Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8G ED Wide-Angle Lens Sample Images

Here’s a collection of travel-style images I’ve taken with the Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8G ED wide-angle prime lens to give a sense of how it performs in real-world shooting conditions.

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Filed Under: Lenses, Sample Images

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I’ve posted a detailed hands-on review of the Nikon 20mm ƒ/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.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED Lens
  • F-Mount Lens/FX Format
  • Aperture Range: f/1.8 to f/16
  • Rounded 7-Blade Diaphragm
  • Two Aspherical Elements + Two ED Elements
  • Silent Wave Motor Autofocus System

Sample Images Taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/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.

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

Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/5. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2.2. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/4. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2.8. While it’s not a macro lens, with a close focusing distance of under 8 inches, it works well for subjects that are near. This is the inside of a scale model 19th-century factory. For a sense of scale, you can see a kid looking in from the left. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/11. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/5.6. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/4. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2.2. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/6.3. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/6.3. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/6.3. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/11. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/2.5. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/1.8. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/5. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel
Nikon 20mm f1.8 Lens Photo
Photo taken with a Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8 lens at ƒ/11. Photo by David Coleman / Have Camera Will Travel

Hands-on Review

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

Price & Availability of the Nikon 20mm ƒ/1.8G ED Wide-Angle Lens

Buy New

Check current price and availability at:

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED Lens
  • F-Mount Lens/FX Format
  • Aperture Range: f/1.8 to f/16
  • Rounded 7-Blade Diaphragm
  • Two Aspherical Elements + Two ED Elements
  • Silent Wave Motor Autofocus System

Buy Used

If you’re in the market for a used copy, there are good odds of finding one at

Rent

You can rent them at

Accessories for the Nikon 20mm ƒ/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).

Images and product information from Amazon PA-API were last updated on 2023-09-27 at 13:21. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon Site at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

David Coleman / Photographer

David Coleman

I'm a professional freelance travel photographer based in Washington DC. Seven continents, up mountains, underwater, and a bunch of places in between. My images have appeared in numerous publications, and you can check out some of my travel photography here. More »