Nikkor AIS 24/2.8 vs. Zuiko 24/2.8

[mfman]

Both are excellent and go for identical prices. Cannot find anything bad about them and both are highly regarded. Which is making it harder to choose one out of two. I'd buy both but I'm just a student. I have come across an opportunity to buy them in EX condition at $155US/ each. Yeah I have adapter already for Zuiko but I will lean toward it just to save 12$ for new Nikkor adapter.

I will be using them on a mirrorless digital camera (Canon EOS M).

Nikkor AIS 24mm f2.8
This is the version I'm talking about:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/24f28.htm

Olympus Zuiko OM AUTO-W 24mm/2.8

I have the 28/3.5 version of Zuiko and I LOVE it, but then I read about the Nikon and saw it's sample images and it looks amazing too.

[Phenix jc]

Same results wide open ? (on crop sensor camera)
My nikkor is way better ! Clear already in center crops.
I can share boring tests, but you can believe my words.
Of course it can be sample variation, and I'm not lucky with my Zuiko.
Everybody like the Zuiko stopped down, and it's the way to use a wide angle ; But nethertheless how is yours wide open exactly ?
I was a Zuiko's fan, it's why I insist here.

[iangreenhalgh1]

The Nikkor is an excellent lens, it had a reputation as the best 24mm on the market for a long time. I have an old single coated one, it's seen a lot of action, but it still shoots beautifully.

You can't go wrong with the Nikkor. I don't know the Zuiko.

[DR.JUAN]

My Nikkor ais 24/2,8 is a really good lens.

Very nice contrast and saturated colors. Negligible distortions.

But the resolution power is not like my 1,2/58 MC Rokkor PG nor Apo Telyt 3,4/180.

My pics taken with the las two are a lot sharper than the taken with the nikkor.

Zuiko?

I don't send my pics by the net, but enlarger them (not all, of course) from 20 x 35 to 40 x 50 (all in cm)

[Phenix jc]

[cooltouch]

I have a 24mm f/2.8 AIs Nikkor and I agree with the others -- it's a very sharp lens with good color and contrast. BUT mine is somewhat soft on the corners. Check out the bottom left and right corners in the first photo and the bottom left in the second. Nikon F2, Ektar 100, 24mm set to f/8:





Now if you plan on using it only on an EOS M, then the above softness won't matter, since the EOS M has a 1.6x crop sensor. But if you plan on using it with a full frame camera in the future, you might want to take this into account. As for the Oly lens, I don't know anything about it, but I'd sure like to see some shots that showed corners with a FF camera before I bought it.

[mfman]

[kuuan]

I once had tested various 24mm lenses for sharpness on APS-C, including the Zuiko, a Nikkor-NC Auto, MC-W Rokkor and Pentax K, all f2.8/24mm ( and some more ). The Zuiko had noticable better corners than the others ( again, this is on APS-C ), otherwise they are all very good and preference a matter of taste

[Attila]

Even Sigma good in 24mm I never seen any bad one, to me all same Nikon, Konica, Olympus ,Yasica ML etc all same and excellent

[cooltouch]

Just to add to this, I own three 24s -- a Canon 24/2.8 SSC, the above Nikkor 24/2.8, and a Tamron AD2 24/2.5.

I recently tested all three. But since my DSLR is an EOS, I had to resort to using my FD-EOS adapter with the glass element in place. I tried using it without the glass, but at 24mm, the subject is only about 1/2" away from the front element of the lens. Just too inconvenient. I have a Nikon-to-Canon FD adapter and a Canon FD AD2 mount for the Tamron, so I was able to test all three lenses with the same FD-EOS adapter. Neglecting for the moment some slight image degradation that occurred because of the adapter, once I looked past that, I could detect no significant difference between the three lenses. They all did an excellent job.

Of the three, the Tamron was the big surprise. It is a sharp optic. I lucked into a great deal on it from eBay. The seller had listed it in an odd category for a low opening bid, and I bought if for the opening bid amount -- $40.

[SXR_Mark]

Based on my own tests of the Nikon and Zuiko on micro-4/3 with a lens chart, I would say the following

> The Zuiko is in fact a slightly shorter focal length than the Nikon
> The Nikon is sharper in the centre at f2.8
> The Zuiko is sharper in the centre at f8
> The edge and corner performance is similar:-
>> Both have noticeable softening at the edges and corners even on 4/3 format
>> A slight softening remains even at f11
>> The Zuiko does seem to get a bit sharper than the Nikon at f11, but there is not much in it.
>> Both show similar but small amounts of colour fringing at the edges.
> Distortion looks to be similar and is quite noticeable on straight edges.

One factor worth noting is that the Zuiko is much smaller than the Nikon.

Both of these lenses comfortably beat the Sigma Super-wide and Super-wide II 24mm f2.8 wide open, especially at the edges. But at f8, the Sigmas can give the others a very good run for their money. The Super-wide II is better than the Super-wide.

There is a very cheap 24mm f2.8 out there sold in many mounts under many names (I've owned it with Miranda and Exakta names) and this lens is much inferior to all the above lenses.

Mark

[Arctures]

Another Canon FD S.S.C. 24/2.8 happy owner here. I surely have several more powerful lenses in terms of resolution but all those lenses are 40mm+. 24mm and wider is an area where its really hard to design high resolution lens. And I doubt best wide lenses could compete with best normal/short tele lenses in terms of resolution.

[Oldhand]

I can't comment on the Olympus Zuiko OM AUTO-W 24mm/2.8, but I do have the Nikkor.
I don't want to hijack this thread so I have posted elsewhere.
I am preparing a presentation on DOF and thought that the sample pix might be relevant to this discussion.
They are here:
http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic,p,1331299.html#1331299

Hope it helps
OH

[DR.JUAN]

[sammo]

I have the Zuiko but not the Nikkor
On a full frame, wide open it has pretty soft edges...but stopped down it is sharp throught the entire frame, just some CA persists on the edges. It is so small that my wife says that it looks stupid on 5d mk ii.

[iangreenhalgh1]

[gaeger]

I also have the Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS and like it a lot. That or the Nikkor 28mm are always with me. Cooltouch, on the caboose images, were you using a filter on the 24? The edges look like it could be the beginning of vignetting.

[Excalibur]

[cooltouch]