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Archive 2014 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?

  
 
LeifG
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


According to informed sources, the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses are premium lenses and the 35mm, 50mm and 85mm aren't. This pressing issue needs addressing by the learned folk of FM.


Sep 26, 2014 at 03:16 AM
cadman342001
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


Well my Q would be what defines "premium" ?

Is it simply that it's the fastest lens they do at that particular FL ? eg 85/1.8 isn't premium cos the 85/1.4, 50/1.8 vs 50/1.4, and the 35/1.8 vs 1.4 (although one is DX and one is FX) ie Nikon marketing BS as there is no 20/1.4 or 28/1.4 ?

but yeah, I picked option 4

Andy



Sep 26, 2014 at 06:38 AM
MalbikEndar
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


It won't let me select both #3 and #4.


Sep 26, 2014 at 07:02 AM
Aloicious
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


"premium" is just a buzz word, it means nothing.

if they, or we, defined some specific group of lenses as being 'premium' for some special feature or quality (the 20 and 28 have Nano coating, the others dont, so the 20 and 28 must be 'premiuim', etc), once that feature becomes more widespread as time goes by (either from advancements in technology or manufacturing, etc), then more and more lenses will have that said "special" feature and will hence be 'premium' until some other better feature comes along and then THOSE lenses will need a better status giving moniker to place them above the 'premium' grade which has now become the norm, so they'll be super-premium, then the cycle starts over again, then we get mega-super-premium, ultra-premium, etc. Assigning these special monikers is pointless...

now if these monikers actually told us something, that might actually be helpful, for example, consumer vs professional lenses address things like build quality and useful information that is more timeless (for example, a professional lens (as opposed to a consumer lens) from 20 years ago is still a professional lens on the used market today, but a 'premium' lens from 20 years ago is probably not a """premium""" lens today, whatever that might mean)

so, are the 35/50/85 premium lenses? are the 20/28? who cares...



Sep 26, 2014 at 07:16 AM
trenchmonkey
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


NANO, might be more appropriate.


Sep 26, 2014 at 07:21 AM
BenV
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


What pressing issue, and what is premium? Seems like thread was started out of sheer boredom.


Sep 26, 2014 at 09:22 AM
mawz
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


The question came about as to why the 20 & 28 have Nano coating and the 35, 50, & 85 1.8's don't.

Nikon seems to prefer to put nano coating on the highest-end lens in a given FL (or FL range). Sometimes they'll also do a second lens in the range with nano (the f4 set has it).

The easiest way to distinguish these lenses is calling the highest-end lens at the FL the 'Premium' lens. So at 28 you have the 28/1.8 and the 28/2.8D, the former being the 'premium' lens. At 20mm you have the 20/2.8 and the 20/2.8D, and likewise the former is the 'premium' lens. At 50mm there's the 50/1.4G, 50/1.8G and 50/1.8D, none of which get the Nano coating, but the real flagship normal from Nikon is the 58/1.4G which does.



Sep 26, 2014 at 09:26 AM
Andre Labonte
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


Given the quality I get from my 50 f/1.8 and 85 f/1.8 I would say they are excellent performers. As for labeling things "premium" or not ... what does that matter? ... performance matters.


Sep 26, 2014 at 10:44 AM
CanadaMark
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


It will be exactly the same as the 28/1.8, 50/1.8, and 85/1.8 - that has been quite obvious from the start...

Extremely high bang for the buck, made in China, exceptional performance. Same model used on all other 1.8's.

Also, "premium" is somewhat ambiguous. A good example of this is the old 85/1.4D. Clearly was a professional lens in every way including performance and price, yet it didn't even have the gold ring. These days, aside from obviously price, Nanocoating seems to be the easiest way to tell what Nikon feels are their more premium lenses, regardless of how their performance compares tot he cheaper models (which often perform very favorably in comparison).



Sep 26, 2014 at 10:49 AM
lxdesign
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


They are Nano......does that mean premium?


Sep 26, 2014 at 10:58 AM
Thorsten
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


Is the "informed source" this thread? The only point there was that the 35, 50 and 85mm lenses have bigger brothers (f/1.4 versions), so they can be considered the value models, while the 20/1.8 and 28/1.8 are currently Nikon's best lenses at their focal length. What is there to vote about?


Sep 26, 2014 at 11:03 AM
CanadaMark
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


lxdesign wrote:
They are Nano......does that mean premium?


Not in this case, IMO.

Again, there is no sure way to tell just by looking at the lens. Nikon uses a number of things to denote "premium" in their primes, by far the biggest one is price. Alternatively, if there is a 1.4 version, that will be their "premium" version. Plastic vs magnesium shells also sometimes come into play.

You can't even go by where it's built anymore, since the excellent 105 VR MACRO is made in China now.

At the end of the day, all that matters is how it performs that the given price point compared to alternatives, which at this time there are none. Looks to be a great lens by all accounts.

*By far* the easiest way to tell what Nikon thinks it is, is with price. If you ignore everything else, the fact that this lens isn't approaching $2000 suggests it is not part of their "premium" 1.4 prime lineup.



Sep 26, 2014 at 11:13 AM
Steen DK
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


Leif, in order to judge gear quality I think you always need to look at illustrations, and even full size illustrations. The rest is just words and personal opinions and even when you look at illustrations, there's still sample variation as a nasty variable.
I have showed full size illustrations of some AF-S Nikkor 28mm f/1.8 shots on another forum, go take a look, and if you need to take a closer look at some of the NEF files, just shoot me a Private Message and I can send you links to some of them, if you like.
(Sorry for directing you to another forum, but it's easier than posting all the sample images again here).
The other lens, the new 20mm f/1.8, I have never tried, so I cannot show you any sample images with that one.
/Steen

http://www.getdpi.com/forum/nikon/49045-d610.html#post597018
http://www.getdpi.com/forum/nikon/38058-got-my-28mm-1-8g-must-have.html#post428457
http://www.getdpi.com/forum/nikon/38058-got-my-28mm-1-8g-must-have.html#post432977



Sep 26, 2014 at 11:27 AM
Joseph.
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


Unlike Canon's "L" glass, there's no such thing as 'premium' in Nikon-land. In some cases, even the cheaper 1.8 beats the more expensive 1.4. You just have to know exactly what you're getting.


Sep 26, 2014 at 12:41 PM
static808
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


DontShoot wrote:
Unlike Canon's "L" glass, there's no such thing as 'premium' in Nikon-land. In some cases, even the cheaper 1.8 beats the more expensive 1.4. You just have to know exactly what you're getting.


gotta disagree. there is a premium in nikon-land, but nikon has just done a poor job of creating a criteria for differentiating between premium and non-premium lenses. for canon, the premium are the "L" lenses with the red ring. for nikon, its supposed to be the gold ring lenses.

over at canon, they have really differentiated the "L" lenses. there is a noticeable difference in build quality, and they typically have some combination of bigger aperture, better build quality, faster AF motors, constant aperture for zooms, and i think are all full-frame lenses. nikon has not been as deliberate in creating the criteria for the gold ring lenses. is it better build quality? the 28/1.8g is built pretty much the same as the 85/1.8g, yet one has a gold ring and one doesnt. is it the nano coating? since the 60/2.8g micro has nano coating, but doesnt have a gold ring. and FX/DX is no criteria either, since the 17-55 has a gold ring.

i will agree with you that at nikon, being a faster lens doesnt necessarily make it a better lens. the 50's are a great example of this.



Sep 26, 2014 at 07:51 PM
mawz
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


CanadaMark wrote:
Also, "premium" is somewhat ambiguous. A good example of this is the old 85/1.4D. Clearly was a professional lens in every way including performance and price, yet it didn't even have the gold ring. These days, aside from obviously price, Nanocoating seems to be the easiest way to tell what Nikon feels are their more premium lenses, regardless of how their performance compares tot he cheaper models (which often perform very favorably in comparison).


The gold ring originally denoted the presence of ED elements, just as Canon's red ring and L designation originally denoted the presence of Fluorite elements.

In both cases the ring became a general identifier of 'Pro' lenses and was applied to lenses lacking the features the rings originally identified. With the Canon's this occurred early on in the development of the EOS system, with Nikon it seems to have coincided with the release of non-ED high-end G lenses.




Sep 26, 2014 at 08:38 PM
RSHPhotography
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


I asked Nikon Canada directly and the response was that Nikon makes only ONE lens with nano coated (gold ring) in that focal length. And that is the flagship lens in that focal length. Eg. The 28mm 1.8 is the flagship lens in the 28mm prime. If they release another 28mm, it will either replace it or be a lower unit.




Sep 26, 2014 at 09:02 PM
Thorsten
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


RSHPhotography wrote:
I asked Nikon Canada directly and the response was that Nikon makes only ONE lens with nano coated (gold ring) in that focal length. And that is the flagship lens in that focal length. Eg. The 28mm 1.8 is the flagship lens in the 28mm prime. If they release another 28mm, it will either replace it or be a lower unit.



That may be true today but who knows what the future will bring. Nikon Canada certainly does not. At 70-200, Nikon has two lenses with N-coating, so in general it looks they don't reserve that designation for a single model per focal length or range.



Sep 26, 2014 at 11:11 PM
BenV
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?




RSHPhotography wrote:
I asked Nikon Canada directly and the response was that Nikon makes only ONE lens with nano coated (gold ring) in that focal length. And that is the flagship lens in that focal length. Eg. The 28mm 1.8 is the flagship lens in the 28mm prime. If they release another 28mm, it will either replace it or be a lower unit.



You do realize you were just talking to an employee, not the company, right? I'm sure they have as little clue as I do of what Nikon is doing or their strategy.



Sep 26, 2014 at 11:17 PM
trenchmonkey
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Are the 20mm and 28mm F1.8 lenses premium?


At 70-200, Nikon has two lenses with N-coating, so in general it looks they don't reserve that designation for a single model per focal length or range.

One's an f4 and the other's an f2.8 pretty sure they're "different models"



Sep 27, 2014 at 07:32 AM
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