josephwalsh Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I'm considering the 24mm f2.8 Nikkor, either MF or AF as a walk around lens foran extended trip to Paris. I would use it on my D200 where it would, of course,behave like a 35mm lens...just what I want. As I understand it, this lens has very fine MTF, resolution, contrast but isprone to nasty chromatic aberration / purple fringing right where I wish to useit---f 5.6-f 8. My intention is to print my pictures as monochrome, not color. My question: does CA manifest itself in black and white prints or just in color? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterh Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Joe you see no color fringes in b&w :-P In cases where color fringes are visible in the color image this would show up in the bw image as loss of resolution and "sharpness". As a solution you could first compensate for ca in post processing and then convert to b&w. Another solution would be to just ignore the CA effect discussed in internet forums and enjoy the great lens ^^. You do not need to go to Paris for pixel peeping. BTW: I prefer the AIS version over the AFD version. Quality control of the older lens might be better, at least several people reported that they like the AIS version better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jose_angel Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Joe, if you are inclined for a MF version, it could be a good idea to check it by yourself before purchasing. Beware of this lens. In my experience the Ai version is especially very difficult to focus on a D200-D300. You must have an eagle`s eyesight because the electronic rangefinder doesn`t work correctly with this lens. <p> Athought all versions looks to have the same optical construction, the AFD works perfectly on both cameras. Don`t know about the AiS version, I wonder if it could be the same. <p> As Walter says, I like AiS construction over the AF versions, but this could be an exception because the Ai doesn`t work! <p> If you want to see a sample of this lens check <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/uploaded-file?bboard_upload_id=41788784"> here</a> (D300+24/2.8Ai, f8, 100% crop). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gy Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Jose, the borders seem to me quite soft even at f8.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jose_angel Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 "... the Ai doesn`t work... " To be more precise, when you resort to use the electronic rangefinder because you cannot distinguish a good focus, from medium to far distances, the electronic RF aid light blinks (hunts) continuosly. Many times you must give it up without the focus confirmation. This occurs even in full daylight. Otherwise my AFD sample is always spot-on in almost all conditions. I try to remember that my 20/2.8AiS and 28/2.8AiS works fine on the D200-D300 at least at closer distances, but currently I don`t use them as much as the 24s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jose_angel Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 You are right Gokce. Looks like my own 24/2.8 Ai sample is fairly better from near to medium distance, getting not so good at far distances with a noticeable fall off at the sides of the frame. Probably internal flare eat some of the detail at this image. <p> Below is a better shot. D300+24/2.8Ai, f8, 1/500sec. 100% crop, sharpened and improved contrast image for better viewing. I wonder if flare eats sharpness here too. Notice that it is a 25 years old lens&<i>coatings</i>, althought the lens looks very clean, with a very few or no dust. My own AFD version is sharper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterh Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Jose I use the D200 with a katz eye screen and the slight enlarger eyepiece. This way MF accuracy is improved from poor (original D200 screen) to fair but of course not as good as with an F3. The lens does have distance and f-stop markers and for landscape this can be used. For action shot I would prefer the AFD version or better 12-24mm Nikkor zoom. The pro 17-55mm f2.8 zoom would be the best choice if you need AF. "Notice that it is a 25 years old lens&coatings..." Make no mistake this old lens is not inferior to the modern AFD version. If you see better results from the AFD version you must have a lame AIS lens ^^. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrybc Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I haven't really noticed any CA issues with my 24/2.8, although I am often shooting it wide open or close to it. larsbc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akira Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Joe, I suspect that you are aware of the reviews on photozone.de. How about considering Zeiss ZF Distagon 25/2.8 instead if your budged allows? The Distagon seems to be better performer than Nikkor 24/2.8 in terms of both resolution and CA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephwalsh Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 Thanks everyone. Yes, PS repair sounds like a good option. I had forgotten about the ZF 24, Akira. Thanks... I have a 35mm f1.4 Nikkor and still have some focusing issues w/D200 even with it so I'm thinking about that AF 24 Nikkor Need to start making a decision here pretty soon. Thanks to all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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