Review by Markus Stamm, published August 2009

Introduction

Our initial test of this lens on a DX crop camera showed that the lens is indeed able to deliver stunning sharpness. So let's see if the lens can still live up to the hype on a high resolution FX sensor.

The lens is primarily targeting the professional market and thus the build quality 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.

During zooming, 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 (which is mostly irrelevant, since there is no filter thread anyway).

For those who nonetheless want to use filters on this lens, 3rd party alternatives are nowadays available. They do, however, add even more bulk and weight to the lens and, since they require large square filters, quite some cost, too.

Move the mouse cursor over the text marks below to switch between the images @ 14mm @ 24mm w/lens cap

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.