Pekka Buttler, 08/2022
Specifications
The table below summarizes the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured sample):
| Brand: | Nikon (Nikkor) | Lens name | 20 mm 1:2.8 |
| Focal length 1 | 20 mm | Angle-of-view 2 | 94° |
| Maximum Aperture | f/2.8 | In Production | 1984-2020 |
| Lens mount | Nikon F | Subfamily (if applicable) | Ai-s |
| Length 3 | 42,9 mm | Diameter 4 | 65,2 mm |
| Filter ring diameter | 62 mm | Weight | 261 grams |
| Lens element count | 12 | Lens group count | 9 |
| Aperture blades (S/R/C) 5 | 7 S | Focus throw | 90 ° |
| Minimum focusing distance | 25 cms | Maximum magnification | 1:8,3 |
| Has manual aperture ring | YES | Has Manual focus ring | YES |
| Aperture mechanism type | Automatic | Aperture click stops 6 | 2.8-4-5.6-8-11-16-22 |
Further notes:
• Nikon introduced this lens in 1984 to replace all earlier 20 mm primes.
• To enable the large maximum aperture, Nikon had to increase the filter ring diameter.
• To improve close-up performance, Nikon used its floating elements, ‘close-range correction (CRC) technology.
• The dedicated lens hood is the Nikon HK-14 (thread-mounted).
A brief genealogy of Nikon SLR lens types
Nikon is undoubtedly one of the great names in 35 mm SLR photography. The Nikon F mount has been in continuous production since 1959. During that time, the mount has developed/changed in some detail, however without ever fully sacrificing compatibility.
In short (a longer version is here), the development of Nikon’s SLR lenses can be traced as follows:
• 1959–1977: Pre-Ai. Manual focus lenses that use ‘rabbit ears’ to communicate selected aperture with the camera body.
• 1977–1986: Ai and Ai-s. Manual focus lenses that may have ‘rabbit ears’ for backward compatibility, but are designed to communicate selected aperture with the camera body through indentations in base of aperture control ring.
• 1986–today: AF and AF-D. Autofocus lenses that do not have a focusing motor within the lens, but rely on the focus motor within the camera. All AF and AF-D lenses are simultaneously Ai-s lenses (they are Ai-s lenses extended with AF) 7
• 1996–today AF-S and AF-P. Autofocus lenses that have an internal focusing motor and do not rely on the body having a focusing motor.
Nikon has a long history of producing non-intrusive Ultra-wide angle lenses. While Nikon offered various f/3.5 and f/4 20 mm lenses between 1967–1984, this lens was Nikon’s first f/2.8 20 mm lens. This design was – with only minor tweaks – reused in the subsequent AF and AF-D versions (1989–today).
The current AF-S 20/1.8 (2014–today) and Z 20/1.8 (2020–today) are based on more modern designs.
Adapting
Besides adapting, this lens can be used natively on all current high-end Nikon dSLRs and several earlier medium-to-high-end older Nikon dSLRs 8. Likewise, if it still has its rabbit ears, it can be natively used on all Nikon F-mount film cameras ever produced (without the rabbit ears, it is limited to post 1977 bodies).
Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable dumb adapter (and such adapters are easy to find). Moreover, a large range of special adapters (helicoid adapters, tilt/shift adapters, speed boosters) for using Nikon F lenses on most mirrorless systems are available.
Using Nikon F lenses on non-Nikon SLRs and dSLRs is likewise a distinct possibility. Thanks to the relatively generous flange focal distance of the Nikon F mount (46,5 mm), adapter rings for all dSLR mounts are available as well as for a goodly portion of film-era SLR mounts. Such rings may not allow for auto aperture, but even then the lenses can be used in stop-down metering mode.
Footnotes
- Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
- Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
> 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
< 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎ - Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
- Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
- S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
- Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
- There is a further sub-class of AF-D lenses called AF-I lenses that are otherwise AF-D lenses (meaning, fully Ai-s compatible), but have an internal focus motor. Only long tele lenses were made in AF-I variants. ↩︎
- As of this writing, the following Nikon dSLRs fully support Aperture priority and manual metered modes on Nikkor Ai lenses: D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D200, D300, D300s, D500, D600, D610, D700, D750, D780, D800, D800E, D810, D850, D7000, D7100, D7200 ↩︎