Nikon D800E and 5 WA zoom lenses

I just got Nikon D800E, with the idea to use it until (and if) Canon does not come with a proper landscape and Hi-Res studio camera. No critics to Canon here, I just needed higher resolution.For the studio work I choose Nikon 24-70 f2.8 and it should be enough for now. I might add one longer prime in the future, but no hurry. That choice was easy.

For the landscape, I have much bigger dilemma. Being a long time Canon user, I managed to collect pretty big collection of great lenses.

Canon TS-E 17 f4, EF 24 f1.4 L II, EF 14 f2.8 L II, Zeiss ZE 21 f2.8, 28 f2 and 35 f2.

Therefore I planned to go with Nikon 14-24 f2.8, reading mostly raving reviews about it.

But it is a lot of money… There are some alternatives, and I am lucky enough to have nearby a big store, where most of those lenses were on stock.

Therefore I went to the store, with the new camera to try and see which WA zoom can deliver to the extreme resolution of the D800E sensor.

Normally I would need good subject, even light, tripod, remote trigger etc. but that wasn’t possible. Counting that anything is better than nothing, I made just a brief series of shots hand held, from the store backyard.

Here is the list of the lenses that I was thinking of.
Nikon 14-24 f2.8 G ED AF-S, Nikon 16-35  f4 AF-S G ED VR, Tokina AF 16-28 f2.8 AT-X Pro SD FX, Tokina AT-X 17-35 f4 PRO FX and Sigma 12-24 f4.5-5.6 II DG HSM.

Presented here are the results at FL of 24mm. I’d love to post the crops from other FL too, but it is too much time consuming and I have to do some other things. However, I checked the performance on few FL, – comparable are 16, 20, 24mm. I also tested Sigma at 12, Nikon 14-24 at 14 and Nikon 16-35 at 35.At most FL I used f2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11 and 16. Here I am posting f8, as this is closest to my usual aperture stop when shooting landscape. (Of course I am going sometimes up to f16, but in this case, having no tripod, results would be compromised by my shaky hands.)

Crops at 24mm and f8.

Here are some of my findings after this brief test…

Lens performances vary quite a lot at different FL. Most consistent are Tokina 16-28 f2.8 and of course Nikon 14-24 f2.8. But even this Nikon legend is pushed to the edge trying to feed hungry corners of D800E.

In terms of the even sharpness across the frame, the best of those lenses are again Tokina 16-28 f2.8 and Nikon 14-24 f2.8. Sigma is the worse one, leaving Nikon 16-35 and Tokina 17-35 in between. From those two, I would go rather with the Nikon, because on its widest FL (17mm), this Tokina was rather disappointing. (Maybe bad sample)

In general, Tokina 16-28 f2.8 was a pleasant surprise. I tried one some time ago on Canon and it was heavily decentered.
This sample was much better, but still not perfect. This Tokina is also weakest on its wide and, where Nikon 14-24 f2.8 simply shines, but still much better than its slower sister, and Sigma of course. It was in fact very close to Nikon 16-35 at 16mm, which on the other hand seems to be that Nikon strongest FL.

On the center sharpness, Tokina 16-28 looks best to me, without shooting test charts. This might be subjective however. Close behind is Nikon 14-28 and Nikon 16-35.

I couldn’t test for flare resistance, so I have to accept findings of a serious test sites.

LR4.1 handles CA so well, that it makes all lenses looks stellar in that term after adjustment.

Build quality of all lenses is very good, and I didn’t find the most expensive Nikon 14-24 f2.8 to be far ahead of the others. However it is certainly the best built one.

AF was fast enough on all lenses, with Tokinas being slightly noisier than the others, but nothing to be afraid of. Focusing path is quite small on those zooms, so overall focus is fast enough for most purposes.

I didn’t have a chance to test for front/back focus.

Barrel distortion is visible on all lenses, surprisingly Tokina 17-35 f4 seems to suffer least from it.

It is a pity, that nor Nikon 16-35 or Tokina 17-35 are on par at f8 with their 2.8 counterparts, as I don’t like bulb front element that makes it difficult if not impossible to use filters.

Sigma FOV at 12mm is great, but overall corners are poor at all FL and apertures comparing to the others. It might be nice occasional lens, but not a ultimate WA solution.
(at least this sample, and just in case that you are planing to print big).

Finally – this test didn’t help me much. I expected to use any of those zooms (hoping mostly for Nikon 16-35) as my landscape single lens solution. I was ready also to bitter price of Nikon 14-24 if it stands out significantly. But D800E has no mercy, and what you might get from its great resolution it will make you pay on the lens side.

If I decide to go with zoom, it will be Tokina 16-28 f2.8 (if I manage to get the sample I tested), combined with the Samyang 14 f2.8. (In this case, I will have to sell my Canon EF 16-35 f2.8 L II, which I won’t miss that much.)

But I might just go with Zeiss 21 f2,8 + Samyang 14 f2.8 and call it a day. (In this case however I will have to sell my Zeiss 21 ZE for Canon, but what if Canon comes soon with even better landscape camera… I hate selling great lenses, but it is stupid to have same lenses for different mounts.)

I know I said that I will not write about D800E itself, and I won’t. But here are couple of shots with the Nikkor 50 f1.2 that I own and could use it from tripod on more interesting subjects than in store backyard. Just to illustrate, what the sensor is capable of…

First two shots and crops are also hand held, as the few others. The cityscape shots are from a tripod.

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 Original File without sharpening

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 100% crops without sharpening

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 100% crops  with high pass filter at 0.7 sharpening

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 100% crops with channel find edges and unsharp mask at amount 150, Radius 1, Threshold 1 sharpening

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 Original File without sharpening

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 100% crops without sharpening

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 100% crops  with high pass filter at 1 sharpening

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8 100% crops with channel find edges and unsharp mask at amount 168, Radius 1, Threshold 1 sharpening

And some field snapshots:

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f2

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f2

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f2

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f2

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f5.6

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f5.6

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8

Nikon D800 E + Nikon NIKKOR 50mm F1.2 A at f8