designed primarily for landscape, astrophotography, architecture and environmental portrait photography. Is the Nikon AFNo, the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G ED has not been discontinued, and is still listed as available on Nikon’s website. It’s available from major retailers, and is listed as in stock at B&H, and is priced at $796 / £799. Is the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G Ed compatible with APSAlthough designed for full- frame FX lens mounts, the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED is compatible with such Nikon APS-C DSLRs like as the D5500, where it offers an equivalent focal length of 30mm due to the smaller sensor crop factor. What is a Nikon 20mm lens good for?With the ultra-wide view of a 20mm lens, you're free to capture expansive landscapes and architecture, wedding parties, an entire band on stage, crowd shots and much more. What is a 20mm lens best used for?If you love to travel and take pictures of sweeping landscapes or cityscapes then the 10-20mm lens might be what you're looking for. An ultra-wide-angle lens is also ideal for taking pictures of large groups of people since they allow you to stay fairly close to the group yet still get everybody into the shot. Is Nikon 20mm 1.8 weather sealed?The Nikkor Z 20mm f/1.8 S has a tough plastic shell, a large and easy to rotate focus ring, and as mentioned previously is fully weather-sealed, so you can expect the lens to last for along time. What is the Nikon 20mm 1.8 G DX?The AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED is an ultra-wide-angle 20mm lens with a 94° angle of view on FX cameras, 70° angle of view on DX cameras, fast f/1.8 maximum aperture and beautiful bokeh for Nikon FX and DX format D-SLRs. |
