Nikkor AF-S 24mm f/1.8G ED Review

The Best of the f/1.8s

The old 24mm f/2.8 AF-D was no slouch, but its limitations seem glaring on high-resolution bodies, a common scenario that has led to the development of all the recent Nikkor f/1.8 primes, including the new Nikkor AF-S 24mm f/1.8G ED.

Features

It’s interesting to ponder over why one  would need f/1.8 in a lens of this focal length, considering that landscape  photographers would largely use f/8 or f/11. Environmental portraits take on fascinating dimensions, when made up close at 24mm, but with the background blurred. The excellent close-focusing distance of 0.23m particularly makes the use of f/1.8 interesting.

Handling

In comparison to the old f/2.8 lens, this is actually quite a large lens. That said, it weighs only 355g, courtesy a rather liberal  use of plastic in its construction. Along with the (relatively) lightweight D750, it’s one of the most exciting accompaniments, especially when walking the streets for long hours. The Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art, one of its prime competitors, is way heavier, with a metal construction (and of course, the faster aperture lending to the bulk). That said, I wouldn’t be too worried about the plastic... the Nikkor 24mm f/1.8G has a rubberised gasket that weatherseals the mount, something that the Sigma Art lenses omit. 

The focus ring barely has to move around 50° to cover the entire focus range. I presume this has been done to speed  up AF, but for a lens of this focal length, I would have appreciated some more throw for the use of precise manual focus. There is a distance scale, but again, I would have hoped for more detailed markings than merely f/16.

Lenses, for a lot of practitioners, are not so much about resolution charts, but the look they produce, which the
24mm’s microcontrast does an excellent job of. Exposure: 1/160sec at f/1.8 (ISO 1250)

Performance

Personally, this was a lens that I took a  while getting used to, having largely shot at 35mm over the past several months. I need to get closer, I would keep thinking, but I need to avoid distortion; only to
realise, after a few dedicated shooting sessions, that my rustiness was unfounded. The 24mm has exceptional control over distortion, whatever little is visible is correctible without any resulting waviness. This encourages you to get closer, which not only does justice to the focal length but also shows you the kind of depth isolation that the lens is capable of.

It was when I made a series of portraits in a local train, that I started appreciating the other qualities of the lens. Autofocus is extremely quick on the D750, and some careful switching between Single Point AF and Group AF was all I needed to do, to focus accurately on my friend Teena, as she stood in the middle of a typically chaotic, crowded bogie. 

Top angle f/1.8 portraits, with the handlebars blurred in the extreme foreground, showed me how good the bokeh is. A lot of people only bother about the extent of background blur. In reality, non-distracting foreground blur allows us to shoot through objects, which dramatically improves our compositional options.

The sharpness is excellent in the centre at f/1.8, and almost matches the similarly priced Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art. The corners, on the other hand, while not perfect, are better than the Sigma’s. Ironically, both these lenses overshadow the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4, which is almost three times the price of this new f/1.8 lens. The sweet spot on the D750 is f/8. Beyond this, diffraction reduces the sharpness slightly, but it’s still in acceptable limits.

Fringing is largely controlled, though there is some spherical aberration visible in the out-of-focus areas. Flare control is fantastic, and better than all the other f/1.8 primes that Nikon has released lately. 

Conclusion

The Nikkor 24mm f/1.8G ED is a fantastic bargain, considering its quality eclipses and virtually devalues the company’s far more expensive 24mm f/1.4G. Both lenses are neck to neck. The Sigma offers f/1.4, but the Nikkor matches it optically, in a lighter package. Which one you choose really depends on the kind of photography you wish to do.

FINAL RATINGS

Features
f/1.8, Nano Crystal coating.   16/20

Performance
Excellent AF, good microcontrast, smooth, pleasing bokeh, great control over flare.   33/35

Build Quality
Sturdy plastic barrel, rubber weathersealing gasket at the rear mount.   23/25

Ergonomics
DOF markings only for f/16.   13/15

Warranty & Support
Two year warranty, wide service network.   4/5

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