"Good Glass" - Nikon 20mm F2.8
Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 11:07AM 7 Comments "Save and buy good glass" is a common tip you will hear from many seasoned photographers and sales people. As my passion for photography grows, I have heard this saying more and more. I also find it to be true and sound advice.
Recently, I found a used 20mm Nikon F2.8 for less than 1/2 of current street/market price. I sold some bike and camera stuff and picked it up. I'm having so much fun with it. On my APSC DX-Format D90, the 20mm equates to a 30mm focal length. It's wide and bright too. The pictures are super sharp compared to my kit lens. There clearly is a difference. The color and contrast are fantastic too.
Shooting with a single focal length lens has some great benefits.
- I think it helps you become a better photographer because you spend more time thinking about the framing. Your feet are the zoom.
- It's lighter and smaller than a zoom, thus I think it encourages you carry your camera more. Thus, you shoot more and learn more.
- Single focal length lenses are typically brighter (Lower F-Stop). This lens is a 2.8 and this gives you more options for depth of field. In certain situations where a subject has depth, you can choose to make a single part in focus or set it to make more or all of it in focus.
All in all I couldn't be more pleased with this little lens.
Reader Comments (7)
Nice lens, does it AF with that body? Most of the new bodies won't, which is not cool.
I agree. The 20mm is nice lens; good find. I've been shooting with my 50mm f/1.8 and Nokton 58mm f/1.4 a lot on my D300. I also use a 85mm f/1.4 often too. I'm starting to like using lighter glass and find like you have that I carry my camera with me more with a smaller primes or smaller zoom. I just sold my 14-24mm f/2.8 and 24-70mm f/2.8 zooms as I just found them way to heavy. The only zooms i use now are 16-85mm and my 70-200mm f/2.8.
I'm going to add a fisheye and the 35mm f1/8 soon but will invest in some GF1 stuff first I think.
Wish I were riding, yes it does autofocus on the D90. It's nice, but you need/I need to be really aware of the focus point. I've missed a few shots because of it.
Wally - Wow! That's a nice set up. I am working to build a collection right now but simply don't have the funds. Someday I guess. Right now I am saving for an SB900 and the 70-200 f2.8 VRII. I'm even going to be selling a bunch of bike stuff!
Be careful when you evaluate lens needs. Its easy to get caught up in what works for someone else. Luckily, I didn't lose any money when I sold my lenses because they were high end and still in demand. I had all those in my bag but still used my 16-85mm more than any other zoom except the 70-200mm. that stuff weighs a ton too. No traveling light with any of it. Hence my interest in the GF1. Or the G11...
I shoot flash a lot. I've loved flash photography since my teens and digital allows me to see and tweak the scene in real time. I use two SB-800's and can get quite a bit done with them. I also have five other manual flash units by Vivitar which I trigger via slaves. Lately, I've been carrying around a SB-800 set to slave mode and my Panasonic point and shoot using its built in flash to trigger the SB-800. Great way to learn even more about lighting.
I told you we could go all night talking cameras....
Wally,....Now I get it.
My set up will not include the big lenses that you just sold. I'm not looking to get crazy but for what I want to do with travel and shooting for work, I do need a bright telephoto zoom.
Beyond that, I think that I could pretty much shoot prime all the time. We'll see. I'm going to give it a shot.
Check out my WWW.NODSLRS.COM site tomorrow as I put my longer use review of the GF1. It's perfect for biking, hiking, etc but I am finding I am carrying my Nikon D90 a lot more with the 20mm and calling it good. The G11 is good, but I shot a G9 and a G10 and quickly found them to be inadequate. The GF1 is close but my NIkon is spoiling me with image quality.
Someday, we need to do a long bike ride and talk cameras! Take care and thanks for the comments and the
The G9 and G10 are vastly different cameras as compared to the G11. I skipped the 9 and 10 cause they were just pixel racing - see who had the most. The G11 finds Canon dropping the pixel count and improving the quality of the ones left. Much better camera now. This a trend I hope to see others take with small sensors.
Those big lenses are awesome, but they belong on full frame cameras in my opinion. I'm not full frame and won't be any time soon. Thats why they didn't get used much and aren't in my bag now. I like a couple of zooms and more primes - even back in my heavy duty film days it was the same. Not sure why I moved from that formula.
Hi guys, I carry a D90 with the 35mm f/1.8 DX. I love the simplicity and size. It's one of Nikon's cheapest lenses but I find the images very pleasing. I would like something a bit wider and this 20mm looks like just the thing. I like that it will work on full frame, should I ever go that way in the future.
Could you explain more about the focus point issue if you get time.