The Nikon Z 14-24mm F2.8 S completes the company's Z-mount trinity of bright, high-quality zooms. Alongside the Nikkor Z 24-70mm F2.8 S and Nikkor Z 70-200mm F2.8 VR S, Nikonians can now zoom from a 14mm wide-angle to a 200mm telephoto with no gaps in coverage and with a bright F2.8 maximum aperture throughout.

The Nikon 16-35mm f/4G VR does quite well at 24mm, but not at the same level of the 24-70mm f/2.8G, which is incredibly sharp in comparison in the center of the frame. When it comes to the corners, however, the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G doesn’t do nearly as well thanks to its heavy field curvature. One can obtain better corner results with the 24-70mm f/2.8G by focusing in the corners though. Similarly, levels of distortion are incredibly low for this class of lens. Indeed, distortion is barely perceptible throughout the entire zoom range, even when shooting straight-sided buildings in architectural photography. Another real achievement is that chromatic aberrations are practically impossible to spot, even around high-contrast edges towards the extreme corners of the frame. All in all, the compatibility with Canon’s in-camera corrections are somewhat academic. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 AF-S set a new standard in ultra-ultra wide angle lenses. It was the best on the planet, by a large margin, until Nikon's newer 16-35mm VR raised the bar even higher. This 14-24mm is significantly sharper than any other fixed or zoom ultrawide from Canon or Nikon that I've ever used, and I've used both Canon and Nikon's 14mm, 18mm and ultra-wide zoom lenses extensively. The zoom ring is located at the middle of the lens and turns through 70 degrees. It has a 19mm wide rubber surface with a good grip. It can hardly be operated with one finger as it needs more force than the AF-S 14-24mm f2.8G. The lens control ring is only 8mm wide and is located close to the camera. It has no rubberized surface but moves very smooth and can easily be operated even with your pinky. The focus ring at the front is 13mm wide, moves smoothly, and also has a rubberized surface – a welcome deviation over the metal surface on the Z 24-70mm f2.8 S.The Sigma is a much more affordable lens, costing a bit less than two-thirds as much as the Nikon Z 14-24mm F2.8. Its barrel diameter is just fractionally (4mm / 0.1") lower, but it's 7mm (0.3") longer and almost a quarter heavier.

Optically, the Sigma Art lens seems to be a slightly better performer than the Nikon Z lens. The Legacy Nikon 14-24mm G Lens There's no optical image stabilization on this lens, but that's par for the course in wide-angle lenses. Most Z-mount cameras offer in-body image stabilization anyway, and blur from camera shake is typically less of a concern for wide-angle photography in the first place. The 14-24mm, mounted on the D3, produces significant corner shading: this isn't much of a surprise, given we're talking about a wide-angle lens, and the corner shading isn't revealed on the D200 as the APS-C sensor only uses the "sweet spot" of the lens. At 14mm, you can get as much as two stops of corner shading (wide open at ƒ/2.8). Stopped down, corner shading is less of a factor at a half-stop EV difference between the corners and the center, provided you stop down to ƒ/8 or smaller. At other focal lengths corner shading is acceptable, averaging around 3/4 of a stop of corner darkness at ƒ/2.8, and decreasing to less than a half-stop, but it will always be present in images taken on full-frame. I will start out with a famous Chase Jarvis quote I heard when I was in high school, “The best camera is the one that is always with you.” So while the Sigma lens is optically a worthy competitor and even better in some cases, it is not the lens I want to have in my bag. The ability to add front filters – while this could be useful for some users, from an astro perspective there’s not much use for this. Especially when considering the rear mount system discussed above, I did not find myself using (nor planning to use) this feature. What I Actually Don’t Care ForSomething unusual about the 14-24mm f/2.8 S is that it ships with two lens hoods rather than one. The first, the HB-96, is a smaller, standard lens hood like you’d expect. The other is called the HB-97, and it’s a slightly larger hood with a built-in filter thread for 112 mm filters. You can see the difference here:

Resistance to chromatic aberration is excellent, much improved over the Nikon 12-24mm ƒ/2.8 DX lens. The 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 never exceeds 5/100ths of a percent of frame height in the corners, and 3/100ths in the center - we're talking barely perceptible results here. This 14-24mm is for people who need the insane point of view of ultrawide lenses. I love my fixed Nikon 14mm and Canon 14mm lenses I already use on film and my full-frame Canon 5D cameras. You can see examples at my 2007 Route 66 and 2007 Death Valley galleries.On the other side there are a lot of wide-angle zooms that cover 24mm plus give you the enormous flexibility to cover more shooting opportunities due to their variable focal length. Only one of them offers a faster maximum aperture than f2.8: the Sigma AF 24-35mm 2.0 DG HSM Art (around 1100 EUR). Then there are a lot of f2.8 zooms with one of them offering image stabilization which can compensate for the slower maximum aperture: The Tamron SP AF 15-30mm 2.8 Di VC USD (around 1000 EUR, see my Tamron 15-30/2.8 VC review). Closest focus distance is 0.24m (0.92ft.) at 24mm focal length with a magnification of 1:5.8 which is not much. This results in a working distance of around 10cm. The F-Nikkor is similar with a magnification of 1:6.2 at 0.27m object distance, the Z 14-30mm f4.0 S goes to 1:5.1 from 0.25m. A magnification of 1:10 is reached at 0.35m focus distance similar to the F-Nikkor. The Z 14-30mm f4.0 S achieves 1:10 at 0.41m due to its longer focal length. [0] Still, as mentioned before, this lens will not suit everyone. Those who use filters extensively will either have to change the way they shoot, or they won’t find this lens suitable for their needs. This is a shame, as such a focal range lends itself perfectly to landscape shooting. That said, Lee Filters are aiming to have a filter holder available as we reported in News. The 14-24mm is as sharp at 14mm wide open at at f/2.8 in the far corners of my D300 as my normal lenses are in the center stopped down! The 14-24mm has no lateral color at any setting anywhere in the field of the D300. It has perfect sharpness and contrast even at f/2.8! This is crazy.

Although it has no direct rivals on the Nikon Z-mount, the Z 14-24mm F2.8 is the spiritual successor to the wildly popular – but famously large and unwieldy – AF-S 14-24mm F2.8G ED, which made its debut for F-mount DSLRs in 2007. adds over 10 degrees of diagonal angle of view over Nikon's next widest 17-35mm f/2.8 mm lens. (114 degrees vs. 104 degrees.) Canon's 16-35mm only sees 107 degrees. I’ll be blunt here: this lens is not going to win any awards for being the most budget-friendly option out there. If that is a primary concern for you and you do not think you will mind the extra size and weight of the alternative lenses and adapters, then this Nikkor is not the lens for you. Why Do I Love This Lens? If you are wondering how the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G compares to the new Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art, take a look at the following sharpness results:Optics: 12 elements in 9 groups. The lens features two extra-low dispersion elements, two aspherical elements, and Nano-coating. The Sigma 24/1.4 has 15 elements in 11 groups. [+] This huge, record-setting lens is designed for ultra-ultra wide angles on film and full-frame FX digital SLRs, which means that 14mm is an insanely wide 14mm equivalent, a 114 degree diagonal angle of view. 14-24mm on FX is equivalent to a 9.2 - 16mm lens on a conventional DX digital Nikon. is no big deal. The world has never had a really sharp 14mm before, but we have had sharp 24mm lenses for decades. Now, it’s time to take a deep dive into what’s most important for astrophotography: optical performance.