Has anyone done a comparison of the latest version of the Leica 19mm elmarit, and the 14-24 Nikkor set at 19mm? The Nikon looks to be a great lens, but I can see that it's size could be a problem in some situations. Thanks for the input.
you should consider to wait until the ZF 18mm hits the market. The Leica needs a modification and a mirror shave, the ZF won't. Both lenses have a nice scale which will make it easy to focus. That said I do not doubt that the 14-24 is a very sharp lens and has enough DOF to hide possible focusing errors
In detail, then – in Zones A and B, the Leica 19mm f2.8 Elmarit (latest ROM version) resolves fractionally more fine detail than the Nikon 14-24mm, but the Nikon's superior macro-contrast gives the impression of greater accutance. However, in Zone C, the Leica's powers of resolution dips sharply at about the 21mm radius mark. Here the Nikon is appreciably better in all respects.
The Leica scores for a particularly fine colour and bokeh rendition but the Nikon's slightly cooler tone is better suited to architectural work, indoors and out (tungsten and mixed light under the roof, blue skies elsewhere).
The Elmarit is smaller and takes filters (good); however it needs lens or camera hacking and is more expensive (bad).
The Nikon is almost distortion-neutral at 19mm whereas the Leica requires modest waveform correction, particularly at close range. So, like I said . . .
For resolution, the Zeiss 21mm cannot be beaten – unless the ZF18 has pulled a rabbit from the hat – but the waveform distortion is worse than the Leica, and it doesn't deal with flare too well.
The Nikon makes the Leica redundant in my view: offering similar overall resolution (better, really, if you value corner performance) with all those other focal lengths, and no mods to your camera or nasty lens hacks. You do have to live with the quirky adaptor, though!
I doubt the ZF18/3.5 will be better than CZ21. (corner performance) ZF18 is certainly based on a new optical formula, but it still a "standard" retrofocus WA. CZ21, on the other hand, adoted a much more complex design to reduce the image curvature. The Nikon 14-24, as I know, is consisted by 3 aspherics, similar to Sigma's approach on their 12-24 zoom.
