Nikon Nikkor AF-S 28 mm f/1.4E ED review - Vignetting

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Nikon Nikkor AF-S 28 mm f/1.4E ED

7 July 2017

Arkadiusz Olech

8. Vignetting

First let’s check the vignetting on the smaller APS-C/DX sensor of the Nikon D7000 – appropriate thumbnails are presented below.

Nikon D7000, f/1.4	Nikon D7000, f/2.0

Almost no problem at all – at the maximum relative aperture the vignetting is moderate, reaching 24% (−0.80 EV). The aberration disappears practically completely by f/2.0 and f/2.8 where it is 8% (−0.24 EV) and 4% (−0.12 EV) respectively.

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Now let’s see the results for the much more demanding full frame – thumbnails from the Nikon D3x are presented below.

Nikon D3x, f/1.4	Nikon D3x, f/2.0

Nikon D3x, f/2.8	Nikon D3x, f/4.0

At the maximum relative aperture you have to take into account the brightness loss of as much as 53% (−2.18 EV). It’s a high value but it should be mentioned that the slower Nikkor AF-S 28 mm f/1.8G wide open had exactly the same result and the great Otus 1.4/28 fared even weaker. Keeping that in mind the results of the tested Nikkor don’t seem so bad any longer.

On stopping down the aperture to f/2.0 the vignetting decreases to 36% (−1.27 EV), and by f/2.8 its level is 20% (−0.64 EV). By f/4.0 and f/5.6 the problem becomes practically negligible as the light falloff amounts to, respectively,14% (−0.43 EV) and 10% (−0.30 EV).

Below we present averaged out values of brightness loss shown in concentric circles as you move further away from the frame centre. The numerical value for every image, expressed in percents, shows the area limited from the top and right by 100% and from the bottom by the presented curve. The area indicates how much light overall is lost due to the vignetting effect. Please don’t mix these percentages with the values given at the beginning of the chapter because they aren’t directly connected.

Nikon Nikkor AF-S 28 mm f/1.4E ED - Vignetting