Nikon 12-24/4 DX performance, some observations..

I recently compared my new 12-24/4 DX at 24mm with AF-D 24/2.8 and 18-

70/3.5-4.5 DX, and a bit puzzled by what I seen. Here it goes:

 

- 24mm prime is sharper than 12-24 in the center and corners both

wide open (f:4) and stopped down (f:8) as I expected, 12-24 had less

chromatic aberration than the prime though.

 

- 18-70 at 24mm was also sharper than the 12-24 in both center and

corners wide open (f:4.5) and stopped down(f:8), which is what

surprised me. I can't say they are worlds apart but difference is

there. Both lenses have similarly low chromatic aberration.

 

Shots were made with a D70 on tripod with self timer engaged, target

was newspapers taped on wall at 3-4 meters away. I let the camera do

the focus since d70 has a poor viewfinder and used the bubble level

on the tripod to align the camera.

 

I have seen quite favourable reviews of 12-24 and 24mm is supposed to

be its best focal length. Are my expectations for this lens too high

or do I have a sub-average sample of 12-24? Any relevant experiences

aprreciated, thanks in advance.

Sounds like you might have a dud Umit. I tested it against the 18-70 @ 24 and found the 12-24 significantly better both wide open and at f8. Maybe try another sample?

Last year, I tested a bunch of lenses at 24mm, f5.6. See the following thread for the details:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009jVw

 

My post on 13th October, 2004 near the end of that thread includes a bunch of images. The top two are the 24mm/f2.8 AF-D on the left and 12-24mm/f4 DX on the right. At least I don't see any major differences. I do not have a 18-70 DX so that it is not part of that test.

I compared my 12-24mm against my 18-70mm and came to the same conclusion as you, Umit. A friend of mine loaned me his 12-24mm and after testing that lens against my 18-70mm, I came up with the same result. I have read raves about the sharpness of the 12-24mm across the aperture range but you couldn't prove it by me.

Here is another test shot with the 12-24mm/f4 DX at 12mm, f11. I didn't have a tripod with me but at 1/80 sec, it should be fast enough to stop any movements for a super-wide. This time the body was a D2X at ISO 100. I made an 8.5x11 print out of this and the sharpness and details are pretty scary. I have never seen nearly as much quality from 35mm film of any kind.

 

Concerning the 12-24 DX, I am mainly concerned about the zoom range from 12-17mm or so. From 17mm on, I have other lenses which are, if not better, certainly faster.

 

The top part is the entire frame from the camera. The crop below is at the bottom of the frame, a bit to the right side.<div></div>

If the 12-24 f/4 does not even stand up to the kit zoom, it is very scary news indeed. I think Ellis Vener was quite cautious about this lens when asked to compare the 10.5mm f/2.8 DX Fisheye and the zoom.

 

Shun, A nicely composed photo. At least on my screen your photo and the crop does not look "scarily sharp". In fact, it appears soft.

 

So, have you bought the camera or not?

I borrowed another sample of 12-24, compared it and everything is the same, so it is not a sample variation. This time I also tested it against Nikon AF-D 18-35/3.5-4.5 and used flash. I will use the 12-24/4 if I definitely need 12 to 17mm, this lens is neither better nor faster than 18-70 in the overlapping range. I may swap it for a Nikon or Sigma 14mm/2.8 if I can.<div></div>

Note that in the samples I posted color renditions look different becasuse 18-35 had a Nikon A2 filter on it where 12-24 had nothing.

I judged that image from an 8x10 print I made. I am sure that part of it is due to the D2X, but I have never seen that kind of details from any 35mm film.

 

Actually it was Ellis who suggested that the 12-24 DX is the best 24mm he has seen. Both Bjorn R. and Thom Hogan gave it very high marks but they both pointed out that it is better at 24mm and it is at its worst at 12mm, which IMO is the range that really matters. If I need a 24mm at f4, I have several other options.

Ok, here is a direct comparison between the 12-24mm/f4 DX and the 24mm/f2.8 AF-D. Everything was shot at 24mm, f4 and 1/50 sec on a tripod. The camera was a D2X at ISO 100.

 

The top image is the entire frame from the 12-24 at 24mm/f4. The next two are the crop from a small portion in the center from the 24mm and 12-24mm respectively. I taped a 20 Euro bill in the middle of the frame.

 

I sure don't see any major difference between the two. If anything, the 12-24 maybe a bit sharper. There is some pretty obvious light fall off, though, but so does the 24mm prime.<div></div>

Thanks Shun, I appreciate your effort. May be I came across a bad batch, maybe it is an autofocus problem with my sample of D70 or with D70 in general. I'll keep checking and will post if I can figure out what's wrong.

Umit, I can only guess, but I suspect that the focusing was off in your test shots. I kind of doubt that you got two poor samples in a row.

Here is another set of test shots. The top one is the entire frame and the rest should be self explanatory. They are crops of the sign on the center left of the full image. Since it is a composit of 5 images, I had to make a 200K JPEG to retain sufficient quality.

 

I think the 12-24mm at f4 is actually sligthly better than the 24mm/f2.8 at f4 but the fixed focal-length 24mm is better at f8. The difference is not drastic. However, I completely disagree with the notion that the 12-24mm/f4 DX is a poor lens, and now I have a number of images to demonistrate that it compares favorably against the 24mm/f2.8 AF-D.<div></div>

OK, I got it. It is the autofocus to blame. I had done the tests I mentioned in relatively poor lighting and had to autofocus because of D70 viewfinder, when I repeated the test under bright daylight 12-24 came out much better than 18-70. I guess, since 24 prime was a 2.8 it helped for a more precise autofocus and results seemed sharper, though I don't have an explanation for the other zooms I compared (18-70 and 18-35) which were around f:4 at 24mm, but somehow D70 autofocuses better with these lenses than 12-24 in low light.

Umit, I am glad it all works out. The test shots you posted earlier sure look out of focus to me, but again it is hard for me to say for sure.

 

The main drawback for the 12-24 DX is that it is rather slow at max f4, but I am sure a 12-24mm/f2.8 DX would have been huge and very expensive, and perhaps with questionable optical performance at f2.8. I think the current design is a reasonable compromise.

 

I don't have the 18-70 DX kit lens myself. As far as I know it is actually quite sharp but when I tested a friend's, it has some serious distortion at 18mm and also some noticable vignetting at 18mm wide open.