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20mm Sharpness Comparison

© 2010 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

Intro   Images   Analysis   Teknik   Comparison Table   Recommendations

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September 2010     Nikon Reviews   Canon   LEICA   Voigtländer   Pentax

 

Lenses Compared   (not to scale, see also the Comparison Table.)

Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR

 

Nikon 16-35mm

 

Autofocus Zoom

Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL II

Voigtlander 20mm f/3.5 SL II

Manual Focus with CPU

Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s

Nikon 17-35mm

Manual Focus (Same optics as Autofocus 20/2.8 AF-D)

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s

Manual Focus

Nikon 20mm f/4 AI

 

Nikon 20mm f/4 AI

 

Manual Focus

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD

Manual Focus

 

Introduction         top

Intro   Images   Analysis   Teknik   Comparison Table   Recommendations

Let's compare the technical performance of several 20mm lenses for Nikon.

You may click any image to get to that lens' detailed review.

There isn't much difference between these in the center, so I didn't bother to show the results.

With ultrawide lenses, the sides and corners are the important part of the message, and where the biggest differences lie, so I've only shown the very top left of each image.

On most computer monitors at 100 DPI, these are very small sections from what would be gallery-sized 56 x 37" (140 x 95cm) prints, if printed in their entirety. At smaller print sizes, these differences would be much less obvious.

 

Maximum Aperture, Top Left      Maximum   f/4    f/5.6    f/8      top

Nikon 16-35mm

Voigtlander 20mm f/3.5 SL II

Nikon 17-35mm

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s

Nikon 20mm f/4 AI

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD

 

f/4, Top Left                                                                     Maximum   f/4    f/5.6    f/8      top

Nikon 16-35mm

Voigtlander 20mm f/3.5 SL II

Nikon 17-35mm

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s

Nikon 20mm f/4 AI

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD

 

f/5.6, Top Left                                                               Maximum   f/4    f/5.6    f/8      top

Nikon 16-35mm

Voigtlander 20mm f/3.5 SL II

Nikon 17-35mm

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s

Nikon 20mm f/4 AI

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD

 

f/8, Top Left                                                                      Maximum   f/4    f/5.6    f/8      top

Nikon 16-35mm

Voigtlander 20mm f/3.5 SL II

Nikon 17-35mm

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s

Nikon 20mm f/4 AI

Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD

Analysis         top

Intro   Images   Analysis   Teknik   Comparison Table   Recommendations

 

Wide-open

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 looks the best, with the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR just as good.

The other four lenses all look similar, with the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s having a little more resolution hidden in all the veiling coma flare.

This is a good showing for the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s, as it is a stop faster than the other lenses; it's shooting at f/2.8 while the others are at f/3.5 or f/4.

 

f/4

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 looks the best, with the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR as good and the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s almost as good.

The other lenses trail, and the Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD is worst.

 

f/5.6

At f/5.6 there is a surprising change of events, and the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s is now in first place!

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 and Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR are almost as good.

The Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s, Nikon 20mm f/4 AI and Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD are equally bad.

 

f/8

At f/8, where you actually shoot in daylight, the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s is still in first place!

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 and Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR are tied for second.

The Nikon 20mm f/4 AI is in third place.

The Nikon 20mm f/3.5 AI-s is in fourth place, and the Nikon 20mm f/3.5 UD is last.

 

Teknik         top

Intro   Images   Analysis   Teknik   Comparison Table   Recommendations

Everything was shot on a 12MP full-frame Nikon D3.

I used a tripod not for sharpness, but to try to hold each camera in the same position from shot-to-shot to help these images stay in alignment to make nice, neat looking comparisons.

I'm impressed that each lens had about the same real, effective focal length and that the framing matched so closely.

I equalized exposure so that all images look as bright as each other.

 

Comparison Table         top

Intro   Images   Analysis   Teknik   Comparison Table   Recommendations

 
Anni
2010-
2009-
1984-
1977-1984
1974-1978
1967-1974
Filter
77mm
52mm
62mm
52mm
52mm
52mm
Threads
Plastic
Metal
Metal
Metal
Metal
Metal
Barrel
Plastic
Metal
Metal
Metal
Metal
Metal
Weight
678g
199.5g
259g
232g
209g
388g
Weight
23.9 oz.
7.040 oz.
9.1 oz.
8.2 oz.
7.4 oz.
13.7 oz.
Price, USA,
September 2010

 

Recommendations         top

Intro   Images   Analysis   Teknik   Comparison Table   Recommendations

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 and Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR are best at larger apertures where performance differs the most among lenses, while the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s is the best when shot at the apertures where we'll usually be shooting it.

As if that didn't confuse things, what you folks can't possibly realize from the extremely limited number of samples I've shown here is how much this horse race varies depending on when and where you are looking.

To keep things even more confusing, at lest these mechanically sound manual-focus (and the VR zoom) are consistent from shot-to-shot and from left to right.

I've never shown this sort of comparison from zooms, because mechanical tolerances wiggle enough from shot-to-shot that the results very, and the results vary from one region of the image to the next.

When looked at this closely, the actual samples of ultrawide AF and zoom lenses you and I actually can buy never give symmetrical results from one side to the next due to all the manufacturing variations, which are extremely critical in ultrawides due to the short focal lengths.

I didn't bother trying to show the Autofocus 20/2.8 AF-D, which has the same optics on paper as the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s, because the mechanical slop in the AF mechanism of the 20mm f/2.8 AF-D renders results sloppy enough to make these single-image tests meaningless.

These samples are at very high magnifications. In actual photography, we're never peering at the corners this carefully. In actual shooting, there isn't any real difference among these lenses technically.

At f/2.8, the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s has lower contrast than the rest of these lenses due to all its coma, but none of these lenses go to f/2.8, so it doesn't matter.

The biggest thing I hope I've shown is how silly it can become to attempt to over-analyze these things, especially with these lenses that are surprisingly similar. If I had shown some other part of the image, the relative results would all change again.

 

 

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