Table of Contents
Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G
see also:
introduction
- at last Canon and Nikon users have a wide angle lens which is sharp and well corrected for most aberrations, so much so that this lens alone encouraged many Canon pros to move to Nikon whilst others bought this lens to use in manual focus mode on their Canons.
- in 2014, Canon finally addressed this by bringing out their excellent Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L although this does not go as wide and is only f/4.
specs
- 14-24mm f/2.8 pro full frame zoom giving 114° - 84° field of view
- 14 elements in 11 groups
- no filter (but 3rd party filter holders using 150mm filters)
- close focus 28cm
- 9 blades
- 970g
- 98mm x 132mm long
- A$3000
compared to the Olympus mZD 7-14mm f/2.8 zoom lens
- the Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G lens is generally regarded as the best ultra-wide zoom lens for full frame, so much so, that even many Canon users go to the trouble of using it (although now they have the Canon 16-35mm f/4L IS lens which is superb)
- let's see how the Olympus lens compares, it is:
- much lighter at 524g instead of 970g
- much shorter at 106mm vs 132mm
- focuses closer 20cm vs 28cm
- more affordable at $A1499 compared to $A2797
- sharper wide open edge-to-edge (see charts below)
- marginally less CA
- much less distortion at widest zoom 1.7% compared to 7.4% barrel distortion!!
- much less vignetting wide open 1.5EV vs 2EV
- 7 blades not 9 blades
- has much nicer star shapes for astrophotographic landscapes of the Milky Way as it has less coma aberration
- has image stabiliser of 5 stops allowing hand held shots at 1-2 seconds courtesy of the Olympus cameras (the Canon has no IS)
- has eye detection autofocus for portraits
- has fast, silent AF for movies
- why would anyone buy the Nikon 14-24mm lens then?
- if you already have a Nikon full frame dSLR with 35mp and you shoot landscapes or studio fashion on a tripod at f/8 then it may have a use (although for static scenes, the new Olympus cameras can shoot 40mp HiRes shots with less moire on a tripod, although a little less dynamic range)
- one could argue you can get 2 stops better ISO on full frame, but with this lens you need to stop it down 2 stops to get close to the corner sharpness of the Olympus lens, so that argument generally won't hold much
- you may get better sun stars with its 9 blades
- otherwise see your mental health therapist
From ePhotozine.com's reviews (not totally comparable given different sensor sizes, and note the scales are different):
| Olympus mZD 7-14mm at 7mm | Nikon AF-S 14-28mm f/2.8G at 14mm | |
|---|---|---|
| sharpness |  |  |
| chromatic aberration |  |  |