Mongo will soon be going to the Cape country (a remote area of Australia) for his next brief holiday. He is keen to use a very good wide angle lens but must be extremely light and compact. Mongo has a well used but near mint 20mm f3.5 AI manual lens which he has used happily for many years and which is now approximately 40 years old.
Many considerations went through Mongo’s little brain. Such a trip warrants an excellent lens….investigate and buy a better, more modern lens…where to start….perhaps a wide zoom…..another 20mm or wider (say 12mm to 15mm)….maybe 24mm will be a great all rounder etc etc.
After many short circuits in his head from having considered all the alternatives, Mongo decided to simply replace the 20mm with a new 20mm due to many factors including IQ, weight & size etc. The obvious choice was the nikon 20mm f1.8. Not really interested in the fancier exotics lenses for this purpose.
Went to more closely look and try the new 20mm with intention of buying it and bringing it home and getting to know it better before the big trip……..BUT this was not to be.
After looking at some test shots of Mongo’s 20mm f3.5 AI and the new 20mm f1.8, in Mongo’s opinion, there was just not enough positive difference to warrant even this relatively small change of equipment. To be fair, if Mongo was a first time buyer of a wide angle lens, he would have bought the 20mm f1.8.
20mm f3.5 AI - small, light, good IQ (even in corners stopped down), has scale for hyper-focal distance settings, easy 52mm filters. Cons……colour not as saturated, sharpness 8/10, manual focus only.
20mm f1.8 - great IQ/sharpness 9/10 (even in corners stopped down), good AF, great colour. Cons…2.5 times larger & 1/3 heavier (but still very portable), no real hyper-focal scale, large 72mm filters
Some parameters/qualifications:- Mongo only uses the 20mm for landscapes (usually f8 or f11) and some astral images. Often, Mongo just sets the camera settings and shoots in any direction without even looking through the view finder. So, a lot of the bells and whistles of the new lens do not directly mean much in these circumstances (except , perhaps speed for astro work). However, a wise person once said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So, here are two images - one from each lens at identical settings.
The AI lens was focused to the target instead of hyper-focal distance just to equate to the AF lens focusing to the same target point (being the “Paris Miki” sign).
Apologies for the lousy image choice but these were taken in a hurry in a busy shopping mall outside the door of the camera shop. They are tilted because Mongo held the side of the D810 body firmly up against a concrete pillar to steady the shot. The shots are labelled AI and AF to distinguish the lenses used. First, the whole image of each and secondly, a 100% crop of each. Shot in full frame RAW with no processing at all except conversion to Tiff and then to JPEG and reduced in size for posting. ISO 400, 1/15th, f8, manual exposure mode.
The AF lens is slightly sharper in places and has more contrast/saturated colour. The contrast/colour saturation are easily fixed in a couple of clicks of a button. Also noticed the AF image was slightly darker than the AI at the same settings.
This post is offered as food for thought. Certainly, it surprised Mongo. Many of you may still change lenses in the same circumstances. Whatever the outcome of your views, when members come across stuff like this, it would seem interesting (and perhaps) useful to share it. Perhaps some of you have had similar experiences or have a view about this post. Thoughts…..??
