Home Donate New Search Gallery How-To Books Links Workshops About Contact Nikon 10-18mm f/4 Nikon AF-S Nikkor 10-18mm f/4 G ED N. It helps me keep adding to this site when you use these links to Adorama, Amazon, B&H, Calumet, Ritz, J&R and eBay to get your goodies. Thanks! Ken. Ken. June 2009 More Nikon Reviews RUMOR: Looks good enough to me to run with it! Everything here is forecast
Ideal Uses: Perfect for use on FX digital and film. Not for: I wouldn't bother with this on a DX camera since it's too darn big. I'd use the 10-24mm D lens instead, which has the added advantage of taking filters as well as smaller size, weight and lower price.
Introduction top
Someone sent me some photos of the new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 10-18mm f/4 G ED N. I usually presume these are fake, but since I invented the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 9mm f/2.8 G ED N DX back in 2006, I'll bite on this one. Nikon hopefully will be announcing this formally on 15 June 2009 to commemorate the world's first practical DSLR, the Nikon D1, which was announced on 15 June 1999. The 10-18mm is a rectilinear (non-distorting) lens that will just happen to be the world's wider non-distorting professional lens, upsetting the 13mm f/5.6 which had the title since 1976.
Everything works perfectly on every digital Nikon, both FX and DX, and even on Nikon's cheapest digital D40, D40x, D60 and D5000. It's also perfect on decent or recent AF film cameras like the F6, F100, F5, N80 and N75. The incompatibilities for older or cheaper film cameras are that: 1.) It won't autofocus with the cheapest new AF film cameras like the N55, but if you focus manually, everything else works great. Even if you lose autofocus, these cameras have in-finder focus confirmation dots to help you. 2.) Late 1980s ~ early 1990s AF cameras like the N90s, N70 and F4 will focus just fine and give Program and Shutter-priority modes, but lose Manual and Aperture-priority since you have no way to set the aperture on the camera or on the lens. 3.) You're really pushing it with the oldest AF cameras like the N2020, N6006 and N8008. You'll have no AF and confused exposure modes. Manual focus is fine, along with electronic focus indications. 4.) Since it has no aperture ring, it's just about useless with manual focus film cameras. See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S, AF-I" and "G"columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" (gelding) is a handicap which removes features.
USA, 7/2009: $2,799 (target).
Specifications (target) top Name: Nikon will call this the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 10-18mm f/4 G ED N. AF-S and SWM: Silent Wave (focus) Motor. ED: ED Glass. G: Gelded for cost-reduction and removing compatibility with older cameras. N: Nano-particle coating for less flare and ghosts.
Optics 17 elements in 12 groups. Four aspheric elements and one with N nano-particle coating. It's multicoated, which Nikon calls Nikon Integrated Coating.
Angle-of-View On FX and film: 130º ~ 100º diagonal. 122º ~ 90º horizontal. 100º ~ 67º vertical. (less on DX.)
Close Focus 0.9 feet (0.27 meters).
Hard Infinity Focus Stop? No. You have to use AF for astronomy.
Focus Scale Yes.
Depth-of-Field Scale No.
Infra-Red Focus Index No.
Diaphragm 9 straight blades. Stops down to f/22.
Aperture Ring No.
Filter Thread NONE. Forget shooting with grads or for film.
Size 4.58" (116mm) extension from flange by 4.73" (120mm) diameter.
Weight 3.2 pounds (1,450g).
Hood None. The extensions you see are mostly to protect the front glass. Thankfully, the nano-crystal coating should give great ghost and flare performance a la the 14-24mm.
Case Semi-soft Case CL-M4, included.
Made in Japan.
Recommendations top I want one; I'll let you know as soon as it becomes real. Forget it for use with film because no filters fit. For film, use the 14mm f/2.8 AF, since you can use rear gels, or the 13mm f/5.6 which uses rear bayonet filters. Unless you're shooting color print film, you need color correction filters for transparencies and sharp-cut colored filters to get proper contrast with B&W outdoors. I give this one about a 50% truth ratio. The pictures we've all seen look legitimate, however a 10mm f/4 FX zoom seems unlikely. Making a zoom go this wide and this fast (f/4) seem unreasonable when you understand just how excruciatingly difficult it is to make a lens this wide, much less make it zoom. It would seem more fitting to the Nikon system, in light of the 14-24mm zoom, to make a smaller, lighter fixed 10mm lens. Who knows. Rumors are fun because we can conjur up anything.
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Ken Home Donate New Search Gallery How-To Books Links Workshops About Contact |
02 June 2009