Filling in the gaps

I bought a new, old, lens! It’s an old Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 and it was very cheap!

As you know, I’ve been struggling with my full-frame (FX) lens line-up since my AF-S 24-120mm f/4 died. The 24-120mm was for me the ideal general photography lens and I absolutely loved using it. 

I still very much miss its versatility and its failure has impacted my photography for the last year – the 24-120 became unusable when the VR mechanism contorted the positioning of lens elements inside, catastrophically impacting image quality. 

In its absence, I’ve been limited to these focal lengths:-

• • Samyang 14mm f/2.8
  • Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D
  • Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro
  • Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary

The most significant issue for me has been the gap between the 14mm super-wide and 50mm standard lenses, because a lot of my photography falls between those focal lengths, hovering around 24mm. The Nikkor 24mm, therefore, fills an important and very noticeable void in my focal length line-up.

The AF Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 was made between 1986 and 1994, when it was replaced by the 24mm f/2.8D. The D series added distance encoding to the lens, to assist flash photography. Optically, however, the lens has the same element formula as the original F-mount 24mm lens introduced in 1967, albeit with improved lens coatings at various points over the decades.

I haven’t had many opportunities to shoot with the 24mm yet, but I am absolutely over the moon with the captures thus far. Images are very sharp in the centre even at f/2.8, and by around f/8 they’re pin sharp right to the edge of the frame. Colour fringing is present at wider apertures but easily controlled in post.

A couple of things about this lens, though, have me pretty excited. Firstly, the colour rendition of the lens is wonderful, and with the addition of a CPL polarising filter it’s absolutely delicious. Secondly, and what would be regarded as a lens defect, is the lens’s tendency towards slight vignetting at f/2.8. However, this is one of my favourite attributes of the lens. It’s a very gradual, very gentle light fall-off towards the edge of the frame and, to my mind, adds immensely to the character of the lens. If I want to eliminate vignetting, I can stop down a little and it cleans up easily – it’s all but disappeared by f/4 – or by simply applying ACR’s lens profile. For the most part, though, that’s not my preference at all.

As Autumn is rapidly approaching, I’m hoping for some sunny days in the mix, where I’ll be able to explore and exploit the characteristics of this lens. I’m also hoping to earn enough money in the weeks ahead to stretch for my next (hopefully last) lens, to plug the last gap in my line-up; an 85mm f/1.4. At this point, I’m considering either the Nikon AF-S or Sigma Art series lenses. But that’s for an uncertain future, dictated much less by desire than by personal finances.

Check out some of the images I’ve captured with the 24mm so far, in the gallery below:-