Really Wide Nikon 14mm f/2.8D ED AF Lens

Description: Nikon 14MM f/2.8D ED AF-Lens

The Nikon AF 14mm f/2.8D ED has become the most severely, corrected wide-angle prime fixed-focal length lens available in the existing Nikon lens stable. Announced in 2000 it replaced the MF Nikon Ai-S 15mm f/3.5 lens. nothing out of the ordinary for this type of lens the price is on the hefty side at about $1500. However, as noticeable from the images, there's also a large amount of glass for your money.

Mounted on an APS-C Nikon D90 DSLR, the AF 14mm f/2.8 features an equivalent field-of-view equal to 21mm on a classic full-frame camera. Within this range it's nonetheless an ultra-wide, but obviously not as wide as others.

The 14mm f/2.8D ED lens is superbly crafted, with a majority of it's pieces created from metal with a barely textured exterior. A focus ring covered in rubberized material is not damped, but operates very smooth. The lens hood which is built in is non-removable - probably a good move by Nikon anyway as the monster front element could be extremely vulnerable. As a consequence, lens filters do not fit this lens.

Rear Focusing

it employs rear focusing (RF) so the length remains the same regardless of the focusing arrangement. There's also a separate ring for changing from AF to manual. Most usual for older model Nikkors' it lacks an internal AF motor forcing it to rely on the camera's slotted screw drive. As a consequence, the AF function is moderately noisy. The auto focus speed is somewhat quick, but rather mute subject for a lens of this type.

Vignetting

Being a full frame camera lens, the AF 14mm f/2.8D ED has the ability to benefit from the sweet spot effect while mounted on the D90. Although, at wide-open things are not all that peaches and cream, having a light reduction of 1.35EV. Usually this is correctable but nonetheless not overly impressive. From f/4 foreword the vignetting is under control and better than comparable range zoom lenses.

The Nikon AF 14mm f/2.8D ED is a very decent ultra-wide angle, although it's not all that much to e-mail home about - especially sporting its extremely high price tag. From a technical point of view, it's resolution numbers are magnificent in the middle and just OK at f/2.8 to very good at f/8 along the borders. There's somewhat heavy vignetting around f/2.8 although past that, the situation is handled rather well.

Distortion

Iit is not an exceedingly exciting player in the area of distortions but barrel distortions have a less amount of wave compared with zooms and is easy to fix. CAs are restrained for such an ultra-wide. You may make a case that the somewhat large aperture can create a nice soft out-of-focus blurring while in close focus environments but in my experience, the bokeh is too harsh. In spite of its super large front element this 14mm lens appears to be fairly resistant against challenging light.

The AF 14mm f/2.8ED features a superb build quality, even though the monster front element is particularly defenseless and there is no way to mount any sort of protection filter in front of the lens. So, unless you must have an excessive wide-angle fit for your full format camera the less expensive Nikon AF-S 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED appears to be a wiser choice.

The front lens element is practically spherical and front hood doesn't quite protect it. The lens case is kinda' like of a small leather feed bag that goes around the hood. It's really difficult to put on and just forget about if when you're in a rush.

Mar 13, 2011

Features

Construction

Filters: The built-in rear filter holder accepts gelatin filters. The Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens is an extreme ultra-wide zoom, wide-aperture lens that delivers edge-to-corner sharpness that can surpass that of equivalent fixed focal-length lenses.

• AF-S Autofocus lens featuring a Silent wave, coreless, integrated, focus motor (unwrapped in 1996). Basically an updated AF-I Autofocus-Silent sporting a "Silent Wave Motor" (ultrasonic) to focus near silently and fast.
   
• D- Distance. Denoted after the  f-number. It signifies the lens has the capacity to use Nikon's 3D Matrix Metering on camera bodies where it is supported.
   
• ED- (Extra-low Dispersion)
  a necessary element of the Nikon telephoto lens Nikon engineered Extra-low Dispersion optical glass to facilitate the manufacture of lenses that provide superior color correction and sharpness by diminishing chromatic aberrations
   
• N-Nano Crystal Coat
  Nano Crystal Coat consist of an antireflective coat that stemmed from the cultivation of Nikon NSR-series (Step and Repeat type) semiconductor fabricating devices
   
• IF- Internal Focusing
  The ability to have a lens focus while it's size remains unchanged. Nikon’s IF engineering allows that to happen. All internal optical travel is contained within the inside of the non-extension lens container.
   
• M/A mode
  AF-S Nikon lenses include the exclusive Nikon M/A focus function, that permits switching from auto to manual focus virtually without time lag - even while the AF servo is in operation regardless of the AF mode in play.
   
• PGM - An aspherical lens features a curved surface which is non-spherical but is able to fix aberrations.

• SIC - Nikon Super Integrated Coating
  Nikon uses an elite multilayer lens coating to augment the operation of its lens elements which also helps diminish ghosting and flare to minute levels. Nikon Super Integrated Coat also accomplishes several purposes,

• SWM- Silent Wave Motor
  Nikon AF-S engineering is yet one more rationale why professional photographers like Nikon telephoto optical lenses.

• RF - Rear Focusing
  Nikon’s Rear Focus system divides all lens elements into express lens groups, allowing only the back lens group to move for focus purposes

Item Includes

CLS2 soft case, lens cover, rear cap

Accessories

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