Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED Sample Images: Real-World Examples

I’ve posted a detailed hands-on review of the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED separately. In this post, I’m including more sample images I took with it in the hope that it’s useful to someone to see what comes out of the lens in real-world shooting conditions.

The short version of this lens is that it’s a 20mm prime with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 and a minimum aperture of f/16. It still has some bulk, but it’s smaller and lighter than some other wide-angle fast primes. It has thirteen elements in eleven groups, uses Nikon’s Silent Wave autofocus system, and has a 7-blade rounded diaphragm to help with smooth bokeh. It takes 77mm filters and works with full-frame or cropped sensor bodies; on a DX-sensor camera, it has an effective focal length of 30mm.

On a full-frame body like the D810, 20mm takes in about 94 degrees across the diagonal, which is wide enough to get a whole room, or a street scene from the middle of it, without backing up. On a DX body that narrows to around 70 degrees. The lens doesn’t change when you do that — it’s still a 20mm — the smaller sensor just crops into the middle of the image circle, which is why the framing ends up matching what a 30mm lens would give you on full frame.

Sample images taken with a Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED

All of the photos here were shot on a Nikon D810 in RAW. They were processed in Lightroom, but I haven’t applied any of Lightroom’s lens corrections to them. So any issues like vignetting or chromatic aberration are as shot. And I’m focusing here on images that should test things like vignetting, sharpness, chromatic aberration, and distortion. I’ve also included a range of apertures, although I have put emphasis on the larger apertures — after all, that’s a selling point of this lens.

Worth clearing up, because the names are so close: this is the F-mount AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED, not the Z-mount NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S. They’re separate optical designs — the Z version uses 14 elements in 11 groups and a 9-blade diaphragm — even though both take 77mm filters and give the same 94-degree view on full frame. If you’re shooting a Z body, the G version still autofocuses through the FTZ adapter.

If you’d like a closer look, you can click on each image to open a full-size version.

Hands-on review

I’ve posted a more detailed hands-on review of the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G separately.

Accessories for the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED AF-S

Filters. It takes standard 77mm screw-in filters: Polarizer | UV/Haze | ND.

Lens Hood. It comes with a lens hood. For a replacement, the model number is HB-72.

Case. It comes with a soft pouch. There’s no particular reason you need to use the official Nikon version, but if you want to get it, the model number is CL-1015.

Lens Caps. It uses regular Nikon front (LC-77) and rear (LF-4) lens caps (there are many aftermarket versions that work just as well).