Fast wide-angle lens request

[Frank Fremerey]

If I did not own a very good copy of the 1.4/24G I would certainly buy the 1.8/20G. Why? Becuse the new 20mm
is very light and nicely to handle. The 1.4/24 is a heavy chunk of glass. The D750 balances very well with the 20mm.
Also for the price the 20 is a very good performer also in the near field. You can make a frame with half of it one
eye of a person the rest showing the whole room. Kind of super wide macro potential.


PS when I was on a budget I used the Tokina 12-24 on FX. Starting at 18mm it covered the whole frame. Alas only f=4

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Peter: Yes. The AF-D Nikkor 14 mm f/2.8. It was considered mandatory back in the old D1 days, together with the 17-35/2.8.

[Peter Connan]

Thank you Frank and Bjorn

[Erik Lund]

AF-D Nikkor 14 mm f/2.8 is really good on a DX camera with the new RAW converters CA removal tools

20mm AFS 1.8 has a very decent IQ  into the corners wide open.

I forgot to mention 16mm Full Frame Fisheye, and for night shooting the manual version f/3.5 is perfect! This is a true sky lens!

I use the 16mm AF-D 2.8 but it has not so good MF ring....

[Peter Connan]

Thsnk you Eric

how do you deal with the distortion of the horizon when trying to keep it low in the frame?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

With any Fisheye, there is a great difference whether the lens is pointing a little down- or upwards. The curvature of the horizon introduced by the latter in fact is more easily accepted and thus requires little or no additional correction. Just ensure your stand point is quite low to allow the lens pointing a bit upwards.

Some swear by a 'hemi' fisheye correction plugin that allows some residual curvature. Not tried by me, though.

[Peter Connan]

Thank you Bjorn, I guess I will need to see if I can try one sometime.

[Erik Lund]

Choose a non flat horizon or leave the horizon out of the image frame.

[simato73]

Of the lenses you mention I have used only the Samyang 14/2.8
I think it is optically excellent, particularly in relation to its price.
The two (big) disadvantages, at least for me are that:
1) the barrel distortion is huge
2) Infinity focus is achieved very far from the infinity mark on the barrel.
In my case it was more between the 2 and 3 m marks, if I remember correctly (still have the lens but no more Nikon DSLR's to check)

[Peter Connan]

Thank you Simato.

According to some reports, this misalignment between the focus marks and the actual focus has been fixed or at least improved.

[simato73]

Thank you Simato.

According to some reports, this misalignment between the focus marks and the actual focus has been fixed or at least improved.

That's good for prospective new buyers, too late for me.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the lens behaves very well in terms of coma - useful if you are interested in night photography.
Astigmatism is also low if I remember correctly.

[Jan Anne]

No issue here with the infinity focus mark on my Sammy 14/2.8 other than I wished it had a hard infinity stop.

[Akira]

The distance scale is not reliable even on Nikon AF-S lenses, so Samyang should not impose too much of an extra problem.

[Peter Connan]

Akira, you are correct, and in any event I don't really use focus distance scales.

Jan, I heard somewhere that the focus distance of a lens may change as a result of temperature, and will probably change as a result of aperture changes.

I was just trying to find a friend in Cape Town (where the local Samyang agent is based) who could go and test the Samyang for me to make sure I don't get a lemon, and phoned the dealer to find out if they would allow it, only to find out that they are out of stock. Sold the last one yesterday...

[Jan Anne]

Jan, I heard somewhere that the focus distance of a lens may change as a result of temperature, and will probably change as a result of aperture changes.

With modern ED glass infinity can change with temperature, that's why most current lenses focus a little beyond infinity to compensate.

Older Nikkor lenses don't have this "issue" and have a hard infinity stop which makes dialling in infinity so much easier, especially in low light situations.

As mentioned before, dial in infinity and secure the focus ring with gaffer tape when doing multiple images