Nikon 24mm f/1.8G vs Nikon 24mm f/1.4G
Here is how the Nikon 24mm f/1.8G compares to the professional-level Nikon 24mm f/1.4G:
As you can see, the 24mm f/1.8G starts out sharper than the 24mm f/1.4G at the same aperture of f/1.8, showing slightly better center and noticeably better mid-frame sharpness performance. Both lenses peak out at f/4-f/5.6, with the 24mm f/1.8G showing better overall sharpness in the center. Both lenses more or less even out at f/5.6, although the 24mm f/1.8G still produces sharper corners.
In short, the Nikon 24mm f/1.8G overall delivers better value when compared to its bigger brother, particularly when stopped down to f/5.6 and smaller apertures.
Nikon 24mm f/1.8G vs Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art
Let’s now take a look at how the Nikon 24mm f/1.8G compares to the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art:
If you score a good copy of the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art, boy, it is a sharpness monster. As can be seen above, the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art significantly out-resolves the Nikon 24mm f/1.8G at maximum aperture in the center, delivering stunning sharpness. However, it does have a rather serious drawback – it has a very noticeable field curvature, which seriously impacts everything outside the focused area.
As a result, the lens starts out with pretty weak corners at large apertures and requires the lens to be stopped down to around f/4 to start yielding sharp corners. By f/5.6, both lenses have similar sharpness in the center, with the 24mm f/1.8G doing better in the extreme corners. Another disadvantage of the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art, when compared to the Nikon 24mm f/1.8G, is its larger size and heavier construction. At 665 grams, it is even heavier than the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G!
Note: It is important to point out that the two lens samples of the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art produced drastically different resolution numbers, which indicates potential issues with consistency and QA. The second lens sample had a decentered element and scored much lower than the above numbers.
Nikon 24mm f/1.8G vs Samyang 24mm f/1.4
The Samyang 24mm f/1.4 is the only manual focus lens in the group. Made by a South Korean optical company, the Samyang 24mm f/1.4 is the cheapest option among fast aperture 24mm primes. Let’s take a look at how it compares to the Nikon 24mm f/1.8G:
The two copies of the Samyang 24mm f/1.4 that I tested behaved somewhat similarly, showing rather poor wide-open performance. At f/1.8, the Nikon 24mm f/1.8G showed better overall performance in the center and the mid-frame, but the corners looked about the same as on the Samyang 24mm f/1.4. The Nikon 24mm f/1.8G showed better center-frame performance at all apertures, but once stopped down to f/5.6, both lenses were yielding pretty even sharpness all the way into the corners, which makes the Samyang 24mm f/1.4 another good value lens for architecture and landscape photography.
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