Nikon announced a new lightweight and compact, ultra wide-angle lens, the Nikon AF-S DX-NIKKOR 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED. It features a focal length of 10-24mm that creates a picture angle ranging from 109 degrees to 61 degrees. It also features Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor technology, two extra-low dispersion (ED) glass and three aspherical lens elements, two focus modes of manual and automatic and features an M/A mode that allows the photographer to quickly switch between the two modes. The ultra wide-angle lens is perfect for restrictive interiors, architecture and sweeping landscapes.
The Nikon AF-S DX-NIKKOR 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED lens is compatible with the line of Nikon DX-format digital SLR cameras, including the D300, D90, D60, D40 and the new D5000. It will be available in May 2009 for $899.95.
Nikon AF-S DX-NIKKOR 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED Lens Press Release
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Finally Nikon has gotten it. Let’s put something out there to compete with the Sigma (with it’s questionable quality control). Now if they would only take the old tried and true 80-400 vr and put an internal motor in the liens.
Unfortunately they have not gotten it. I have owned three copies of the Sigma 10-20, one each of the Nikon 12-24, Tokina 12-24, and the Nikon 10-24. With the exception of the one bad copy of the Sigma, every other lens is notably better at 10-12mm than the Nikon 10-24. As an experiment I took pictures of a brick wall, displayed them at 25% magnification on a screen and asked my teenage daughter who knows nothing about photography what she things of the images. She declared all of them comparable with the exception of one that stood out as a notably blurry in the corners — THE NIKON 10-24. At 10-12mm the corners of my copy never really clean up, even at f/11-f/13. You can see that at 25-33% magnification, far from pixel-peeping perfectionism. I will take the lens with me this weekend and give it a chance to prove itself in “real-world” use, but I suspect that on Monday I will be calling the dealer to get an RMA. Will have to decide whether to try getting another one or just go for a refund. Unfortunately, most of the samples I have seen posted on the web suffer from a similar issue. The MTTF numbers suggest that this should be better than the Sigma, my experience is that, copy variation aside, the Sigma is a better lens on the wide end.
Here are some images, all at 12mm f/8. These were taken at the same brick wall, but years apart, with different cameras and under different lighting conditions, hence the different magnification and appearance. Even without pixel-peeping the difference is obvious. Before people accuse me of stupidity, some details. All images on a tripod, lens was pre-focussed on the all in AF, AF was then turned off, and a series of images were shot at ever-decreasing apertures to test the lenses. The tests of the 10-24 were redone three times to confirm that they were not a fluke.
Nikon 10-24
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3297/3618390601_bc68c29e37_b.jpg
Nikon 12-24
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3299/3618390541_c73084d131_b.jpg
Sigma 10-20
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99637404@N00/3618390667/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Tokina 12-24
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/3619208830_b772d1a569_b.jpg
I am just about to purchase a D90 with the 18-200 vr lense but want an ultra wide to go with it. What would be the one to go for – I will only be shooting landscape & maybe inside houses? This will be my first slr as I have only messed around with a point & press compact digital before.
I recently bought the Nikkor 10-24 and love this lens. I recommend it for anyone and have had great success with it.