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Review by Klaus Schroiff, published January 2008
Lens kindly provided by Dr. Thomas Rubach!
Introduction
For some years Nikon didn't overly care about their full format lens lineup
but thanks to the new Nikon D3 they're coming back here ... with a vengeance. Besides the
recently reviewed AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED N Nikon did also release the Nikkor AF-S
14-24mm f/2.8G ED N. The Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX HSM (also a full format lens) may be
a tad wider but the Nikkor is quite a bit faster and, consequently, not exactly a
cheap item at around 1600US$/€. That said it is a professional grade lens and
price-wise it is roughly in-line with its brothers and sisters a la AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8
or AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. The FX era has not yet started here at OpticalLimits so we'll have
a look how the lens performs on an APS-C DSLR where the field-of-view is equivalent to 21-36mm.
This is naturally not quite as wide as on full format DSLRs but the Nikkor can
still be regarded as an ultra-wide angle zoom lens - just not an overly extreme one.
As mentioned the lens is primarily targeting the professional market and the
build quality of the lens is accordingly high. The outer lens barrel is made
of a metal alloy and there're seals for dust and moisture protection. The
broad rubberized focus ring operates exceptionally smooth whereas the zoom
ring has more friction - a side effect of the immense weight of the zoom group.
Apropos weight - at around 1kg it is the most heavy ultra-wide angle
zoom lens around.
The optical design of the AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G is a bit related to the old AF 14mm f/2.8ED.
Reads: it has an immense front element, almost bulb-style, which protrudes significantly.
Consequently there's no filter thread and it's also not possible to attach a filter to the
lens cap like offered on the Sigma 12-24mm EX for instance. This is a
bit of a worrisome thought because the naked front element is quite vulnerable.
The physical length of the lens remains constant but the inner lens tube moves a little
according to the focal length (see below). Thanks to an internal focusing system (IF) the inner tube
remains static during focus operations though and the front element does not rotate.
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Move the mouse cursor over the text marks below to observe the respective distortions
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| @ 14mm |
@ 24mm |
w/lens cap |
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The Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 is a G-type lens so it does not offer an aperture ring
anymore. Thanks to an AF-S drive (Silent Wave Motor) AF operations are fast and
basically silent.
| Specifications |
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| Equiv. focal length | 21-36 mm (full format equivalent) |
| Equiv. aperture | f/4.2 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field) |
| Optical construction | 14 elements in 11 groups inc. 2x ED and 3x aspherical elements and 1x element with Nano Crystal Coat |
| Number of aperture blades | 9 (rounded) |
| min. focus distance | 0-28 m (max. magnification ratio 1:6.7) |
| Dimensions | 98 x 132 mm |
| Weight | 1000 g |
| Filter size | no front filter possible |
| Hood | build-in, petal-shaped |
| Other features | dust and moisture sealing |
Ok, now let's see where the beef is ...
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