Nikon 20mm f/2.8D AF NIKKOR Lens - U.S.A. Warranty

2015-07-19T20:00:00

This review pertains to the 20mm f/2.8D on a DX camera. (D90) giving the shooter a 30mm equivalent prime. The main benefit of this lens is that it focuses closer than my connivence zoom (18-200 DX) with a .25m close focus minimum vs. .50m on the zoom. As to the 20mm lens being 2mm longer than the zooms, I don't miss the extra 2mm on the short end since it focuses much closer and gives a more impressive wide angle effect than my zoom would. I also like working within the constraints of using primes lenses. I feel that it makes the photographer compose more carefully. Both photos are off my D90 Large Fine jpeg. first photo: ISO 200, f/18, 1/125 second: ISO 200, f/20, 1/80

1lensGuy

Originally posted at

2014-03-27T20:00:00

I always stopped at 24mm when assembling a SLR kit. Anything wider was too specialized for regular use and good glass gets pricey wider than 24mm. Except for this lens. Amazing color, contrast and sharpness. Barrel distortion is expected, corrected with DxO software or Photoshop. For ease of use and a great price, this lens can't be beat. I'm a happy customer!

Frank

Originally posted at

2013-06-20T21:00:00

Excellent lens compact and versatile very crisp

LE W.

2013-06-03T21:00:00

Very nice lens.

unknown1

2013-06-03T21:00:00

This lens is great.Fast accurate focus,lightweight and shows crisp clear detail.Took me some time to figure how to put lens on body.I'm completely satisfied,thank you Adorama.

Photo D.

2013-04-27T21:00:00

This is a great lens. Lightweight, good performance...and 20mm is a fun focal length! I bought it used from Adorama, and haven't had any complaints. I would buy this lens again.

Anonymous C.

2013-04-22T21:00:00

Bought this a few weeks ago to take with me to Disney World. Was a great choice over all. I have many lenses at my disposal to use. 16mm fisheye, 20mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 28-70mm 2.8, 70-200mm vrii 2.8 and a D3S. With only a few exceptions, I used the 20mm2.8 most of the time. The other few times I put the 50mm 1.4 on. It was light and wide enough in a mass of crazy people to get the pictures of my kids without having to backup so far that the crowd was in the way. If you go to Disney forget long lenses. Take a really wide lens and leave the rest at home.

WALTER H.

2013-04-15T21:00:00

Very sharp images. There is of course the normal distortion that happens with a wide angle lens depending on your distance to what's in the frame. It's light and relatively sturdy for a plastic casing. This lens is very small so it's great for taking on hikes in terms of weight and size. It's a little hard to connect to my Nikon D800--when I twist it on it sometimes doesn't lock very well into position, but as long as I twist it back and forth a couple times I can be sure that it is on right. At first it wasn't on right and so I was wondering why it wouldn't auto-focus, but then I re-checked the seating of the lens and found it wasn't all the way on.

JAMES C.

2013-02-01T19:00:00

This lens is so much clearer than any wide angle I have used before. Unlike the zooms, there is no color tint ruining the shot. It's very accurate portraying colors. The only issue I have with it is how it looses contrast easier than the zoom lenses simply because there is more glass there that can be hit with light. Use a lens hood, that's my suggestion,

Clay A.

2012-12-31T19:00:00

I Bought this lens quite a while ago, but i got to test this piece of glass with my Nikon D800 a week ago in snow, and wide angle beautiful Valleys of Pakistan like Kalam and Matiltan in December. Its a PRO. Its a MASTERPIECE, Ideal for TIME-LAPSES. Precise Detail with ignorable Distortion. You gotta have it. One who doesn't own it, is not a Nature Photographer.

Samid A.

Originally posted at

2012-05-06T21:00:00

Great output but screw drive can be noisy.

Father f.

2012-04-01T21:00:00

nikon makes great lenses period. for the price, a very good value.

RMB

2012-01-08T19:00:00

Great lens for the price.

Richard S.

2011-12-24T19:00:00

I picked up a used f/2.8 (non-D) and use on my d7000 all the time. I really like the 30mm equiv angle of view on the DX format. AF is fast, very little hunting. I shoot in low light out doors a bit, so having the f/2.8 vs f/3.5 of the 18-55mm is nice for autofocus if I'm close enough to something that it's not infinity. f/2.8 isn't that important for bokeh -- at 20mm you need to be inches away. At 9oz, its a winner. Personally, I like the fixed 20mm rather than zoom. It makes me think about the composition more and actually position myself better. Typically, what I carry is this 20mm f/2.8 (9oz) and 50mm f/1.4G for low-light (9.8oz). Those 19oz give me fast 30mm and very fast 75mm FX equivalent, which is great for me. If I want something long the 70-300 VR (26oz) or 18-200 VRII DX (20oz) and leave the others in the car. The competition in the DX format for this 20mm would be the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (II or VR versions). Both weigh 9oz. I usually shoot f/5.6-11 anyway, so losing the 2.8 only affects AF. I have not directly compared these at 20mm.... Sounds like a project!

MARC M.

2011-12-09T19:00:00

35mm is probably the most popular all around lens, but from my experience the 52mm equivalent on DX makes it a tad too long for indoor. On Full frame it's probably just right. I was hesitant to go this wide and was contemplating the Nikon 24mm f/2.8D AF (35mm equivalent), but it didn't quite get the same positive reviews as the 20mm. While the 35mm f/1.8G AF-S has received outstanding reviews, i just didn't want to settle on that focal length. So i took the plunge with the 20. Great decision! Most would probably use this lens for landscape, but i find it just right for indoor candids of the family. I never worry about shooting space and never find it too wide. The lens itself feels solid, it's small and all around great performer.

Advanced A.

Originally posted at

2011-11-27T19:00:00

Very nice sharp lens. I had thought this was of only marginal use because I have a 24-70 mm lens. I have made considerable use of it and been very effective.

management c.

2011-09-03T21:00:00

The center of this lens has little or no distortion compared to so many other wide angle lenses! Great for group shots!

Scott S.

2011-04-16T20:00:00

Terrific for urban landscapes and interiors with large groups. Tack sharp from corner to corner. Quickly became a favourite lens.

Blee

Originally posted at

2011-03-12T19:00:00

I am very happy with this lens. It is light, fast and affordable. Consistent results. Sharpness very reasonable. Distortion is notable when shooting architecture, and, moreover, it is non-uniform, but with the recent correction features of LR3 this is not too much of an issue for a digital shooter/workflow. Obviously this lens makes no sense for DX cameras.

JAN T.

2011-02-08T19:00:00

After reading some reviews of this lens, I began to have doubts about its quality. After buying one, and using it for just a few days, all doubts have vanished. This is a great lens! It is as sharp as the best of Nikon's lenses in the center, with only a slight loss of sharpness in the corners. It is almost as sharp at f/2.8 as at other apertures. It does have some coma in the corners, noticeable when photographing stars, but not too bad. Thee is some distortion, but not too bad. There is vignetting at maximum aperture on my Nikon D700, uncorrected, but with the D700 vignetting control feature, that eliminates the problem. There is very little ghosting or flare. The color rendition is excellent and the contrast is superb. AF is not lightening fast, but acceptable. All it lacks is AF-S. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being a Coke bottle bottom and 10 being a perfect lens, I give this lens an 8.

W7FA

Originally posted at

2011-02-01T19:00:00

Renders "normal" perspective with D300. Never without it when shooting on the streets of . chicago. Good bu ild quality, excellent glass, superb b/w image quality.

Iii

Originally posted at

2011-01-14T19:00:00

I find myself using this even when I don't plan on wide-angle anything, and I've learned to pack it no matter what I shoot. I mostly use it for night/dusk cityscapes and street photography, for which I find this focal length incredibly versatile. Wide enough to capture the atmophere on a narrow city street, and interesting enough to get fresh angles on oft-photographed subjects--but with minimal distortion for an ultra-wide. It's incredibly fast and sharp, letting me play around with different exposures at night. Everything I've ever shot with this lens has been ridiculously crisp, even with minute + exposures and always with manual focus. Lens flare is predictable and preventable in bright light/long exposures. If building a Nikkor system from the ground up, this would be my second pick after a standard 45 or 55mm prime. (It should be noted that I have little interest in wildlife, sports, or making people look pretty, however.)

J F.

2010-10-25T20:00:00

The lens built reasonably solid with a slight play at the front barrel that doesn't bother me. Manual focus operation is fantastic, very smooth and even well damped. The optical quality is on par with the more sophisticated pro zoom lens, it's sharp even wide-open, great contrast, and very few flare & ghosts despite somewhat complex design. This lens is the most reliable companion for street and vast nature photography, thanks to the very compact design, it's not eye-catching and will not scare the subjects off like the big chunky zoom lens, and the fast f/2.8 aperture let me shoot via street-available lights at night.

TitleDS

Originally posted at

2010-08-04T20:00:00

I purchased this lens used. I no time with it's f/2.8 I was using it for low light and Astrophotography. All images are sharp almost to the corners. I have to crop just a little bit to remove the stars that are not round. Lens has nice bokeh. Lightweight and handy, I recommend this lens to anyone.

Nikonhugh

Originally posted at

2010-07-29T20:00:00

Good color, nice boken. Very good for landscape. I take it with me when I walking around the street, always give me nice photos. Not easy to auto focus in low light place. I use it on my FM2 and D90.

c.Donkey

Originally posted at

2010-07-29T20:00:00

I like the lens for use on my d200 and 300 camera. the sharpness is certainly acceptable and i have little barrel distortion. I have to add that I have had problems with the aperture not closing down to my chosen f stop many times. I have had the lens serviced for that problem and the issue remains. overall a very good lens, I think Nikon could look into that problem with the aperture.

ejcarr

Originally posted at

2010-07-29T20:00:00

In theory, this should be a great lens. And in the film days it's rep was good. In practice, not so. Not bitingly sharp, flat in contrast and some coke bottle softness f2.8-4. And strange color rendition. Nikon, even when not the very best lenses have smooth, almost liquid color and transistions. Not here. Bought this because had no choice for fixed wide on DX at the time. Still, use this lens, though less so now - but most of the time professionally, do to it's acceptable image quality - actually, to be fair good image quality, just not great ( am spoiled from my 28mm f2.8 AIS ) and for it's greatest feature, more important than image quality, as long as that is excellent, for the way it handles. Light weight, compared to zooms, which I really cannot stand, hate in fact, as do most of my friends and fellow pros. Excellent, in fact the best and fastest auto focusing and quick to go to manual. Extremly manuverable and maybe most importantly, discrete. This lens enabled me to get shots that even the smallest beast of a zoom would not. Gives me great competitve and personal advantage in shooting. So would recomend this for real world use. Better than any zoom because of the ability to get the shot and for the feel.

UES

Originally posted at

2010-07-29T20:00:00

My copy is very sharp in the center even in full aperture. Minimum amount of chromatic aberrations and flare. I'm very happy with this lens.

Storm

Originally posted at

2010-07-29T20:00:00

One of my first lenses which was originally purchased for FM2 body and now is used on D700 mostly most of the time, in fact as kind of standard lens for me. For my purposes satifactirily low distortion, enough sharpness for A4 blow ups - not using larger printouts usualy - although larger printouts would not be a problem quite surely. It is light, compact and has rigid construction. With even thinniest neutral fiter there is some vigneting visible. Best performing from f 4.5 to 8 I believe.

Alche

Originally posted at

2010-07-29T20:00:00

I bought this lens new in the late 90's and it's been a problem. I used it with my film bodies (F90x & F5) and it failed twice in 3 years with the aperture sticking open. This was with light use. I stopped using it when I switched to digital, until I bought the D700. Dug the lens out again and started using it regularly. It's failed twice again and is back into Nikon for repair for the 4th time. Optical quality was good on film, but I'm having serious reservations about it on the D700 with corners looking nasty. As soon as I get it back from repair, it's going on craigslist.

Dynamicmoment

Originally posted at