The Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens came on the market in 2010. For a lens with a fixed focal length, this Nikon 24mm lens is large and heavy. The 77mm filter size is also impressive. The fast aperture makes this a unique Nikon wide angle lens, with a corresponding price which clearly shows that this lens is intended for the professional market. Therefore we tested a Nikon 24mm 1.4G with the Nikon D800E, a camera with a 36 megapixel full-frame sensor.
Nikon 24mm 1.4G Nikkor review @ Nikon D800E (N FF)
Nikon 24mm f/1.4G ED AF-S Nikkor, @ 400 ISO, f/2.8, 15 sec This Nikon lens is ideal for shooting in low light, although the above picture we preferred the use of a tripod above a high ISO setting. The depth of field of a 24mm lens at f/1.4 is four times as large as the depth of field of a 50mm lens at the same aperture. A bright 24mm is a perfect reportage lens with you, using the hyper distance, the AF not even need.
Construction and autofocus
The quality and finish of this lens is very high. This Nikon 24mm 1.4G is built like a tank to the toughest practical situations to endure. This lens comes with a case and a plastic flower shaped lens hood. For an expensive lens that is designed for use under the most extreme conditions, a metal hood perhaps even better?The lens is a switch for AF / MF and a window where you can read at what distance the lens is set and how great is its depth. For an angle values are all so close together, and the depth of field is difficult readable, that you have little practical to have.The drive of the autofocus is quiet and fast. Its high brightness you even in the dark does not bother searching the autofocus. During the focusing, the front lens and the length of the lens remains unchanged.
Image stabilization
The Nikon 24mm 1.4G has no built-in image stabilization, but the high intensity and short focal length do much good. You could also turn: this is a perfect lens for shooting in low light situations where image stabilization can not prevent the subject moves. Think of sports photography and concert photography.
Vignetting
We vignetting measured in RAW files and jpg files that are stored in the Nikon D800E. Vignetting was corrected by the camera in the normal position. At full aperture, the vignetting by the in-camera correction from 2 stops (RAW) to 1.4 stops (jpg). That is still a clearly visible vignetting, but for a wide angle lens on a full frame camera is not unusual value. Thanks to the in-camera correction vignetting in jpg files from f/2.8 no longer visible, while the vignetting in RAW files even at f / 4 with 0.7 stops still visible. For jpg files you probably get less vignetting when the camera Vignette Control set to High.With RAW files you can always afterwards software (Lightroom, Photoshop or Capture NX) vignetting correction.
Distortion
When testing lenses we set the camera so that all possible lens aberrations by the camera jpg files are corrected. The Auto distortion control of the Nikon D800E works. Jpg files we saw a short distance (1 meter) a barrel-shaped distortion of 1%, but simultaneously recorded RAW file showed a short distance to a distortion of 3%. A few meters away is the bias only 1%.For a lens on an FX camera is not unusual value. For architectural shots, you still have the distortion correction software, but many other types of photography that will not be necessary.
Bokeh Nikon 24mm 1.4G
At full aperture delivers the Nikon 24mm 1.4G beautiful bokeh on, as shown in the adjacent figure – an image area of our test setup for bokeh – can see. Under f/2.8 the bokeh is nice and round. Above f/2.8 begins the angular shape of the aperture blades to be visible in the bokeh.
Fast lenses with an aperture of f/2 or larger, sometimes show color bokeh / axial chromatic aberration. The difference between color bokeh and lateral chromatic aberration, is that lateral chromatic aberration is visible in the corners, while color bokeh is visble in the entire image occurs. When using the Nikon 24mm 1.4G, you can sometimes see visible color bokeh in the form of green edges on everything that lies behind the subject which is in focus and purple edges of everything that lies behind the plae of focus .
Flare Nikon 24mm 1.4G
The aperture has 9 blades. A strong light source in an image will result in the case of small apertures diffraction star / star with 18 solar rays, such as the left in the recording made at f/4.5. Using the supplied lens hood is a good idea. In several practice shots we ghosting come in the colors of the rainbow, despite Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coating.
Resolution
In combination with the Nikon D800E is one of the sharpest lenses that we have so far tested. The sharpness of this lens is so high that we scale our charts there have had to adapt. Until diaphragm 4 is the sharpness at the edges and corners measurably lower than the center sharpness. But the lowest resolution we have measured at this objectively, was above the 2000 lines per picture height. This is a value that many lenses on a 20 megapixel camera still remaining in the center. So you can with confidence say that this lens draws sharp from corner to corner. And that from full aperture! Super.
See the Nikon 24mm sharpness comparison by Ken Rockwell, where the Nikon 24mm 1.4G is compared with 16 other Nikon lenses.
Chromatic aberration
In RAW files this lens scores very well on the part chromatic aberration. Looking at chromatic aberration, you’re slightly better of using the jpg files from the Nikon D800E. Nikon applies standard in-camera correction for chromatic aberration in jpg files. As a photographer, you can not switch this correction on/off. Some photographers feel uncomfortable that the CA correction jpg files off by the user. But why should you? I do not see why you would want to switch CA correction off, since it only leads to a higher image quality.
Conclusion Nikon 24mm 1.4G review @ FX
Pros
- Very high image quality: very high resolution, very low chromatic aberration
- Built like a tank
- Quiet and fast AF
Cons
- Large and heavy
- High price
The Nikon 24mm f/1.4G is a lens with a spectacular image quality, as evidenced by our Nikon 24mm 1.4G review using a 36 megapixel Nikon D800E. In combination with the Nikon D800E this Nikon 24 mm lens is one of the sharpest lenses that we have tested so far. The images show a beautiful contrast and are sharp from f/1.4 to f/11. The distortion is low for a wide-angle lens and a camera with a full frame sensor. For architectural shots, you can still apply some distortion correction, but for most of the other types of photography that will not be necessary. The in-camera correction of jpg files by Nikon D800E, provides even better performance for vignetting, distortion and chromatic aberration. The high price will be a large hurdle for many photographers. If you don’t shoot fast moving objects in low-light, the Nikon 16-35mm VR is an alternative with a much more attractive price tag.