Nikon 24mm f/2.8D and 20mm f/2.8

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lukewoodford

FYI, I am Luke Woodford.....by Luke Woodford
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I have decided to delay my last minute trip to next Monday so I can plan it a bit better and get a wide angle for some Landscapes.

So are are the two lenses I mentioned? Is the 20mm any better quality wise because to be honest I think 24mm is wide enough for me.

Also how sharp are they wide open? I do love my BOKEH and I always use my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 wide open because its so sharp. If anyone could please tell me how sharp they are compared to the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 or the Nikon 24-70 both wide open that would be great. If there are any other great options let me know but I don't want to spend too much. Im going for a prime because at that price ill get better quality :)

Many thanks,

Luke
 
I don't rate the 20mm f/2.8 at all tbh!

The 24mm f/2.8 is very nice. Not convinced it'll be sharper at 24mm than the 24-70, although you'll have less field curvature. But you'll only see that wide open, and you won't be shooting landscapes at f/2.8.

Want you want is a Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AI-S though - that blows the door off any other Nikon wide primes.
 
puddleduck said:
I don't rate the 20mm f/2.8 at all tbh!

The 24mm f/2.8 is very nice. Not convinced it'll be sharper at 24mm than the 24-70, although you'll have less field curvature. But you'll only see that wide open, and you won't be shooting landscapes at f/2.8.

Want you want is a Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AI-S though - that blows the door off any other Nikon wide primes.
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Yeah your right mate I won't be shooting landscapes at f/2.8 but I bet ill want to try some street with it aswell. Im not sure how confident ill be with manual focus either and I won't really have time to practise. Out of curioity though where can I get the 28mm? Its not on CPB so I assume its not easy to get hold of? Just so you know the place im going is Prague.
 
You could get a 28mm f/2.8 AI-S from Ebay, you can still buy them new but the price is silly.

Make sure its an AI-S and clarify with the seller it has 0.2cm minimim focus distance and CRC. If they don't know, ask for the serial number.

There are easy to MF, they were designed for it.
 
puddleduck said:
You could get a 28mm f/2.8 AI-S from Ebay, you can still buy them new but the price is silly.

Make sure its an AI-S and clarify with the seller it has 0.2cm minimim focus distance and CRC. If they don't know, ask for the serial number.

There are easy to MF, they were designed for it.
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Someone has just PM'd me with the 24mm for sale, as its cheaper I think ill get that. Thanks for your help :)
 
Just for transparency. It was me that PM'd Luke and it is the lens that I bought off Andy (Pudleduck) prior to me purchasing my 14-24.

Chris :)
 
Out of curiosity, why can't you use your Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 (the one in your camera bag in your TP profile) for landscapes?
 
puddleduck said:
You could get a 28mm f/2.8 AI-S from Ebay, you can still buy them new but the price is silly.

Make sure its an AI-S and clarify with the seller it has 0.2cm minimim focus distance and CRC. If they don't know, ask for the serial number.

There are easy to MF, they were designed for it.
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I hope you mean 0.2m there :P.

For anyone else tempted to pick one up, Aperture normally have good prices when you consider the warranty, etc.
 
Blapto said:
I hope you mean 0.2m there :P.

For anyone else tempted to pick one up, Aperture normally have good prices when you consider the warranty, etc.
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Blimey - over £200... I have a 83xxxx serial (freshly made, so mint I'm scared to use it!) and its lovely!

I also have an older scratched one for reverse macro - it'll do something silly like 9:1 macro when reversed with a BR2!
 
I think I might be having second thoughts, I have been reading lots of reviews (probably not a good idea) and the best reviews seem to come from 2003-2005. Something I have read is that it doesn't get much sharper stopped down and I do want it to be very sharp as its primary use will be landscapes. As that arpeture has the 28mm AI-S in stock im thinking I might go for that but I really am worried about manual focusing. It obviously won't really bother me for landscapes but if I want to use it for other stuff in the future? Is it really that easy to manual focus quilckly?
 
puddleduck said:
Blimey - over £200... I have a 83xxxx serial (freshly made, so mint I'm scared to use it!) and its lovely!

I also have an older scratched one for reverse macro - it'll do something silly like 9:1 macro when reversed with a BR2!
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is £200 expensive for that lens then?
 
lukewoodford said:
I think I might be having second thoughts, I have been reading lots of reviews (probably not a good idea) and the best reviews seem to come from 2003-2005. Something I have read is that it doesn't get much sharper stopped down and I do want it to be very sharp as its primary use will be landscapes. As that arpeture has the 28mm AI-S in stock im thinking I might go for that but I really am worried about manual focusing. It obviously won't really bother me for landscapes but if I want to use it for other stuff in the future? Is it really that easy to manual focus quilckly?
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A good manaul focus lens is really easy to MF quickly.

BTW a little tip - if you don't want to pay for the Nikkor try to find a Kiron 28mm f/2.8 AI - I have one of those as well as thats :love:

(its not as quite good as the Nikkor as it only has 0.3m focusing, not the uber close 0.2m MFD, but its a stunner..)
 
puddleduck said:
A good manaul focus lens is really easy to MF quickly.

BTW a little tip - if you don't want to pay for the Nikkor try to find a Kiron 28mm f/2.8 AI - I have one of those as well as thats :love:

(its not as quite good as the Nikkor as it only has 0.3m focusing, not the uber close 0.2m MFD, but its a stunner..)
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Im happy to spend £200, I just thought because its meant to be so good it would be more expensive. Oh decisions decisions!
 
Can I just add, Andy recommended the AI-S (the one he's mentioned here) to me a number of times. Taking his word on this, I bought one from another forum member here, and I have to say, I love it.

It's not exactly cheap, for a 2nd-hand MF lens, but it is as good as Andy says it is. Well worth every penny.

It's not the only MF lens I have, and I'm enjoying this sort of "control" over my shots.

On your D700, MF will be very easy as the green light in your viewfinder will let you know when you're in-focus. Also, if you opt for the magnified eyepiece attachment, that will help you get MF right on.
 
Another way is using live view (i presume the D700 has this as the D300 does) to focus your shot when using MF
 
whitey said:
Another way is using live view (i presume the D700 has this as the D300 does) to focus your shot when using MF
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That's Heresy in my book :lol:

Part of the joy of a beautiful MF zoom is the lovely bright viewfinder and the tactile feel - you just don't get, with LV you are "disconnected" using the camera like a wannebe P&S with a slow and jerky LCD. :gag:

Admittedly I feel Liveview on a camera is as welcome as finding an anal wart on my bot-bot.
 
I'm contemplating picking up a 24mm prime. I've been using my 60mm loads recently as that and my 80-200 are my only lenses. Ignoring the bigma at the moment, which is far too big for a walk around lens. I contemplated a cheap and cheerful zoom but I've got to be honest, I'm so chuffed with the results I'm getting from my 60mm, I don't think I'd be happy with a zoom. What I'm annoyed about with myself is last year I had a 28mm and a 20mm which I didn't use a lot in the end as I was content with the zoom I had at the time (an 18-200). I bought the 28mm from my local shop for about 60 quid and the 20mm from some guy for around 100 quid. I can't find one even close to those prices now and they were both mint. Gutted.
 
welly said:
Did you get it?! :gag:
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Yeah I got it and im soooooooooo impressed! I didn't really get any good shots as I wanted to get home but I did test it and its is so sharp! I think with street stuff ill stick to my 50 mostly but this is exactly what I need for landscapes.
 
Welcome to the club :)
 
lukewoodford said:
Yeah I got it and im soooooooooo impressed! I didn't really get any good shots as I wanted to get home but I did test it and its is so sharp!
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It blows almost any other Nikon wide out of the water. And don't you just love the feel of that lovely manual focusing? :love:

Amazing lens - they don't make them like that anymore

(actually they still do make the 28mm f/2.8 AI-S, and also the Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 AI-S which is just a peach :love:)
 
lukewoodford said:
Yeah I got it and im soooooooooo impressed! I didn't really get any good shots as I wanted to get home but I did test it and its is so sharp! I think with street stuff ill stick to my 50 mostly but this is exactly what I need for landscapes.
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Hrm.. I'd almost convinced myself to get the Tamron 28-75mm. You've just ruined it. Thanks! :razz:
 
welly said:
Hrm.. I'd almost convinced myself to get the Tamron 28-75mm. You've just ruined it. Thanks! :razz:
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The 28-75 is still an excellent choice - mine plays quite happily in my bag with some more exotic stuff, and when I want a zoom on my D700, this is generally the one I use.
 
What I like about it is it will teach me something different. The main reason I will use my 50mm for street is because I like having the shallow DOF and it is a little wide but I will definatly give it a go. Im so glad I got it for landscapes though and it being naual won't make a difference in the slightest. I highly recommend it and thanks to everyone for advising it :)
 
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