Advice needed: Nikkor 20mm f3.5 UD Ai softness

Hi folks,

My newly acquired Nikkor 20mm f3.5 UD Ai shows good center sharpness but both sides are quite soft from f/3.5 to f/8. Only at f/11 do the edges get better. From my reading, this lens is optimized for center sharpness with some corner softness, but as you can see in the example images (2 images, shot at f/3.5, f/5.6, f/8 and f/11), the softness is very pronounced. Have any of you encountered this with this lens? The return period has expired, but it is under warranty. Should I send it back for warranty repair, or is this performance typical of this lens?

Thanks very much!

 

I have no experience with this lens, but in general, wide angles from this era do not perform great towards the corners, and there is always some softness remaining. Also I wouldn't expect miracles at wide apertures. That said, I think the f/8 and f/11 pictures you posted here, one could expect better than this. In the second image, the skyscraper to the right certainly looks too soft to me. So I'd contact the seller for sure.

I have no experience with this lens, but in general, wide angles from this era do not perform great towards the corners, and there is always some softness remaining. Also I wouldn't expect miracles at wide apertures. That said, I think the f/8 and f/11 pictures you posted here, one could expect better than this. In the second image, the skyscraper to the right certainly looks too soft to me. So I'd contact the seller for sure.

 

Thank you, Wouter. These are not the best compositions - just quick out-the-window tests. Nevertheless, at first I thought that it was just the typical old wide-angle peripheral softness at wider apertures, but it should perform much better stopped down than it does. I'll contact the dealer and see what they can do. Thanks again.

It is very hard to Judge from the pictures because it is not totally clear where the DOF distance is (focus point).

These things are easier to see when just taking a picture of the good old "Brick Wall" which will show bothe curvature and differences in sharpness ( if focussed properly, whithout back or front focus that is) .

In the example images the edges and center of the picture show so much real world distances that it is (for me) imposible to Judge either center or edge sharpness...

I can see that you're shooting through a window. The window was open in all cases right?

 

If you're shooting through a pane of window glass then any results are null and void.

 

The fact that the lens bears the "UD" (indicating 11 elements) suffix, shows that it's quite old. Lens design has advanced considerably in the 45 or so years since that lens was made. As has the ability of digital sensors to reveal lens defects much more than film.

 

The 20mm f/2.8 AI-S version was a considerable improvement over its predecessors, standing up reasonably well to use on modern DSLRs.