Digital Gone Wide

INTRODUCTION

One of the main problems that faced photographers with the rapid advancement of digital camera equipment, especially digital SLRs with their APS sized sensors was that lenses would need to be re-engineered. When film was king, lenses were designed so that they covered the entire span of a 35 mm frame (in reality, 36 mm across the horizontal axis of the frame). When digital cameras came out, with their less than 35 mm imaging area (equivalent in size to the now nearly defunct APS film), the sweet spot of lenses designed for film was MUCH larger than needed. With a smaller imaging area being the point of focus, the outer areas of the lens were actually lost and in the process, so too was the wide(r) areas of the image. These losses in wide angle recording capability necessitated the re-design of wide angle lenses.

Nikon, like other camera manufacturers entering the digital arena introduced its digital camera bodies with APS sized sensors and along the way, they realized that they would have to come up with new lenses to more effectively utilize the unique capabilities of the digital sensors that were released with each product introduction. The Nikkor AFS-12-24 mm f/4G IF-ED lens is one of those products released to allow photographers who switched to digital to be able to "re-acquire" wide angle image capture capability.

THE BASICS OF THIS LENS

This lens, which carries a DX designation is designed for Digital cameras ONLY. While it will fit on Nikon film bodies, all of your images will exhibit significant vignetting, that effect where the corners of your images are cut off.

ANGLE OF VIEW: The lens has a 2X zoom ratio and angle of view from 99 degrees at 12 mm to 61 degrees at 24 mm. These angles of view are comparable to an 18-36 mm lens in 35 mm film format.

SILENT WAVE MOTOR: As an AFS lens, this lens is designed around this type of motor (contained within the lens, rather than the camera body), making for faster and far more quiet focusing action.

LENS CONSTRUCTION: Polycarbonate body with stainless steel lens mount.

11 lens elements in 7 groups. 2 ED (extra low dispersion) glass elements for minimized chromatic aberration. There are three Aspheric glass elements to help prevent image distortion.

INTERNAL FOCUSING: For smoother focusing, smaller over-all lens size and better lens/camera balance.

APERTURE BLADES: 7 blades, rounded for better out-of-focus image effects, making them appear more natural.

WEIGHT: 1.07 lbs.

DIMENSIONS: 3.2" x 3.5"

FILTER SIZE: 77 mm

LENS HOOD: HB-23 (supplied at purchase).

MAX. APERTURE: f/4

MINIMUM APERTURE: f/22

MINIMUM FOCUSING DISTANCE: 11.8 inches.

Okay, all of the technical details are out of the way. Below are my observations after having used this lens for the purpose that is was designed for, namely wide angle photography. In my case, I used this lens for wide angle landscape and architectural photography.

While I am generally supportive of Nikon products, I try to remain objective and when they produce less than stellar lenses, I'm one of the first to say so. This tends to be the case with some of their kit lenses, but there are also occasions when their non-kit lenses fail to meet the world-class standards for which the company is known. After having used this lens on and off over a period of several months, I have to confess that I have mixed emotions about it. My reasons follow.

This lens is not inexpensive, especially when one considers its limited focal length. Given the premium prices associated with most Nikkor lenses, this lens's construction is most definitely NOT what I would consider to be professional build quality. I do not believe this lens is well suited to humid climates or those where a lot of fine dust might be flying. Given its polycarbonate construction, I doubt if it would be able to withstand years of heavy use, the type that professionals are known to put their gear through.

Another issue I had with this lens concerned itself with some vignetting at various intermediate focal lengths (those between the the minimum and maximum focal lengths). These effects were the direct result I believe, of the image circle of the lens not adequately or completely covering the sensor. What was disappointing was that the vignetting did not always reveal itself through the viewfinder, but showed up in the final images when processed. And another factor that made this especially annoying was that the cost of this lens is not justified by its less than high end performance throughout its focal lengths.

At those times when there was no vignetting, image quality was exceptionally sharp with little unattractive distortion. In addition, color fidelity was also exceptionally high and images were contrasty, but not overly so.

The net result: A lens of somewhat mixed performance but one that I cannot NOT recommend. This is a type of lens that is needed by photographers who do a lot of wide angle photography and its limiting factors are not that serious that potential buyers should be dissuaded from considering or even buying this lens.