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 What you should know: The 14mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor is Nikon's widest rectilinear lens that covers the 35mm format, giving a whopping 114- degree angle of view. With its equally impressive f/2.8 aperture, it provides a bright viewing image along with available-light shooting ability. In addition, performance is also unsurpassed, but all this comes at a princely price.
Hands on: Rather large and heavy due to its retrofocus design and expanse of glass, the 14mm balances nicely on upper-tier Nikon SLRs, but is somewhat front-heavy on lighter models. The lens is beautifully finished in textured black, with gold accents, and features the typical cookie-cutter-style lenshood found on extreme ultrawides. The wide, ribbed, rubberized manualfocusing ring at the front of the barrel focuses the lens very smoothly, with a well-damped action.
Distance markings (feet 11⁄16 in in yellow, meters in white) under a protective Plexiglas window are reasonably large and legible, as is the adjacent depth-of-field scale, which covers apertures of f/4, f/8, f/11 and f/16. The textured metal aperture ring at the rear of the barrel has detents at whole stops from f/2.8 to f/22. Its white-on-black numerals (with f/22 in orange) are large, but may be obscured by the prism overhang on some Nikon models. To change the manual (M) or autofocus (A) setting, you must press in a small button while turning a narrow, ribbed ring at the center of the barrel -- not the smoothest or most comfortable procedure, but one you don't have to do too often. The 14mm comes with a snazzy leather lenscap.
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In the lab: SQF data show excellent performance. There was minimal pincushion distortion (0.35 percent), remarkable for this type of lens. Exposure accuracy at the film plane was average, with 2⁄3- stop underexposure at maximum aperture due to light falloff, and about 2⁄5-stop under from f/4 to f/22. These figures are also commendable for an extreme wide-angle lens.
At the closest focusing distance of 8 inches (1:6.7) center sharpness was excellent at all apertures. Corner sharpness was poor from f/2.8 to f/4, acceptable at f/5.6, very good at f/8, excellent at f/11, very good at f/16, and good at f/22. Optimum performance was at f/11.
In the field: Test slides were very sharp and contrasty from center to corners at all apertures, but pronounced light falloff was visible in all four corners at f/2.8. Flare was very well controlled at all apertures, with no ghosting visible; an excellent result. Autofocus timing was fast and autofocus action was quiet.
Conclusion: Offering state of the art performance, Nikon's remarkable 14mm f/2.8 is a great tool for pros and other advanced Nikon shooters needing the ultimate in angular coverage and speed without distortion. They had better have deep pockets.
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