Nikon 20mm f1.8g Review and Sample Photos

I finally got around to getting a wide angle lens for my camera. That was the primary reason I bought a full frame body to begin with and it took me 8 months to finally get it. I got distracted by doing macro photography. I don't regret getting the macro lens, but I could have used that just as well with a crop sensor body. Anyways, I picked up the Nikon 20mm f1.8g lens and I have a few thoughts and some sample photos I took at the art museum here in Cleveland.

As far as the lens build goes, it's fine. It's the standard Nikon plastic body with a metal mount. It has a nano coated element and some extra low dispersion glass. It's light weight, it focuses quickly and has a nice wide aperture for a such a wide field of view. Nikon's previous widest 20mm primes were only f/2.8. That's not a bad maximum aperture, but getting down to f/1.8 allows a little over double the light into the camera compared to an f/2.8. That can mean the difference between having to crank up your ISO and get a bunch of noise, or slowing down your shutter speed and risking blur from your subject moving or unsteady hands.

The photos it takes are great. If you keep your hands steady and make sure you have locked focus on your subject, you will get good results. You can also get some decent bokeh with the lens since it has such a wide aperture with 7 blades. A higher end lens might have 9 blades, but the bokey is still smooth. Unless having the right specs is more important than the results, you will be happy with this lens.

I found it easier to get interesting shots with this lens when I was indoors with decent architecture and large subjects. It can certainly be used for landscape photos, but we don't have the most dramatic scenery around Cleveland. I found photographing the statues and armor at the art musuem yielded some interesting photos.