Photography News Issue 48

Photography News | Issue 48 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

Nikon 10-20mmf/4.5-5.6GAF-PDX £329

Specs

Up until recently, if you had a Nikon DX format DSLR and wanted to buy a first-party ultra wide-angle lens you basically had two choices: the 12-24mm f/4 or 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5GED. Both are pricey, and getting pretty long in the tooth, having been launched in 2003 and 2009 respectively. But now Nikon’s 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-P DX is here. It’s an impressively modern lens built to be portable, flexible and supply high- quality shots, and it’s naturally useful for landscapes, architectural shots and interiors. It focuses to 22cm so it can create large and detailed foregrounds and a built- in 3.5-step Vibration Reduction (VR) function should improvesharpnesswhenhandholding. But before we cover properly what it can do, here’s what it can’t. The lens is only compatible with the most recent Nikons, and even then they may require a firmware update. I tested it fine on aNikonD7500andD810, albeit with slightly limited functions on the latter. This loss of function involves the Pulse Motor technology (AF-P), and therein according to Nikon, ‘if the standby timer is allowed to expire, the focus position will change when the

timer is restarted.’ Therefore you need to refocus before shooting and/or set a longer standby time on the D5, Df, D750, D7200, D7100, and D5200; it can also be addressed by a firmware update on the D5 (v1.20) and D750 (v1.12). Nikon states the 10-20mm is incompatible with the D4, D800, D700, D610, D300, D7000, D5100, D3200, or anything older than them. Another issue of compatibility is the lens’s VR function. To switch it on or off you need a Nikon DSLR with an Optical VR option in the Custom Setting>Shooting/display menu. If your camera doesn’t have this, VR is automatically turned on and can’t be cancelled. This didn’t seem to cause any loss of sharpness though, even when the camera was mounted on a tripod. In terms of design, the lens is very small and streamlined. Weighing only 230g, it’s great for keeping weight to a minimum, but didn’t feel too light for the D7500 body I tested it on. It’s short, too, at just 77mm. The lens’s zoom ring is well grooved giving a decent grip, and you can go from 10-20mm in less than 90º, so there’s no labouring over the turn. The action isn’t the smoothest, but it feels fine for a budget

Format APS-C (Nikon DX) Mount Nikon F Construction

14 elements in 11 groups Special lens elements 3 aspherical lens elements Coatings Super Integrated Coating Filter size 72mm Aperture range f/4.5 (10mm) to f/29 (20mm) Diaphragm Seven blades, rounded Internal focus Yes Manual focus Yes Min. focus 22cm Focus limiter No Max. magnification 0.17x Distance scale No Depth-of-field scale No Image stabiliser Yes, 3.5EV claimed benefit Tripod collar No Lens hood Yes, supplied Weather-sealed No Dimensions (lxd) 77x73mm Weight 230g Contact nikon.co.uk

lens. There are no buttons on the body at all, so switching to manual focus needs to be actioned from the body. The manual focus ring is quite thin but turns smoothly enough; it’s tricky to tell how quickly you can focus from the closest 22cmto infinity as there’s no focus distance window, but it was no slouch, taking a little over 90º.

The lens’s AF-P system proved very quiet, speedy and accurate, taking just a fraction of a second to go fromnear to far. Nor did it hunt overly in low-light conditions. The lack of focusing noise makes it attractive for video, too. The lens has a variable aperture, giving a maximum f/4.5 at its widest, where it’ll get close to f22. At the long end you’ll get f/5.6 to f/29. To test optical quality we shot in Rawmode, andprocessed the fileswith no corrections or sharpening. In the shots shown here, I changed position to fill the frame with each focal length. Results were then examined close up. At 10mm, centre sharpness was impressive right from f/4.5 through to f/8 where it peaked at the edges. Sharpness started to drop off from f/11 and f/22 saw a real loss of sharpness. At 14mm, it was a similar story; results were very good wide open at the maximum f/5, and continued in this way until f/8 to f/11 beyond which sharpness suffered. Again the minimum aperture was quite fuzzy in comparison due to the effects of diffraction. At 20mm, again f/8 offered the best results at both centre and edges. Sharpness wide open didn’t seem to be quite as good as the wider settings but was still impressive. At the minimum apertures, again results saw a significant loss of sharpness. In general, our real-world results showed a test sample better geared to the wider apertures than the smaller end of the scale. I wouldn’t recommend pushing this lens much past f/16 when working in Raw, though in-camera lens corrections will improve JPEG results somewhat. Vignetting was clearly visible at the wider apertures, disappearing by around f/8. Fringing, mainly at the far edges, was most obvious at the wider focal lengths, but was still visible at the long end of the lens. Both were quickly controlled in processing the Raw files however. Barrel distortion is quite obvious at the 10mm setting, but quickly falls away as you zoom in; an adjustment of +12 to the Raw file using Camera Raw’s Distortion slider fixed the issue, the compromise being a slight loss in file size through cropping. I didn’t detect much sign of flare or ghosting when shooting into the light either, and images were well saturated and contrasty. KS

10mm

14m

10mm

20mm

F/4.5

F/5

F/5.6

F/8

F/11

Verdict

Nikon’s 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G performs well, especially at wider to middle apertures. At higher f/numbers, it’s not as strong. But the lens is small and light, and won’t put too much of a strain on your bank balance either, while the addition of VR gives it even more versatility, especially in low light. For Nikon DX users looking for an ultra-wide angle optic at an affordable price, it’s well worth investigating, though it also feels like there’s space for a new higher end DX wide lens in the range. Pros Image quality at wide to middle apertures, size, weight, focusing speed, VR function, price Cons Limited compatibility, fringing requires correction in post, sharpness drops off at small apertures

F/11

F/16

F/22

F/29