Nikon 20mm f/1.8 Review & Sample Images by Ken Rockwell

West 18th Street at dusk, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 280, hand-held, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution.

Ryan flies a Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar," 28 November 2014, Friday. Nikon D810, Nikon 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,100, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original file to explore on your computer.

Radio City Music Hall blurred action shot at night, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/2.2 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 100, hand-held, Perfectly Clear. bigger.

The 20/1.8 is so fast that we can shoot it out moving taxi windows at night at ISO 100 for ultra-clean professional images.

West 30th Street looking west at night, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750 in HDR mode, 20mm f/1.8, f/2.8 at 5 seconds at ISO 400, hand-held against tinted hotel window, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution (13 MB JPG).

Outside Penn Station at night, New York City, 07 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 500, hand-held, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution (10 MB JPG).

Extremely sharp even at f/1.8!

Introduction top

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This new Nikon 20mm f/1.8 FX is Nikon's sharpest fixed ultrawide lens. Not only is it over a stop faster than any previous Nikon ultrawide lens or zoom, it's ultrasharp (even wide-open), it focuses super-close, has no ghosts, has great sunstars and only minimal distortion.

You can read the rest of this review if you like, or just do as I did and get yours now and just start shooting. I can't find anything wrong with it; it even works great with two stacked filters with no vignetting on full-frame!

It's ultrasharp, ultrafast, and small and light. Nikon hasn't updated the optical design of its other 20mm ultrawide lens in over 30 years since the original 20/2.8 AI-s lens of 1984, so this new 20/1.8 is a real eye opener in what Nikon has learned in 30 years. This new lens makes any old 20/2.8 look broken by comparison, especially at large apertures (the AF, AF-D and AI-s lenses all have the same optical design).

You may turn the focus ring at any time for instant manual-focus override.

I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

Compatibility top

This AF-S lens works great on the FTZ, with autofocus and all features. It has no internal optical stabilization.

Everything works perfectly on every digital Nikon ever made, both FX and DX, from the best Df, D4s, D810, D750 and D610 to Nikon's cheapest digitals like the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D3200, D3300, D5000, D5100, D5200 and D5300.

It's also perfect on decent or recent AF film cameras like the F6, F100, F5, N80 and N75.

The incompatibilities for older or cheaper 35mm cameras are that:

1.) It won't autofocus with the cheapest new AF 35mm cameras like the N55, but if you focus manually, everything else works great. Even if you lose autofocus, these cameras have in-finder focus confirmation dots to help you.

2.) Late 1980s ~ early 1990s AF cameras like the N90s, N70 and F4 will focus and meter perfectly. You'll have Program and Shutter-priority modes, but you won't have Manual or Aperture-priority since you have no way to set the aperture on the camera or on the lens.

3.) You're really pushing it with the oldest AF cameras like the N2020, N6006 and N8008. You'll have no AF and confused exposure modes. Manual focus is fine, along with electronic focus indications.

4.) Since it has no aperture ring, it's just about useless with manual focus 35mm cameras. It will shoot every shot at its minimum aperture.

See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S, AF-I" and "G" columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" (gelding) is a deliberate handicap which removes features and compatibility .

I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S. enlarge.

Specifications top

I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

Name top

Nikon 20/1.8 back

Nikon 20/1.8G.

Nikon calls this the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED N SWM RF Aspherical ∅77.

AF-S and SWM: Silent Wave Autofocus Motor.

NIKKOR: Nikon's brand name for all their lenses.

G: Gelded for cost-reduction and removing compatibility with older cameras.

ED: Magic Extra-low Dispersion glass for reduced secondary chromatic aberration.

N: Magic Nano-crystal coating, meaning a coating which varies its index of refraction continuously to achieve even greater reflection reduction. It's probably only on one surface, and is used mostly for marketing purposes.

RF: Rear focusing; nothing moves externally as focused except the rear element.

Aspherical: Specially curved glass to give even sharper pictures.

∅77: 77mm filter thread.

↓10↑: Lead-free RoHS solder used. For worry-warts, beware tin "whiskers". The "10" means a 10-year expected life before being thrown away. More on tin whiskers from NASA and more here (page 41).

MADE IN CHINA: Offshored to be made as efficiently as possible.

Optics top

13 elements in 11 groups.

2 are of ED glass.

2 are aspherical.

One surface, usually the inside rear of the largest element, is Nano-crystal coated to eliminate ghosts.

It's multicoated, which Nikon calls Nikon Super Integrated Coating.

Diaphragm top

Front, Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S at f/16.

7 blades.

Rounded at large apertures, heptagonal at medium and small apertures.

Stops down to f/16.

Coverage top

35mm film, FX and DX.

Focal Length top

20mm.

When used on a DX camera, it sees angles of view similar to what a 30mm lens sees when used on an FX or 35mm camera.

Angle of View top

90° on FX digital and 35mm.

74° on small-format DX.

80° on Pronea APS.

Close Focus top

7.5" or 19 cm from the image plane, measured.

5" or 125mm from the front of the lens, measured.

Nikon specifies 0.66 feet (8" or 0.2 meters) from the image plane.

Minimum Working Distance top

5" (125 mm) from subject to front of lens.

Maximum Reproduction Ratio top

1:4.3. (0.23x).

Hard Infinity Focus Stop? top

No.

You have to let the AF system focus at infinity.

Focus Scale top

Yes, abbreviated.

Depth-of-Field Scale top

Not really, only one pair of ticks for f/16.

Infra-Red Focus Index top

No.

Aperture Ring top

No.

Filter Thread top

77 mm, plastic.

Does not move, ever.

Size top

Nikon specifies 3.2" (82.5 mm) diameter by 3.2" (80.5 mm) extension from flange.

Weight top

12.488 oz. (354.05g), actual measured.

Nikon specifies 12.6 oz. (355 g).

Hood top

Hood, Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S

Hood, Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S.

The plastic bayonet HB- 72 hood is included.

Case top

CL-1015 pouch, included.

Included top

77mm front lens cap.

LF-4 rear cap.

HB-72 hood.

CL-1015 sack.

Quality top

Made in China.

Warranty top

5 years, USA.

Announced top

Midnight, 12:01 AM, Thursday, 11 September 2014, NY City time.

Available since top

Shipping since late September 2014.

Nikon Product Number top

20051.

Price, USA top

February 2022

$797 new at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield.

About $500 used if you know How to Win at eBay.

February 2020

$717 new.

About $500 used if you know How to Win at eBay.

May~November 2016

$797.

The price has never varied since introduction.

September 2014

$800 at introduction.

Packaging top

Gold-tone box:

Box, Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S

Box, Nikon 20mm f/1.8G.

In the box is the lens and hood in a translucent plastic holder. The folded pouch lies on top, while the paperwork is tucked away on the side, behind a cardboard wall.

Nikon 20/1.8 packaginf

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S internal packing.

Performance top

Distortion Ergonomics Falloff Filters Focus Breathing

Overall Autofocus Bokeh Color Coma

Ghosts Hood Lateral Color Fringes Macro

Mechanics Sharpness Spherochromatism

Stabilization Sunstars Survivability

I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

Overall performance top

The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S is a total winner. It's optically and ergonomically near perfect.

Autofocus performance top

Typical for ultrawide lenses, AF is very fast and always accurate.

Manual focus is also superb; just grab the ring at any time for instant manual focus override with perfect speed and feel.

Bokeh performance top

Bokeh, the character of out of focus backgrounds, not simply how far out of focus they are, is superb.

As an ultrawide lens, backgrounds are rarely out of focus.

The only way to get backgrounds out of focus with this lens it so have the subject very close (like one foot/30 cm) and shoot at f/1.8. Otherwise, as with all ultrawides, everything is always pretty much always in focus.

If you want out-of focus backgrounds, use a normal or telephoto lens — not a fast ultrawide.

Color Rendition performance top

Avenue of the Americas at night, New York City, 06 October 2014. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/20 at Auto ISO 800, hand-held from inside taxi, Perfectly Clear. Full-resolution (6 MB JPG).

The color rendition is the same as my other Nikkor AF lenses.

Coma performance top

Coma (saggital coma flare) often causes weird smeared blobs to appear around bright points of light in the corners of fast or wide lenses at large apertures. In lenses that have it, coma goes away as stopped down.

This aspherical lens has nearly no coma; that's now a thing of the past.

Distortion performance top

The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S has very mild barrel distortion. It's much less than I had expected.

The good news is that recent digital cameras like the D90, D3100, D3200, D3300, D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300, D7000, D7100, D4, D4s, D600, D610, D750, D800, D800E, D810 and Df can be set to correct the distortion automatically in-camera — so long as you have the latest camera firmware installed in your camera!

My D810, purchased before this lens was announced, already has the ability to correct the minor distortion. Nikon was thinking ahead.

In-camera correction does a great job. With in-camera correction on my D810, there is no distortion.

Without in-camera correction, what little distortion there is can be corrected for critical use by plugging these figures into Photoshop's lens distortion filter. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.

	FX and 35mm
30' (10m)	+2.0
10' (3m)	+1.8*
3' (1m)	+2.5*
0.66' (0.2m)	+3.0*

* Slight waviness remains

Ergonomics (handling and ease-of-use) performance top

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S. enlarge.

Ergonomics are perfect; just grab and go.

Most of the lens is the perfect manual focus ring, and the bell-shaped front end comfortably keeps my fingers out of the way.

Bravo!

Falloff (darkened corners) performance top

Most modern DSLRs correct for this automatically.

If you turn of the correction on FX or are shooting on 35mm film, falloff is minor to moderate at f/1.8, and gone by f/2.8.

It won't be an issue at all on DX (see crop factor).

I've exaggerated this by shooting a gray field and placing these on a gray background.

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S falloff on FX and 35mm at infinity, no correction.

f/1.8	f/2


f/2.8	f/4

Filters, use with performance top

There is no problem with vignetting, even with combinations of thick filters.

On full-frame I can shoot with two stacked filters with no vignetting.

With three stacked filters on full frame I get vignetting — but not at the closest focus distances!

The filter ring never moves.

Don't use a polarizer on this or any ultrawide lens, unless you want weird dark bands appearing in your skies. Nature's polarization varies with angle, so with lenses this wide, weird things happen if used with a polarizing filter.

Focus Breathing performance top

Of interest mostly to cinematographers focusing back and forth between two subjects, the image from the Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S gets larger as focused more closely.

Ghosts performance top

With the Nano coating, there are no ghosts. If you want little colored blobs in the image from the sun, use the old 20/2.8 AF-D instead.

Here's the worst I could get from this new lens, shooting the direct noonday sun on one side and the darkest black on the near side.

Worst-case flare and ghosts at f/8 on full-frame D810.

Hood performance top

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S with included hood.

The hood is included.

It's not needed, but if you like hoods, this one is reasonably tough and will help keep dirt and salt spray out of your lens.

Lateral Color Fringes performance top

There are no lateral color fringes on the D810, which corrects any automatically.

If you push it shooting into the light, there are some very slight blue fringes, but not anything to worry about.

Macro performance top

It gets right up to 5" (125mm) from the front of the lens.

It gets very close, so close that this lens will never limit your point of view when you want to get very close and blow proportion all out the window for creative effect.

Omega Constellation on full-frame at close-focus distance.

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S

Crop from above 36 MP image at 100%. If this is 6" wide on your screen, the complete image printed at this same magnification would be 75 x 50." (6 x 4 feet, or 2 x 1.25 meters!)

Mechanics and Construction performance top

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S. enlarge.

The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 G AF-S is all plastic on the outside, with a metal mount.

Filter Threads

Plastic.

Hood

Plastic bayonet.

Hood Mount

Plastic.

Barrel Exterior

Plastic.

Front Barrel

Plastic.

Focus Ring

Plastic; rubber covered.

Rear Barrel

Plastic.

Mount

Dull-chromed brass.

Markings

Paint.

Mounting Index Dot

White plastic ball.

Identity Plate

Gold-look plastic.

Serial Number

Sticker glued into a recess on the bottom of the lens.

US Model Signified by

"5 years" sticker on outside of box.

Yellow Nikon USA warranty paperwork inside box.

Serial number is not prefixed by "US."

Moisture seal at mount

Yes.

Noises When Shaken

Mild clunking.

Made in

China.

Weaknesses

None; hit it against a demonstrator or a rock, and it should be fine.

Sharpness performance top

Warning 1: Image sharpness depends more on you than your lens.

Warning 2: Lens sharpness doesn't mean much to good photographers.

While amateurs waste time worrying about lens sharpness, pros know that lens sharpness has little to do with making sharp pictures. This said, the Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S is the sharpest Nikon fixed 20mm ever made.

It's super-sharp even at f/1.8, even at 36 MP. It's a little less contrasty in the far corners, but still super sharp. The corners are just as good as the center a stop or two down, and there's nothing limiting sharpness on 36 MP cameras until diffraction limits performance at the smallest apertures.

Nikon 20mm f/1.8 MTF

Nikon 20 1.8 MTF.

Spherochromatism performance top

Spherochromatism, sometimes mistakenly called "color bokeh" by laymen, is a minor aberration which can add slight color fringes to out-of focus highlights.

It has some at close distances wide open. Background highlights might have slight green fringes, and foreground highlight might have slight magenta fringes. No big deal; this helps smooth background bokeh.

Image Stabilization (VR) performance top

This lens has no internal optical stabilization, however it works with internal sensor-shift Image Stabilization (IS or VR (Vibration Reduction)) in some of Nikon's mirrorless Z cameras with the FTZ adapter.

"Percent Perfectly Sharp Shots" are the percentage of frames with 100% perfect tripod-equivalent sharpness I get when I'm shooting hand-held while free-standing with no support or bracing. This is a very strict test; in actual shooting at typical print sizes I get acceptable sharpness at much slower speeds, but for the purposes of seeing how much improvement an IS system gives, this is the most precise method.

Hand tremor is a random occurrence, so at marginal speeds some frames will be perfectly sharp while others will be in various stages of blur — all at the same shutter speed. This rates what percentage of shots are perfectly sharp, not how sharp are all the frames:

% Perfectly Sharp Shots on Z9 on FTZ (center of image)	2s	1	1/2	1/4	1/8	1/15	1/30	1/60	1/125
Stabilization ON	0	17	33	42	50	100	100	100	100
Stabilization OFF	0	0	0	0	0	17	67	100	100

I see about a two stop real-world improvement.

Sunstars performance top

Seventh Avenue, New York. D750, 20mm f/1.8, f/16 at 1/60 at ISO 100, perfectly clear. Full-resolution.

Yes! Its diaphragm becomes reasonably straight-edged at medium and small apertures, so the Nikon 20 1.8G makes great 14-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light.

It does well at reasonable apertures, although the sunstars are a little softer than with the older 20/2.8 lenses:

Sunstars at f/8. bigger.

If you stop down to f/16, you can get big, sharp sunstars like this:

Sunstars at f/16. bigger.

Bravo!

Survivability performance top

The Nikon 20mm f/1.8 AF-S is tough.

The only thing that could likely be a future problem is if the AF-S motor dies and Nikon can't supply the part. No worries, it will still work as a manual focus lens, so by all means this ought to be a reasonably safe long-term buy.

Usage top

I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

M/A - M Switch

Nikon goofed. This switch is supposed to be labeled "A - M."

The "M/A" position means autofocus. It's called "M/A" because you also can focus manually simply by grabbing the focus ring in this position.

The "M/A" position means autofocus. It's called "M/A" because back in the old days, when Nikon had almost caught up to Canon who had been doing this for ten years before, Nikon was trying to show off that you could focus manually while in the AF position.

Paint over the extra M if you're easily confused.

Compared top

I got my 20/1.8 at Adorama; I'd also get it at Amazon, at B&H or at Crutchfield or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

Versus all 20mm lenses

At f/1.8, this is the world's fastest serious 20mm lens with no serious competition.

Sigma has made a 20mm f/1.8 for years, but pros won't trust their work to Sigma.

LEICA makes a 21mm f/1.4 lens, but that's not a 20mm lens, and LEICA is shot mostly by rich people, not by serious photographers. The LEICA 21/1.4 is bought by impressionable amateurs, not realizing that it's not as sharp as the LEICA 21/3.4, and the LEICA 21/1.4 is so huge it blocks the LEICA finder! Pros generally chuckle amongst themselves after some rich guy comes over to brag about his 21/1.4, with no photos to show for it. Oskar's spirit lives in the SUPER-ELMAR-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH, not in the bloated SUMMILUX.

Versus Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AF, AF-D and AI-s

This all-new lens is optically and ergonomically superior to the old 20/2.8 lenses. There is no comparison.

Versus Nikon16-35mm VR

The 16-35 VR is a completely different lens.

The 16-35 is much slower, bigger and much more expensive than this 20/1.8.

The 16-35 is for people who want a zoom, aren't shooting action and don't mind the size, weight and expense of the 16-35.

The 16-35 is for nature and landscape shooters who don't mind carrying a ton of gear. This 20/1.8 is for guys like me who travel light, and want the fast speed for low light and action. Of course this 20/1.8 is superb for astronomy.

Each of these two lenses is about as sharp (and each is very sharp), but the 16-35 zoom is loaded with distortion.

Canon 16-35mm IS

The Canon 16-35 IS (2014-today) is the same as the Nikon 16-35 VR.

Versus Canon 20mm f/2.8 USM

The Canon 20mm USM (1992-today) is better made mechanically, with a metal filter thread and hood mount and front barrel, but its optics can't compare to this new Nikon lens.

Versus Zeiss

The big old Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 ZF (2008-today) was hot stuff in its day, back before Canon made any super-sharp ultrawides. Today, the Canon 16-35mm IS replaces the old Zeiss for Canon shooters, and the Nikon 14-24 and 16-35 VR zooms are as good as that old Zeiss as well.

Today, this new Nikon 20/1.8 renders the old Zeiss completely obsolete. This new lightweight f/1.8 lens is half the size and weight, easily takes two filters on full frame without vignetting, and is less than half the price and over twice as fast.

Not only are the optics of this new Nikon lens at least as good as in the huge old Zeiss, this Nikon lens has fast autofocus with instant manual override — while the Zeiss has no autofocus.

Auf Wiedersehen, Zeiss!

Recommendations top