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Looking for a 24-28 prime.

rayyan

Well-known member
Other people's suggestions are just that. Suggestions, based on their experience, usage, lens sample, and a plethora of other factors..that have formed one's suggestions/opinions.

I have used, and still use, many ZF lenses. Try them. See if Zeiss fits your requirements. The ZF 35/2 Distagon, and the 50/2 Makro Planar are also worth investigating. In addition to Jorgen's 21/2.8 and the one I use a lot the 25. Nothing to loose in trying them.
 

DougDolde

Well-known member
I know the Nikkors are good, but I bought a set of Zeiss ZF.2 lenses for my D850 in 21-28-85mm focal lengths. Pretty happy with all of them. Focusing is pretty easy with Live View focus peaking.
 

Photon42

Well-known member
Jerôme looks for a compact prime lens, being good at f8ish. While compact is relative, I would still think for a 24 nothing beats the older 24 f2.0 or 2.8 for size. At f8 I would think the early 2.8/24 I still have is plenty sharp. AF with that focal length and f8 is not required. I just acquired a used 1.4/24 for its specific look wide open and its smooth rendering. Small and compact it isn't.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Yes, the issue is a SMALL wide prime, whilst also being a "good" performer. Especially difficult in AF today. Options and issues as I see them:

In manual focus, the Zeiss 18, 21 or 25 are neither super tiny nor cheap -- but great builds and solid performers, though the ZF 18 is not much better overall optically than the Nikkor 18 AF, and a lot more expensive and not AF. The ZF 21 has notable mustache distortion -- correctable with some good tools; the 25 is somewhat ironically closer to about a 26 FOV, so IMHO a Nikkor AF 28 is a better option...

The Sigma ART's are AF, stellar performers, solid builds, somewhat expensive and unfortunately so HUGE in size they make poor "street" or travel lenses IMHO. (I own the 24 and use it for landscapes, but essentially never carry it for street or travel -- YMMV.)

Which brings me to wide Nikkor options. The newer f1.8 and f1.4 AF G/N lenses are very good performers but not small or cheap -- though the 20/24/28 1.8G's *might* be at an acceptable price and size for some for street use; the 1.4's are big and definitely expensive. The old Nikkor 24/2.8 AF was compact, is cheap now, decent at f5.6 and up, but a total plastic POS build. The Nikkor 20 AF was a relatively poor performer even stopped down, is compact but has a mediocre build. The Nikkor 18 AF is relatively poor in the corners at f2.8, cleans up by f5.6 to pretty good, but very good if you crop to 20 FOV -- and if you want excellent corners at 20mm FOV, cropping with the 18 is it's trick :) This lens is compact and has a stellar, robust all metal build -- it was considered a "Pro" lens in the day. It's not exactly cheap but it's less than newer 1.8 AF lenses and retains a usable 18 FOV if/when needed. And these collective reasons are why it is my goto street and travel wide after the 28 ASPH -- and IMHO these 2 are an ideal "wide street pairing" for modern Nikon bodies :) YMMV...
 
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