Nikon Wide-Angle Zoom Distortion

I have been using a Nikkor 24-50mm AF zoom since 1990. Back then, a friend of mine who also has one of those told me that it had some distortion at the 24mm end. I never noticed it myself until recently when I shot some landscape images and placed the horizon near the top of the flame. My slides show very noticable barrel distortion with a curved horizon.

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I am wondering whether the Nikkor 24-120 zoom and the 20-35 zoom have similar problems or not. If I want to avoid such distortion, do I need to get a fixed focal-length lens?

It is a giving fact that wide angle zooms are prone to distorsion. It

is extremely difficuls for the manufacturers to construct this type of

lenses. The construction of this type of lenses were avoided in 70ies

and 80ies by many manufacturers. I own the 24-50 also and I know its

shortcomings. Therefore it would be better to have a 28-70/85/105

completed with a fixed 24 or 20.

What Ivan said is true. There is certain to be some degree of

distortion in WA lenses. This is especially so in zooms. The 24~50mm

is a good lens.

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I have the 20~35mm f2.8 which I consider a very good lens. It does

exhibit some distortion but you can minimise this by the way you

position yourself and the distance of the subject from the camera.

I have the 24-120 and it also has noticeable distortion for

linear objects placed too close to the frame edges. A fixed focal

length wideangle will greatly minimize, but not eliminate the

distortion.

Your zoom may have barrel distortion at 24mm, but your test doesn't

prove it. The horizon is actually a circular object. If it was at the

top of the frame, on a wide angle, you would see the curve.

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If you want to test for barrel or pincushion, you should use a test

target or building, anything with straight edges.