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Nikon
Nikkor 20mm f/4 pre-ai vs Sony 10-18mm f/4 at 14mm
Apples
to Oranges again, but as Thom
Hogan has said well, photography is a balance of "Chasing
Perfection versus Balance". That's exceptionally true for those of us
doing expedition photography where weight is of paramount importance.
Thus today a quick look at the venerable Nikon 20mm f/4 pre-ai on the
Sony A7 and the Sony 10-18mm f/4 at 14mm on the Sony A6000. Both
focused to infinity with matching white balance and exposure set to
match at each cameras base ISO.
I wouldn't put too much stock in color rendition because the Sony Zeiss Zoom side by side shows the A7 and A6000 have very different color casts.
With all tests of these sorts there are some preonceived notions. Here I'm hoping the A6000 and 10-18mm f/4 combo is a stop ahead of the A7 and Nikon 20mm f/4 because the A6000 a lighter setup with a higher framerate which is nice for action sports. Some say it's not fair to compare a zoom to a prime, but when it's a new zoom and forty year old prime it levels the playing field. With an adapter the Nikkor 20mm f/4 weighs more but is considerably thinner.
The
old Nikkor is wider, darker, has more vignetting and is soft
in
the corners even when the image is reduced to 800px wide. It's strange
that the Nikon 20mm f/4 matches the Sony 10-18mm colors better than the
Sony Zeiss 24-70 FE.
Wide
open in the center the aging Nikon lens is clearly softer.
To play nice I moved in the Nikon corner crops to match the Sony.
Right edge crops.
On to the centers at f/5.6, exposure matches perfectly for both lenses.
Bottom left corners
Ridge Edge
On to f/8
