| WHAT
IS IT GOOD FOR
As
I've already mentioned, the 20mm is really useful for a lot
of things: Landscape (no surprise), environmental portraits
and even action photography. There's a tendency in the industry
to get more wide angled and lots of pros are using both wide
primes and the great 17-35 zooms to allow them to get really
wide. The latest AF
14mm/2.8D prime Nikkor is a par example of this trend.
| |
| The
channel in the city of Hüfingen, Germany. May 1999.
Nikon F5, Nikkor AF 20mm/2.8D on Ilford XP2 Super.
|
The
build quality of the lens is ok. I am not overly enthusiastic,
but it feels ok. Maybe my somewhat negative feelings have
to do with the low weight of it, fooling me to draw false
conclusions while comparing it to the 80-200mm f/2.8D ED IF
AF glass monster.
To
reduce flare, I use the HB-4 hood at all times. A little hard-plastic
thingy coming in all black making the lens some 89mm wide
in all. As with nearly all hard Nikon hoods, it fits perfect,
twisted some 15 degrees onto the front bayonet. Due to the
wide angle of this lens, I wouldn't recommend you using it
without the HB-4.
The
focus ring is rubber covered and moves gently. According to
my Preisser digital Digi-Met measuring device, the lens extends
1.88mm when moved from eternity focus to 0.25m.
The
aperture can be locked at F22 using the well known slide-lock
existing on most AF Nikkors. The aperture markings are: 2.8,
4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and 22 so there are no surprises here either.
Peeking
into the front of the lens, you're confronted with a protective
piece of glass which covers a pretty small, convex lens not
much wider than 23 mm in diameter (again, according to Preisser).
This is a huge disturbance for someone who's used to "lots
of glass and not much of black metal". The image reproduction
quality of this lens is then relying on the correct distribution
of light through this silly little opening.
Despise
the weak look, I have gotten a whole bunch of good shots using
this lens and I wouldn't like to live without it.
Vignetting
is not visible, as long as you're not underexposing a piece
of white cardboard. Color reproduction and the sharpness are
great. Regarding "Bokeh" - well, to be honest I
have no idea, but I guess there are better lenses for "Bokeh"
(the nifty look of out-of-focus areas).
My
sample seems to have a tad of a problem at the edges when
used fully open - the edges are then not really sharp when
studied carefully. I believe this to be an anomaly of the
sample I have and not a general problem (remember, I bought
it at eBay - there was most definitely a reason why the lady
was so friendly) |
