There seems to be a new crop of chronic complainers that have surfaced on this Nikon board over the last few months. They don't go unnoticed because they want to be so vocal, in every thread. Even though it seems they don't own any of the equipment they are experts on.
Photography is not about pixel peeping. It's about the emotion that an image brings And most of those 14-30mm photos are quite terrific. And in many, there's no vignetting whatsoever (although I don't know if they were cropped or otherwise adjusted, but even if they were, it still proves you could get a great, great image).
zoetmb wrote:
Photography is not about pixel peeping. It's about the emotion that an image brings And most of those 14-30mm photos are quite terrific. And in many, there's no vignetting whatsoever (although I don't know if they were cropped or otherwise adjusted, but even if they were, it still proves you could get a great, great image).
Photography may not require pixel peeping ... but, making decisions about which tools you want to buy & use may.
Indeed, I did leave off a smiley face. I was being sarcastic. The handwringing over the distortion and vignetting is so overwrought I had to laugh and leave a smart aleck comment.
groob wrote:
Indeed, I did leave off a smiley face. I was being sarcastic. The handwringing over the distortion and vignetting is so overwrought I had to laugh and leave a smart aleck comment.
The Irix 15mm f/2.4 has 3+ stops of vignetting, a good amount of barrel distortion, takes screw on filters, costs $400, has good build quality, and is considered by some "OK to use but mostly if you are on a tight budget". The Nikon 14-30 has similar characteristics with admittedly better sharpness and coma correction, costs $1300 and is considered superb by some. The falloff and distortion of both lenses are correctable in software.
The question that needs to be answered to resolve the apparent discrepancy is --- what is more important for the visual impact of an image a) sharpness or b) light falloff and distortion. Different people will have different priorities.
groob wrote:
Indeed, I did leave off a smiley face. I was being sarcastic. The handwringing over the distortion and vignetting is so overwrought I had to laugh and leave a smart aleck comment.
Ah, ok no problems. I do agree that the criticism is a bit over the top. The end result is all that matters and I think the results are quite amazing from this diminutive little lens.
Does Irix come in the Z mount or do you need to add the size & weight of an adapter? Irix is a manual focus prime lens, that's larger and heavier than the zoom, takes 95mm filters ($) and is not as wide. It's like comparing apples to oranges.
Yes - 14-30 is not "the best UWA in the world". It's still pretty damn good considering the size, weight, filters, price and so on.
Let's not forget it's $600 cheaper than f-mount 14-24 and it's priced similarly to 16-35 at launch. I'm looking forward to what Z mount 14-24 brings - it will be up there on top of the IQ charts (I doubt I'll buy it as 14-30 will likely be good enough for my needs)
It's been two weeks since it started showing up in stores - I'm still waiting for the pre-order to be fulfilled by my vendor in Canada (despite being 2nd on the list). Someone at Nikon underestimated the demand?
ckcarr wrote:
There seems to be a new crop of chronic complainers that have surfaced on this Nikon board over the last few months. They don't go unnoticed because they want to be so vocal, in every thread. Even though it seems they don't own any of the equipment they are experts on.
You are correct. Unfortunately. There was a similar flux of noxious posts during and after the release of the D850. Most of the slamming is of products with a sensor or shorter focal lengths, wide angle lenses especially. And of course the unending armwaving as to which is "the best camera". The armwavers appear to be far too gormless to understand that nearly everyone locked into a brand is very unlikely to switch brands if camera Y or lens A is better than what they own or it is pragmatic to buy as an upgrade within the Nikon ecosystem (in this case).
For dpr, perhaps it feeds traffic to the website, but most of these self anointed Eggspurts are brand trolls
tek9 wrote:
Does Irix come in the Z mount or do you need to add the size & weight of an adapter? Irix is a manual focus prime lens, that's larger and heavier than the zoom, takes 95mm filters ($) and is not as wide. It's like comparing apples to oranges.
Yes - 14-30 is not "the best UWA in the world". It's still pretty damn good considering the size, weight, filters, price and so on.
Let's not forget it's $600 cheaper than f-mount 14-24 and it's priced similarly to 16-35 at launch. I'm looking forward to what Z mount 14-24 brings - it will be up there on top of the IQ charts (I doubt I'll buy it as 14-30 will likely be good enough for my needs)...Show more →
I use UW lenses in remote rigs for wildlife besides landscapes. With profound gratitude to Nikon, I'm exploiting the silent shutter of the Z7. With selecting lenses, I rank IQ as the Top factor to consider (within the bounds of fiscal reality). But so is the Compactness / portability of gear when hiking.
AF is critical, which is a deficiency in the otherwise excellent (albeit heavier) Zeiss primes. I have the great little 18-35 G but there are scenes where the lens needs to be wider. It is also clear the IQ of the 14-30 Z well exceeds the F-Nikkor zooms - notably the 16-35 and 18-35.
Lance B wrote:
Ah, ok no problems. I do agree that the criticism is a bit over the top. The end result is all that matters and I think the results are quite amazing from this diminutive little lens.
Every lens is a compromise in R&D, zooms especially. One core theme is evident in the history of Nikkor R&D, across Nikon's 1001 Nights essays. The optics maestros made great advances in legendary optics in the AI and AIS era, and this continued and it gets better and better. we can see the incremental progress, notably with zooms since the 1980s- ultrawides especially. But also consider the progress with the current 70-200 Nikkors, inaugurated by the 80-200 f4.5AI
Certainly, new materials have helped. Improvements in making elements (asphericals especially) has been critical. So is quality control with CAD/CAM and automated testing etc with unprecedented precision and reliability. But the real key is these technologies have been - are - integrated by Japanese geniuses with the mental stamina and dogged tenacity to break new ground in optical design.
We are the beneficiaries. Today the only excuse for an inferior zoom is cost cutting. Of all the optics companies, Nikon have the corporate memory to keep putting out very quality lenses. This is very evident everyone of the Z-Nikkors we have seen Of course, There are new opportunities being opened up and opened out by the Z mount's geometry. The remarkable specs of 14-30 f4S is the first taste of what promises to be a new era of Nikon optics.
chambeshi wrote:
Every lens is a compromise in R&D, zooms especially. One core theme is evident in the history of Nikkor R&D, across Nikon's 1001 Nights essays. The optics maestros made great advances in legendary optics in the AI and AIS era, and this continued and it gets better and better. we can see the incremental progress, notably with zooms since the 1980s- ultrawides especially. But also consider the progress with the current 70-200 Nikkors, inaugurated by the 80-200 f4.5AI
Certainly, new materials have helped. Improvements in making elements (aspericals especially) has been critical. So is quality control with CAD/CAM and automated testing etc with unprecedented precision and reliability. But the real key is these technologies have been - are - integrated by Japanese geniuses with the mental stamina and dogged tenacity to break new ground in optical design.
We are the beneficiaries. Today the only excuse for an inferior zoom is cost cutting. Nikon of all the optics companies have the corporate memory to keep putting out very quality lenses. This is very evident everyone of the Z-Nikkors we have seen Of course, There are new opportunities being opened up and opened out by the Z mount's geometry. The remarkable specs of 14-30 f4S is the first taste of a new era of Nikon optics....Show more →
Very much so. The other beauty of the Z system is that you can have two systems, a small lightweight f4 travel zooms system with amazing IQ for its size and it looks like a more professional system of f2.8 zooms using lenses with less compromises and even better IQ. Of course there will be the primes to back all this up as well. The 24-70 f2.8S is the first 24-70 f2.8 lens I've used that I can use wide open and it is actually very sharp which makes it *very* useful. I was never satisfied with either old F mount 24-70 f2.8's wide open ability, especially on the high res bodies of the D800 series.
