Reading mode: Light Dark

20mm f/1.8G

Go to last post
Ah - I knew I should have saved it.

Take the patent number and google japan patent search and enter it into the database and you'll find it...

-m
 
anotherMike said:
I like the Zeiss a lot, but if I could get something quite near that quality (and perhaps even better), with AF, yea, I'm all over it. As good as the Zeiss is, it's a pain to dial in the focus. My thought is if the 14-24, a zoom, can get IMO much closer to the Zeiss than it has any right to for being a zoom, then what could they (Nikon) do if they just had to make a prime and not worry about the zoom? Nikon (in the old days) knew how to make stellar wide angles. This one could reaffirm that and I'm bigtime excited.

-m
Click to expand...
Hang in there, Mike, only ten more sleeps... hopefully! :-)
 
Reilly Diefenbach said:
I'm a little surprised you would be so all over this lens, given your oft professed admiration for the Zeiss 21 :^) I have little doubt the Nikon 20 will be a much easier lens to focus.
Click to expand...


Don't be so sure.. my Zeiss 21mm is the easiest lens to focus for my night time landscapes that I have ever had! So nice to have a focus ring that stops precisely on infinity :) With my 24-120 that I also use for storm chasing - i need a good distant light to focus on and then switch back to MF... which I'll need to do each time i rezoom etc.. and there isn't always a distant light source for the AF to use.

So yeah infinity is a common focal point for landscapes.. love my Zeiss.



 

Attachments

  • 2883683.jpg
    2883683.jpg
    82.8 KB · Views: 0
Rexgig0 said:
With its quite fast aperture for its focal length, and Nikon asking as much as it does for the relatvely recent 58/1.4G, I reckon this one will probably be no less expensive than the 24/1.4G, if built to a similar pro lens standard.
Click to expand...
I agree. As I said in another post, about US$2,000.
 
jambalawa said:
Reilly Diefenbach said:
I'm a little surprised you would be so all over this lens, given your oft professed admiration for the Zeiss 21 :^) I have little doubt the Nikon 20 will be a much easier lens to focus.
Click to expand...
Don't be so sure.. my Zeiss 21mm is the easiest lens to focus for my night time landscapes that I have ever had! So nice to have a focus ring that stops precisely on infinity :) With my 24-120 that I also use for storm chasing - i need a good distant light to focus on and then switch back to MF... which I'll need to do each time i rezoom etc.. and there isn't always a distant light source for the AF to use.

So yeah infinity is a common focal point for landscapes.. love my Zeiss.
Click to expand...
The problem with the Zeiss 21 and why I would never buy it is that the sides and corners of a distant subject are going to be very soft if the lens is focused on infinity at f8. It needs hyperfocal, which is a nuisance. The Nikon 14-24 at 20mm gets just about everything in focus at f8/infinity with no difference in sharpness that I can see. The alleged Nikon 20 would be very nice to have as a lighter weight alternative that could take a polarizer and (one hopes) have some field curvature to it.
 
Reilly Diefenbach said:
I predict $899...
Click to expand...
Probably depending on the sort of performance nikon is aiming on this..

If it is close to the zeiss 21 2.8 expect similar pricing or higher.
 
Lance B said:
Rexgig0 said:
With its quite fast aperture for its focal length, and Nikon asking as much as it does for the relatvely recent 58/1.4G, I reckon this one will probably be no less expensive than the 24/1.4G, if built to a similar pro lens standard.
Click to expand...
I agree. As I said in another post, about US$2,000.
Click to expand...
 
I hope to understand better what the 'cost cutting and higher margins' means, or what it doesn’t.

For such a lens, if built to a good, at least the 24/1.4G's standard, I think it wouldn’t be priced far from the Sigma 24/1.4 A (another Art series lens that is expected soon and very probable to be released*). Its price is expected to be little higher than the price of the 50A ($950; best UK prices hold on to £700 level, the 35A $900/£650). Btw the 50A has three pieces of SLD glass while 35A four plus one FLD one. That just for some context re the Sigma Art’s (existing and coming) very complex and highly specified designs.

So while I don’t have a horse in this race specifically I’d expect a high performance f1.8G 20mm to have price ceiling somewhere at $1350, with the starting price (referring to the Nikon’s habits in UK) at $1200-1250 (in the UK "accordingly"). In other words quite expensive. Let’s see if the lens is coming and what it is like. Some of us have their questions when we are delivered a new offering from our brand. Also, reading the reply some 3 lines above, it would seem that 58G cure had worked well on some and they already allowed for the "plus-factor lens or must-have lens" pricing sort of everywhere.

*The current rumour seems to still maintain (adding some details) that the lens is coming together with 14-24/4 Art (and OS). Which is a great specification for this UWA zoom. I guess that it will include high performance 20/4mm to those who don’t care about f1.8 at 20mm. And more compact, good price, easy filters - compared to the Nikkor 14-24 (not that I am likely to exchange).

--
Hynek

favN.jpg


http://www.sunwaysite.com
 
Last edited:
I checked Roland's Nikon Website for production numbers. The amount of units they expect to sell and how fast will also effect the pricing.

14-24 2.8G = 250,600 since Aug. 2007.

20 2.8 AFD = 206,300 since Feb. 1989.

24 1.4G = 14,535 since Feb. 2010.

Anyone know how these production numbers will effect $MSRP? No way to know how many of these lenses are sitting in stock rooms.

B&H wants $1930 for N 24mm and $1800 for Z 21mm. I'm going to predict $2200 for 20mm 1.8!
 
Robert A F said:
I checked Roland's Nikon Website for production numbers. The amount of units they expect to sell and how fast will also effect the pricing.

14-24 2.8G = 250,600 since Aug. 2007.

20 2.8 AFD = 206,300 since Feb. 1989.

24 1.4G = 14,535 since Feb. 2010.

Anyone know how these production numbers will effect $MSRP? No way to know how many of these lenses are sitting in stock rooms.

B&H wants $1930 for N 24mm and $1800 for Z 21mm. I'm going to predict $2200 for 20mm 1.8!
Click to expand...
 
I hope that the lens will be a very good performer wide open. Because of the challenging design and the exotic focal/aperture combination I expect a price in the region of the 24mm f1.4.
 
Brucies Heroes said:
I hope that the lens will be a very good performer wide open. Because of the challenging design and the exotic focal/aperture combination I expect a price in the region of the 24mm f1.4.
Click to expand...
I hope for high performance, whether it be wide open, or stopped-down just a bit. In particular, I am hoping for a quite low amount of distortion, as I shoot evidentiary images for official purposes, which I must upload as OOC JPEGs, with no out-of-camera correction allowed. Another factor is that I still love my 35mm film F6 Nikons.

On the other hand, my patrol vehicle is often used as a physical barrier to divert traffic, and a $2000+ lens might be too dear to be risked in such an environment!
 
clarnibass said:
You're right, but OTOH they also have the almost $2,000 14mm f/2.8, so I think they could "get away" with a 20mm f/1.8 if it's also similar to the f/1.4 lenses in other ways.

I'm interested in a 20mm f/1.8 and personally I hope it will be similar to the cheaper 1.8G lenses to reduce price significantly... no one knows for sure yet... but I bet it won't be...
Click to expand...
Indeed, below 24mm F/1.4 lenses are pretty rare(any besides the Leica 21mm 1.4?), indeed the only F/1.8 lens that comes to mind is the old Sigma 20mm and if that's anything like my 24mm 1.8 Sigma the performance wide open is dreadful.

I spose the big issue is really what the potential market might be. If Nikon wanted to release a small landscape lens then you'd think F/2.8 would be fast enough. It seems to be accepted that these days every prime Nikon puts out will be pretty sharp at max aperture but I'd guess that presents a challenge to also get sharp boarders/corners stopped down, to do both seems like it might not be cheap.
 
Rexgig0 said:
Brucies Heroes said:
I hope that the lens will be a very good performer wide open. Because of the challenging design and the exotic focal/aperture combination I expect a price in the region of the 24mm f1.4.
Click to expand...
I hope for high performance, whether it be wide open, or stopped-down just a bit. In particular, I am hoping for a quite low amount of distortion, as I shoot evidentiary images for official purposes, which I must upload as OOC JPEGs, with no out-of-camera correction allowed. Another factor is that I still love my 35mm film F6 Nikons.

On the other hand, my patrol vehicle is often used as a physical barrier to divert traffic, and a $2000+ lens might be too dear to be risked in such an environment!
Click to expand...
 
Gareth Bourne said:
From a market opportunity, I think they'd want to price it around the more affordable existing f1.8 primes. The existing 20mm is currently in a similar price bracket.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
paulski66 said:
Rexgig0 said:
Brucies Heroes said:
I hope that the lens will be a very good performer wide open. Because of the challenging design and the exotic focal/aperture combination I expect a price in the region of the 24mm f1.4.
Click to expand...
I hope for high performance, whether it be wide open, or stopped-down just a bit. In particular, I am hoping for a quite low amount of distortion, as I shoot evidentiary images for official purposes, which I must upload as OOC JPEGs, with no out-of-camera correction allowed. Another factor is that I still love my 35mm film F6 Nikons.

On the other hand, my patrol vehicle is often used as a physical barrier to divert traffic, and a $2000+ lens might be too dear to be risked in such an environment!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
paulski66 said:
And that's assuming the same mediocre build quality of the 28 1.8. If this new 20mm is really aimed at pros, then you're looking at more robust build and an even more expensive lens.
Click to expand...
OK, but light != mediocre. Unless you've broken one you can't say anything about the durability of the lens.
 
Might not be the lens for you. Looking at the patent document and the aberration plots, there is, as one would honestly expect, a reasonable bit of distortion to the lens. Wide angles are tough designs, and in order to get the control of CA, sharpness and the rest to decent standards, distortion control is usually one of the first things to go when the lens designer is navigating the inevitable tradeoffs. For evidence photography, you'd probably want something flat field with low distortion - sounds like the old 60/2.8 AF-D micro nikkor would fit the bill, although obviously not a wide angle. You won't find many (or probably "any") wide angles at the 20mm range without some distortion that I know of...

-m
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top