Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
Doing all my photography with the D810, I need to have access to quality lenses for my most commonly used focal lengths. My standard travel setup at the moment is 20/28/50/105mm, which works very well. I'm very happy with the 28/2.0 AiS and the 105/1.8 AiS, but the 20mm f/3.5 AiS simply isn't good enough.
So I'm considering alternatives, and it would be interesting to hear from those who have experience with these lenses. The alternatives are:
Nikkor 20mm f/1.8 AF-S
The obvious alternative. Great reviews, large aperture, fast AF. But how is the build quality? How is it to focus manually? Apart from being sharp, how do the photos look?
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8
Another obvious alternative. Image quality is said to be great, it covers three important focal lengths (15, 20 and 28mm) and it features image stabilisation. Unfortunately, it's also more or less as large and heavy as three primes, which means that not only doesn't it offer any weight savings to brag about, but when I use it, I will have all those three lenses mounted at the front of my cameras simultaneously.
Zeiss 18mm f/3.5
My current setup is mostly manual focus, something that I'm very happy with. The Zeiss 18mm seems to be a nice compromise with regards to price, size, weight and focal length. This is a lens to really lust for, or so it seems. The only disadvantage that I can see is the relatively narrow aperture. How is it to live with?
Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 AiS
This is the outsider. I've tried the AF version, but that was ten years ago on a DX camera. I know that it isn't perfect, but from what I read, it's better than my current 20mm, but how much better? The main attractions are small size and reasonable price. Oh... and it matches my other AiS lenses
Any other alternatives to consider?
So I'm considering alternatives, and it would be interesting to hear from those who have experience with these lenses. The alternatives are:
Nikkor 20mm f/1.8 AF-S
The obvious alternative. Great reviews, large aperture, fast AF. But how is the build quality? How is it to focus manually? Apart from being sharp, how do the photos look?
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8
Another obvious alternative. Image quality is said to be great, it covers three important focal lengths (15, 20 and 28mm) and it features image stabilisation. Unfortunately, it's also more or less as large and heavy as three primes, which means that not only doesn't it offer any weight savings to brag about, but when I use it, I will have all those three lenses mounted at the front of my cameras simultaneously.
Zeiss 18mm f/3.5
My current setup is mostly manual focus, something that I'm very happy with. The Zeiss 18mm seems to be a nice compromise with regards to price, size, weight and focal length. This is a lens to really lust for, or so it seems. The only disadvantage that I can see is the relatively narrow aperture. How is it to live with?
Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 AiS
This is the outsider. I've tried the AF version, but that was ten years ago on a DX camera. I know that it isn't perfect, but from what I read, it's better than my current 20mm, but how much better? The main attractions are small size and reasonable price. Oh... and it matches my other AiS lenses
Any other alternatives to consider?