Nikon Nikkor Z 24 mm f/1.8 S review - Summary

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Nikon Nikkor Z 24 mm f/1.8 S

15 April 2020

Maciej Latałło

11. Summary

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Pros:

solid, weather-sealed, mostly metal casing,
negligible lateral chromatic aberration,
lack of serious distortion problems,
moderate vignetting on the APS-C/DX sensor,
silent and quite accurate autofocus,
very good performance against bright light.

Cons:

distinct vignetting on full frame,
a lot of coma-related problems,
noticeable astigmatism,
too weak image quality on the edge of the frame near the maximum relative aperture.

I admit it – the Nikkor Z 24 mm f/1.8 S didn't impress me much. So often we hear that getting rid of the mirror chamber makes it easier to construct good wide angle lenses that my expectations were set really high. After all the reflex camera equivalent of the Nikkor, tested here, fared quite well so I thought an optically tad more complex device which costs twice as much and is designed for mirrorless cameras, should perform even better.

Meanwhile the Nikkor Z 24 mm f/1.8 S in many categories was weaker than its older and cheaper brother designed for reflex cameras. What's more, its performance was the worst of all Nikon Z system primes we've tested so far. Taking it all into account, it cannot be assessed in a positive way.

In order not to go to extremes it should be added the tested lens is able to provide really sharp images in the frame centre and allows you to take good quality photos. Still, as long as its price point is close to $1000 its price-performance ratio and price-possibility ratio remain mediocre.