Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S Nikkor

Name: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S Nikkor
Brand: Nikon
Rating: 9.3 (15 reviews)

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Lens Review
Specifications

14-24mm	$1,634 average price

Lab Test Results

Sub-frame
Full-frame

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

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Please note that we have updated this review to incorporate our results for full-frame testing.

Introduction
Released in 2007, the 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 AF-S is a full-frame lens designed as a wide-angle companion to the D3. Demand was so strong for the lens that Nikon implemented a pro-first policy that required (among other things) that the lens was only available if you purchased a D3. This policy has since been lifted, making individual purchase of the lens possible.

The 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 is packed with some of the newest lens technology Nikon has to offer, including a revolutionary large-diameter Precision Glass Molding (PGM) element to eliminate coma, and a Nano Crystal lens coating to ''ensure superior color balance and reproduction.''

As a full-frame lens, there are no vignetting issues to be found on FX sensors or film. It is a ''G'' style lens, so there is no aperture ring; on older film bodies the lens will be limited to shooting at its smallest aperture, ƒ/22. On a sub-frame (APS-C) sensor digital body, the lens will act as a 21-36mm lens. The lens has an integrated petal-shaped hood that acts more as a guard to keep you from accidentally damaging the massively protruding front element, rather than prevent lens flare. Unfortunately, the design of this hood precludes the use of filters. The lens is available now for around $1,600.

Sharpness
Nikon have made themselves an extremely sharp lens here.

This is a lens for which we need to see complete full-frame lens test results to see the full story. On a sub-frame D200, the poorest result we could obtain was at 24mm and ƒ/22, a torture test for most lenses. With the 14-24mm, the sharpness test graph shows a performance of approximately 2.5 blur units across the frame. That's the worst we could get. Optimal performance was obtained at wide-angle (14mm) set to ƒ/5.6, where the image is just about as sharp as our test can measure at 1 blur unit. Nice to see that the engineers have optimized this lens to be sharpest at the point where people will probably use it most, at 14mm.

The results on the full-frame D3 have now been posted, and the story is no less dramatic; while there is a bit more corner softness at 14mm and ƒ/2.8, it's not much to write home about (1 blur unit in the center, and 2 in the corners) and overall sharpness is outstanding. Curiously, what doesn't show up on the APS-C tests is some slight softness specifically at 18mm, more pronounced at this focal length than at either end (14mm or 24mm). Again, its performance is still excellent here - 1 unit in the center and 2.5 in the corners - it's just interesting to notice the better performance on either side of 18mm. Performance at other apertures and focal lengths echoes the performance on APS-C.

Chromatic Aberration
Resistance to chromatic aberration is excellent, much improved over the Nikon 12-24mm ƒ/2.8 DX lens. The 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 never exceeds 5/100ths of a percent of frame height in the corners, and 3/100ths in the center - we're talking barely perceptible results here.

Now that we have posted our full-frame results for the 14-24mm ƒ/2.8, we have to look at the lens' tolerance to chromatic aberration twice when considering the D3. The D3 has the ability to automatically remove chromatic aberration from images taken with this lens, and the results with this correction applied are quite significant. To give you a sense of how the lens would perform when mounted on a full-frame body other than the D3 (ie., a film body) we shot our test scene in RAW mode, and converted the RAW file to JPEG using Bibble, with all post-processing options (noise reduction, sharpening, etc) turned off.

The performance of the uncorrected D3 testing in relation to chromatic aberration is very similar to that of the test results for the D200, though as you zoom in further towards 24mm, there is a greater presence of CA, especially at the larger apertures. The uncorrected D3, at 24mm and ƒ/2.8, shows 9/100ths of a percent of frame height, while the D200 shows just 4.5. Our sample pictures don't reflect this, as they are showing the CA-corrected versions of the test chart.

While it has little to do with the lens, it's worth noting that the CA correction built in to the D3 really works: on the average you don't see more than 1/100 of a percent of frame height of chromatic aberration, and the worst case numbers of 9/100ths of a percent in the 24mm range reduce to just over 3/100ths.

Shading (''Vignetting'')
Being a wide-angle lens, the 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 does exhibit some corner darkness, but in keeping with the excellent quality of this optic at its worst it shows up as a half-stop darker, at that's with the lens set to 14mm and ƒ/2.8. At any other focal length / aperture combination, corner darkness doesn't exceed a quarter-stop.

The 14-24mm, mounted on the D3, produces significant corner shading: this isn't much of a surprise, given we're talking about a wide-angle lens, and the corner shading isn't revealed on the D200 as the APS-C sensor only uses the "sweet spot" of the lens. At 14mm, you can get as much as two stops of corner shading (wide open at ƒ/2.8). Stopped down, corner shading is less of a factor at a half-stop EV difference between the corners and the center, provided you stop down to ƒ/8 or smaller. At other focal lengths corner shading is acceptable, averaging around 3/4 of a stop of corner darkness at ƒ/2.8, and decreasing to less than a half-stop, but it will always be present in images taken on full-frame.

Distortion
Being a rectilinear lens, the 14-24mm is well-balanced for distortion. It wouldn't be a wide angle lens if there wasn't some distortion to speak of, and set to 14mm, you do see about 0.5% barrel distortion. Keep in mind that on the D200 we mounted the lens to, it produces an image with an ''effective'' focal length of 21mm, so 0.5% barrel distortion is in keeping with that focal length. Distortion scales gracefully as you zoom in along the focal range, and a 0% distortion is achieved around 22mm.

The story for distortion on the D3 is similar to that told for the D200, except more so: at 14mm, distortion tops out at 1% barrel, and again hits 0% by around 22mm. At 24mm you get a very slight pincushion, but I would classify this as so slight as to be perceptually negligible (<0.1%).

Autofocus Operation
As is typical with Nikon Silent Wave Motor (SWM) AF-S lenses, autofocus is pretty fast: under one second to rack through the entire focus range.

Macro
The lens is not a dedicated macro lens, and in fact you should probably avoid getting too close to a subject with this lens to avoid the risk of damaging it. The close focus for this lens is 28 cm (8 inches) and the lens produces a poor magnification of 0.15x. Keeping in mind the lens is just over 13 cm long, this means the closest you can get to a subject and still focus is 10 cm.

Build Quality and Handling
The 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 is a very solid lens, and for good reason, given the large amount of expensive glass locked up in it. As with all of Nikon's pro glass the finish of the lens is a texturized metal, with the zoom and lens rings a plastic with excellent grip. The lens is weather-sealed, and the mount is also metal. The lens balances well, even on smaller bodies; the center of gravity rests on the zoom ring, making for comfortable, natural holding.

The zoom actuation is external, meaning that the front element moves back and forth a bit (about 1cm, or half an inch) as you rotate the zoom collar. It takes about a quarter turn to move through the entire focal range. Zoom creep, at least with this sample, is non-existent.

The lens has a distance scale, but no aperture ring (as mentioned before, this is a ''G''-style lens). The focus ring takes about a quarter turn to rack through the focus range. The depth of field produced with this wide angle lens makes manual focusing not as critical. With the focus operation directly coupled to the lens elements, we found manual focus to be very smooth. Built with a fairly soft ''clutch,'' there's no abrupt stop when you reach the focus limit, rather a slight increase in resistance. As an AF-S lens, you can override the autofocus at any time, making the use of the M|M/A switch slightly redundant (this switch disables autofocus operation, rather than enabling manual focus as some systems do).

The lens comes with a petal-style lens shade that's permanently attached. It's also essential for dealing with lens flare. Not surprisingly for a wide-angle lens, if any stray light gets at the lens elements it will bounce around quite significantly and produce multiple internal reflections. For landscape shooting with the sun anywhere in the frame, the integrated hood is unable to shade the front element; the only solution is to use your hand (or some other object) as a shade.

Alternatives

Unfortunately, given the specialized application of this lens, there's not a lot to choose from in terms of alternatives. I specifically did not include the Nikon 12-24mm f/4 in this list because it is a DX (APS-C sensor-sized) lens and isn't really an option for full-frame shooters.

Nikon 14mm ƒ/2.8D ED AF ~$1,400
For a full-frame wide-angle lens, the only other alternative from Nikon is its 14mm prime, which produces much more corner softness through its aperture range. Chromatic aberration is worse and vignetting is awful (over a full stop darker in the corners). The lens does take rear gelatin filters and has an aperture ring.

Sigma 12-24mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM ~$650
We haven't yet got one of these into the lab, but plenty of people sing its praises. It goes slightly wider at 12mm, and is also full-frame. It does take rear gelatin filters, but doesn't have an aperture ring.

Conclusion
The Nikon 14-24mm ƒ/2.8G is an excellent wide-angle pro lens, with only two substantial flaws: lens flare, and the inability to attach filters. The lens hood does work to prevent flare if you can put it between the front element and the sun, but let's face it - this is a wide angle lens we're talking about. Optical performance is excellent, mounted on either an APS-C or 35mm frame, but corner shading is a significant issue on 35mm. Happily, image post-processing software can make corner shading a non-issue. Given the variables lens designers have to work with when producing ultra-wide lenses, this is a lens that delivers on what it promises: exceptional optical performance.

Sample Photos

The VFA target should give you a good idea of sharpness in the center and corners, as well as some idea of the extent of barrel or pincushion distortion and chromatic aberration, while the Still Life subject may help in judging contrast and color. We shoot both images using the default JPEG settings and manual white balance of our test bodies, so the images should be quite consistent from lens to lens.

Still Life shot

VFA target

As appropriate, we shoot these with both full-frame and sub-frame bodies, at a range of focal lengths, and at both maximum aperture and ƒ/8. For the ''VFA'' target (the viewfinder accuracy target from Imaging Resource), we also provide sample crops from the center and upper-left corner of each shot, so you can quickly get a sense of relative sharpness, without having to download and inspect the full-res images. To avoid space limitations with the layout of our review pages, indexes to the test shots launch in separate windows.