Nikon's published MTF graphs rate the 14-24mm as incredibly good, the best 14mm ever made in the history of mankind. Plus if one were to consider the AF-S 14-24mm F2.8G ED as an alternative to the Z-mount 14-24mm, you'd need to factor in the weight and size of the Mount Adapter FTZ. That would add another 31mm (1.2") in length and 135g (4.8oz) in weight, giving the mirrorless lens a much more significant advantage over its DSLR sibling.

The Nikon 16-35mm f/4G VR does quite well at 24mm, but not at the same level of the 24-70mm f/2.8G, which is incredibly sharp in comparison in the center of the frame. When it comes to the corners, however, the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G doesn’t do nearly as well thanks to its heavy field curvature. One can obtain better corner results with the 24-70mm f/2.8G by focusing in the corners though. The lens is not a dedicated macro lens, and in fact you should probably avoid getting too close to a subject with this lens to avoid the risk of damaging it. The close focus for this lens is 28 cm (8 inches) and the lens produces a poor magnification of 0.15x. Keeping in mind the lens is just over 13 cm long, this means the closest you can get to a subject and still focus is 10 cm. This next one is niche, but performance with a modified camera body has been outstanding. What I mean by this is some lenses have an internal IR light emitter that can cause issues with modified bodies, but I am happy to say this Z 14-24mm does not have this problem!

Introduction

The Sigma is a much more affordable lens, costing a bit less than two-thirds as much as the Nikon Z 14-24mm F2.8. Its barrel diameter is just fractionally (4mm / 0.1") lower, but it's 7mm (0.3") longer and almost a quarter heavier. Optics: The Nikon Z 14-24mm f2.8 S has 16 elements in 11 groups including 4 special dispersion elements and 3 aspherical elements. This is similar to the F-Nikkor (14 elements in 11 groups) but with a higher number of special elements. To reduce reflections causing flare, glare and ghosting both Z-Nikkors and the F-Nikkor employ Nikon’s Nano-coating but only the Z 14-24mm f2.8 S profits from the new “ARNEO” anti-reflective coating. Both Z-Nikkors also have fluorine-coating on the front element to repel water, dust, and dirt and make cleaning easier. [+] So in conclusion a great lens to use I have two fx cameras and I am loving the results that I have got so far just be prepared to feel the effects after a full day's shooting.

These adapters also usually don't work on full-frame cameras, which again makes the pretty useless. First and foremost (and this is important): the lens’s portability. This is, without a doubt, the smallest and lightest lens in its class. The old F mount model 14-24mm, the Sigma Art 14-24mm, and even the Sony 12-24mm are no match in size and weight when it comes to this lens. More on that later, as this is a party piece. Display: The Nikon Z 14-24mm f2.8 S is now the fourth Z-Nikkor to feature an OLED display indicating focal length, aperture or focusing distance (in m or ft.) and depth-of-field. The display is hard to read under sunny conditions in its default setting but it can be made as bright as the top display on the Z7. You can switch through the different display types using the DISP-button. See the images below which are from the Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 S sporting the same panel. The F-Nikkor only offers the usual distance markings that normally come with lenses designed for DSLRs. The Z 14-30mm f4.0 S does not have a display. [+] A lens' ghost, flare and contrast performance depend on many, many many factors. It depends more on the wisdom of the lens designer than a coating on one surface of one element. The other zillion surfaces have Nikon's traditionally excellent Super Integrated Multicoating (SIC). This 14-24mm is for people who need the insane point of view of ultrawide lenses. I love my fixed Nikon 14mm and Canon 14mm lenses I already use on film and my full-frame Canon 5D cameras. You can see examples at my 2007 Route 66 and 2007 Death Valley galleries.I haven’t really found a use for the lens control ring. I tried playing around with the various functions I could set it to control (ISO, aperture, etc), but for astro (and even landscape) there was really nothing notable there for me. Not that you'll see this sharpness improvement in most photos, but you will see it if you're looking in the corners of the FX frame wide open at the wide settings The older lenses simply can't get this sharp out there, but you can put filters on the front of most of the older lenses which you can't with the new 14-24mm. They all look the same when stopped down to f/8, but you still can't put filters on the front of the 14-24mm. Or you go for a standard 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom that lets you comfortably shoot when more reach is necessary. Two of those are also stabilized: The Tamron SP AF 24-70mm 2.8 Di VC USD (800 EUR, see my Tamron 24-70/2.8 VC review) and Nikon’s new AF-S VR 24-70mm 2.8E ED. But that is the most expensive alternative at 2400 EUR (see my Nikon 24-70/2.8E VR review). Does this come with a durability penalty? Not particularly. While it’s true that the Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S has a mostly plastic exterior, it’s high-quality plastic, and the lens mount is still metal. NIKON Z 7 II + NIKKOR Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S @ 20mm, ISO 64, 1/160, f/8.0

Resistance to chromatic aberration is excellent, much improved over the Nikon 12-24mm ƒ/2.8 DX lens. The 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 never exceeds 5/100ths of a percent of frame height in the corners, and 3/100ths in the center - we're talking barely perceptible results here. This 14-24mm is a huge, expensive and special-purpose lens. For 99% of the people reading this, the newer 16-35mm f/4 VR is a much better lens because it is smaller, lighter, has a more useful zoom range, it's easier to use, takes filters and is slightly sharper, too.Nikon has based the autofocus system for its Nikkor Z 14-24mm F2.8 S around a stepper motor. Typically, that's a choice which translates to smooth, quiet but less-than-swift autofocus. Being a wide-angle lens, the 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 does exhibit some corner darkness, but in keeping with the excellent quality of this optic at its worst it shows up as a half-stop darker, at that's with the lens set to 14mm and ƒ/2.8. At any other focal length / aperture combination, corner darkness doesn't exceed a quarter-stop.

Closest focus distance is 0.24m (0.92ft.) at 24mm focal length with a magnification of 1:5.8 which is not much. This results in a working distance of around 10cm. The F-Nikkor is similar with a magnification of 1:6.2 at 0.27m object distance, the Z 14-30mm f4.0 S goes to 1:5.1 from 0.25m. A magnification of 1:10 is reached at 0.35m focus distance similar to the F-Nikkor. The Z 14-30mm f4.0 S achieves 1:10 at 0.41m due to its longer focal length. [0]One last thing to sum up; I said it just a few paragraphs ago, but I’ll say it again. I. LOVE. THIS. LENS. Lately, I’ve found myself enjoying shooting nightscapes at 35mm and 50mm, but this Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S made me enjoy going wider once again. As we mentioned in the handling section, the 14-24mm F2.8 comes with not just one lens hood, but a choice of two. It also handles bright light sources that make it to the front lens element very well. Flare is controlled nicely, with no ghosting or reflections and not much loss of contrast either. mm. This lens is intended for use on film and full frame cameras, on which it is obviously a 14-24mm equivalent.. Focus accuracy and repeatability is critical to consistently produce sharp shots. Repeatability (the accuracy of focus on the same subject after repeated focus-acquisition) of this lens is very good (measured 98,5% in FoCal) with no outliers over a series of 40 shots. There is a slight performance variation whether the lens focuses from infinity or from a closer distance. Unfortunately the lens had to be swapped for a second copy to focus correctly. Being a rectilinear lens, the 14-24mm is well-balanced for distortion. It wouldn't be a wide angle lens if there wasn't some distortion to speak of, and set to 14mm, you do see about 0.5% barrel distortion. Keep in mind that on the D200 we mounted the lens to, it produces an image with an ''effective'' focal length of 21mm, so 0.5% barrel distortion is in keeping with that focal length. Distortion scales gracefully as you zoom in along the focal range, and a 0% distortion is achieved around 22mm.