Nikon 18-35mm Review

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Nikon 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-D. enlarge. I'd get it here or here. It helps me keep adding to this site if you use these links; thanks!

This film and FX Digital lens was introduced in 2000 and has retailed for about $490 ever since. It is Nikon's least expensive ultra-wide zoom, and the second sharpest behind the 14-24mm f/2.8 AF-S. This 18-35mm pretty much does the same thing as the 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S, in plastic with more distortion but with slightly better sharpness, for a lot less money.

The newest $1,800 14-24mm f/2.8 AF-S is far superior optically to any other ultrawide zoom ever made, period. If we forget that for the rest of this review, this plastic 18-35mm is actually a little bit sharper on my D3 than the 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S and the 20-35mm AF-D! Why? The 18-35mm is newer, slower, and has more distortion than these, too.

The 18-35mm is fun, small, lightweight, fast, easy to use and gives great results. What you lose for saving $1,000 over the 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S is distortion and the need to move a switch for manual focus.

Compatibility: The 18-35mm AF-D works with everything Nikon has made from 1959's first F to today's D3. The only thing it won't do is autofocus with the D40 or D40x, but so what, it doesn't autofocus on manual focus cameras, either. The 18-35mm does give full exposure automation and a manual focus confirmation light on the D40s.

Name: Nikon calls this the Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 D ED IF Aspherical.

D: Sends focus distance information to camera for better exposure, especially with flash, than non-D AF lenses from the 1986-1993 era .

IF: Internal Focusing: it focuses and zooms by moving the internal elements.

Nikon has so much alphabet soup on the 18-35mm that they have to continue it on the back!

Optics: 11 elements in 8 groups. It uses one compound aspherical lens element and one element of magic ED glass. A compound aspherical is gluing a thin plastic corrective sheet over a glass element, and allows Nikon to get performance in this lens that used to cost thousands of dollars with traditionally hand-ground aspherical elements.

Filter Size: 77mm, the professional standard and the same as the 17-35mm AF-S and 12-24mm DX.

AF System: It uses the old-style mechanical AF linkage, so it won't autofocus on the D40 or D40x (everything else works great, including an electronic manual focus indicator.)

Close Focus: 13" or 0.33m from the film plane, which is way too close for safety if you shoot airplane propellers.

Size: 3.258" extension from flange x 3.254" diameter (82.76 x 82.64mm) when set to 28mm. The 18-35mm gets slightly longer at the 35mm setting and grows to a maximum of 3.590" (91.17mm) when set to the 18mm setting. Focus is internal. Nikon specifies 3.2" (81mm) around and 3.2" (81mm) long.

Weight: 13.055 oz. (370.1 g), as measured by me. Nikon specifies 13.1 oz (370g).

Hood: HB-23 plastic bayonet hood, included. It's the same hood included with the 17-35mm AF-S and 12-24mm DX.

Production: Nikon has made about 100,000 of these through 2007. I'm unsure if they are still in production.

It's not the best if you're planning on looking at the corners with a microscope (for that get the $1,800 14-24mm), but for film and even for the D3, sure, get one if you're tempted.

Overall sharpness is about the same as the 17-35mm and 20-35mm, but nothing compared to the newest 14-24mm if you're looking closely.

AF is just about instantaneous on an F100 and D3. One full turn of the AF screw focuses it from infinity to 1.9 feet. That's fast!

18mm: Moderate falloff wide open, gone for most uses at f/5.6, completely gone by f/8.

At 18mm: Very sharp in center at all apertures. Soft in corners t f/3.5, but still better than 20-35mm f/2.8. Better at f/5.6, but never gets perfect even stopped down to f/16.

At 24mm: Sharp in center at f/4, perfect by f/5.6. Corners sharp but hazy at f/4, a little better at f/5.6, best at f/11 and f/16.

At 28mm: Sharp in center at f/4.2, perfect by f/5.6. Hazy but sharp in corners wide open, best at f/16.

At 35mm: Sharp in center at f/4.5, perfect by f/5.6. Sharp but hazy in corners at f/4.5, best f/8 - f/22.

The Nikon 18-35mm gives snappy, contrasty and sharp images at all focal lengths even wide open. It is a little soft in the corners at all focal lengths wide open, but still better than my fixed manual focus lenses. It sharpens up and gives fantastic results stopped down a couple of stops. Actually, this is better than any lens other then the 17-35mm and 14-24mm which are at least three times as expensive. The plastic 18-35mm is much nicer than you think. Here are the specifics:

f/3.5: very sharp all over except for the last couple of mm of the field. Very little falloff of illumination.
f/5.6: very sharp all over except for the last two mm of the far corners. No falloff.
f/8: very sharp all over except the far corners. No falloff.
f/11: very sharp all over except for the last two mm of the far corners with these corners a bit better than f/8 or f/5.6. No falloff.

f/4: very sharp all over except for the last several mm of the field. Very little falloff of illumination.
f/5.6: very sharp all over except for the last two mm of the far corners. No falloff.
f/8: very sharp all over except for the last two mm of the far corners. No falloff.
f/11: very sharp all over except for the last two mm of the far corners. No falloff.

f/4.5: very sharp all over except for the last several mm of the field. Very little falloff of illumination.
f/5.6: very sharp all over except the far corners. No falloff.
f/8: very sharp all over except the far corners. No falloff.
f/11: very sharp all over except the far corners. No falloff.

It has a lot of complex barrel distortion. Skip the 18-35mm if you want to shoot architecture or seascapes with horizon lines at the top or bottom of your image. The distortion has a complex signature, so it's difficult to remove except with tools more specialized than Photohop's default lens correction tool.

Don't worry about it if you want a compact, lightweight, fast handling lens for images in which straight lines that run along the edges are unimportant.

Remember that if you want to shoot a lot of serious architecture or landscapes then you shouldn't be diddling around with Nikon or Canon or Leica or any 35mm camera anyway; you really should be shooting with a 4x5" instead.

It has moderate barrel distortion at 35mm. It only gets worse from there. It's really bad at 18mm, with a complex signature that would be very difficult to remove in Photoshop. Unlike most zooms, there is no focal length at which you can get good rectilinear performance. For instance, you can set the 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S to 23mm at which point all distortion is gone. If you need straight lines stay at the 35mm setting and pray.

Plug these figures into Photoshop CS2's lens distortion filter to correct the distortion. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research.

* wavy; never completely corrects with this tool.
** very wavy; never completely corrects with this tool.

Flare and ghosting are great; I see little to no problem shot straight into the sun.

The filter ring never rotates. It moves in and out with zooming, and nothing moves when focused.

It's great for using polarizing and split filters since they stay put as you manipulate the lens. Of course you'll want to go easy with polarizers on a wide angle, since the polarization of the sky varies over such a large angle and gives uneven results.

There sometimes can be just a little vignetting on FX digital with a fat filter at 18mm; be careful and try yours first. THis is with 7mm thick rotating filters; any standard non-rotating filter is thinner and never a problem.

If you focus very close at 18mm with a conventional thick rotating filter, there will be vignetting on an FX camera. It's more obvious at smaller apertures. This isn't a problem at normal focus distances.

If you want to use two of these stacked (14mm thick excluding threads), it works great, but only from 21-35mm. There's serious vignetting with two stacked fat filters at 18mm on film and FX Digital, but what do you expect? It's still no problem on DX digital.

I see 18mm, 24mm, 28mm ad 35mm correlating between EXIF and the setting on the zoom ring.

The instructions erroneously mention a 9-bladed diaphragm. My lens only has seven blades, standard for Nikon.

This is an FX lens for film or FX digital cameras. It is silly to use it on a smaller DX digital camera because the 18-55mm DX works better and costs one-fifth as much.

This is a fun little lens and it makes great sharp images far better than it has any right to. Unless you have a spare extra $1,000 in your pocket or need low distortion then this is the clear winner. Don't even consider the stuff from Sigma or Tamron; this lens is spectacular. Even for the same or less price and even if you can get an f/2.8 from the off-bands stick with this winner. This is a great lens for many purposes, and looks and feels nice, too.

If linear distortion bothers you skip it and get a 4x5 camera instead, or the AF 20-35mm f/2.8.

For a the same money you could get the fixed focal length AF 20mm f/2.8. The 20mm AF will be smaller, faster, lighter, and have less distortion, but lose the ability to zoom. Personally I'd get this 18-35mm for the convenience.

For a little more money you can get a used, older professional AF 20-35mm f/2.8. zoom. This old pro zoom is built like a tank (duh), but it's not as sharp and doesn't go quite as wide. It sure feels good, though!

For three times as much money you could get the pig-sized 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S lens. The only advantages to the 17-35 are durability, ease of manual focusing and distortion. Otherwise this 18-35 gives exactly the same sharp results with a little more distortion. The 18-35mm excels in size, weight and price over the 17-35.

Overall, if I were on a budget (money or weight) this would be one of only two lenses I'd take with me.