Nikon NIKKOR Z DX 24mm f/1.7 lens review

This page contains reviews of NIKKOR Z DX 24mm f/1.7.

Lens Summary

Price	Reasonable price
Size	Compact
Weight	Lightweight
Ease of use	MF ring only
AF performance	Very fast
Resolution performance	The edges/corners are slightly low.
Bokeh	Good description when taking close-up photos
chromatic aberration	So-so
distortion	Spool-shaped, must be corrected
coma aberration	Not overly conspicuous
Vignetting	Quite noticeable, must be corrected
flare resistance	Not perfect, but good
Overall evaluation	A well-rounded lens at a low price

Evaluation：

A compact, lightweight, reasonably priced semi-wide-angle F1.7 lens. While you shouldn't have too high expectations of its optical performance, it is well-balanced overall. A good choice for the first single-focus lens for APS-C Z users.

Foreword

Released in June 2023, this is the first fixed-focus lens for the Nikon Z DX, and covers a usable angle of view of 36mm in 35mm format. It is reasonably priced for a genuine lens of this class, and would be an interesting option if you are considering a fixed-focus lens that you can use on a daily basis with your Z DX camera.

The lens has a 9-element, 8-group configuration, with 2 of the elements being aspherical lenses. The MTF curve shows a drop-off from the centre to the periphery, and the results for this lens are considerably inferior to those for the NIKKOR Z 24mm f/1.8 S in the APS-C range. However, when you consider the price, which is less than half the price of the full-size lens, and the compact, lightweight size of the lens, it is a point that should be compromised. In addition, the lens also has well-controlled astigmatism, and it is interesting to think about how much image quality can be improved by closing down the aperture.

specifications

lens mount	Nikon Z
Supported sensor size	APS-C
focal length	24mm
Lens construction	9 lenses in 8 groups
Aperture	F1.7-F11
Aperture blades	7
Minimum focusing distance	0.18m
Maximum magnification	×0.19
Filter diameter	46mm
image stabilisation	-
Teleconversion lens	-
Coating	Super-Ingrated Coating
Size	φ70×40mm
Weight	135g
weather sealing	Support
AF	Stepping motor
Aperture ring	-
Other controls	-
Accessories	Lens cap 46mm LC-46B (spring type) Rear cover LF-N1 Lens hood HN-42

NIKKOR Z DX 24mm f/1.7 Review

Appearance and operability

Boxes and accessories

The box has a design based on black and yellow, which is typical of NIKKOR Z. There have been no changes since the launch of the Z system in 2018.

In addition to the lens itself, a lens hood, a standard cap, an instruction manual and a warranty card are included. Unlike S-Line lenses, a lens pouch is not included.

Appearance

The exterior, including the lens mount, is made of plastic. Although the texture is not as good as metal parts, it feels very good in the hand and does not feel cheaply made. The focus ring is made of hard rubber, and the texture is better than plastic rings.

The overall design is relatively plain, with few decorative elements, and is typical of Nikon Z lenses. There have been some changes to the design compared to older Z lenses, and the ‘NIKKOR’ logo, which was previously placed on the side, has been moved to the top of the lens name on the front. Other features include the CE mark, serial number and country of manufacture. Incidentally, the country of manufacture is China.

Hands-on

This is a compact and lightweight 24mm F1.7 lens for APS-C. Although the overall length is kept down at 40.0mm, the diameter is large at φ70mm, as befits a large-aperture Nikon Z mount. However, it weighs only 135g, so it is a lens that is sure to be portable and easy to store. As mentioned above, despite being made of plastic, the build quality is very good.

Front and back

There is a 46mm filter socket around the small front lens. As there is no mention of a fluorine coating on the front lens, it is recommended to attach a protective filter in situations where water droplets or dirt may adhere to the lens. If you do not attach a filter, it is recommended to attach the supplied lens hood to improve light shielding and protection.

The lens mount is made of plastic. It is well-made and feels robust, but you can't tell how much it will wear down over time until you use it. It is designed to be dustproof and drip-proof, but there is no sealing around the mount. Instead, it has a hard cover to prevent water droplets and dust from getting in. The rear lens element is positioned right up against the mount surface, and the area around it is slightly raised to protect the rear lens element.

Focus ring

The hard rubber focus ring rotates smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. Considering the price, it has a pleasant operability. The amount of movement depends on the amount the ring is turned, so it has a linear operability. Many conventional lenses rely on the speed of rotation, so it may take some getting used to. The stroke for the entire focus range is about 90 degrees, which is sufficient for quick operation, but the stroke feels short for fine adjustment.

Lens hood

The hard rubber focus ring rotates smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. Considering the price, it has a pleasant operability. TA dome-shaped hood that screws into the main unit's 46mm filter socket is included. It cannot be attached upside down, but it is a compact hood that does not impair storage even when attached.

The lens cap for the main unit can also be attached to the tip of the hood.

It looks awkward if you try to attach the hood on top of the main unit with the filter attached. Also, the screw thread on the hood and the socket on the filter do not fit together well, so it is not possible to secure them firmly. If you want to use both the hood and the filter, you need to attach them to the tip of the hood.

Example of use

As I don't have an APS-C camera, I mounted it on the Z 8. It can be used in the same way as the Z 40mm F2, which is the same size. There are no particular problems with operating the focus ring when mounted on the camera.

AF・MF

Focus Speed

The AF of this lens is an inner-focus structure driven by a stepping motor. It achieves extremely high focusing speeds. Although the focusing speed is slightly reduced when moving across the entire focus range due to its high close-up performance, it achieves lightning-fast focusing speeds at typical shooting distances.

Breathing

Focus breathing refers to the change in the angle of view depending on the focus position.If the change in angle of view is significant, the field of view will expand or contract during focusing, potentially causing distractions and affecting autofocus stability. Ideally, it is better to have no focusing breathing. In order to check the effects of breathing, we took the following photos with the lens stopped down to the minimum aperture, at the minimum shooting distance and at infinity.

The official description says that ‘focus breathing is kept to a minimum’, but in reality it is quite noticeable (although it may be less noticeable than other cameras). Because the angle of view changes so much, there is a tendency for the focus position to become unstable, especially when focusing on the periphery.

AF accuracy

It is possible to achieve highly reproducible focusing in the centre, but the accuracy decreases slightly when focusing on the periphery (due to focus breathing?).

MF

As mentioned above, the linear (linear-like) operation has a short stroke of 90 degrees. When taking close-up photos, you need to focus carefully, but the focus ring is smooth and has a moderate amount of torque, so it's not too difficult.

Resolution Chart

Test conditions

Camera body:
Interchangeable lens:
Pearl Optical Industry Co.
‘[HR23348] ISO12233-compliant 8K resolution test chart (for still cameras)’
Olympus HYRes 3.1 analysis software
The lighting environment is constant indoors.
Tripod, self-timer 10 seconds, electronic shutter
RAW output
ISO
RAW development in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
・Sharpness: Off
・Noise reduction: Off
・Chromatic aberration correction: Off
Focus on each point to be analysed and take a picture
(image plane curvature is difficult to measure at close range, so check at infinity)
Note that this is a test at close range (infinity may be even better).
If you adjust the sharpness when developing JPEG or RAW images, the values may improve. Please note that the values given here are the ‘minimum values’.

Test results

The centre of the image shows good resolution performance from wide open, and stable results are obtained across the entire aperture range from F1.7 to F11. The peripheral and corner areas show one level lower results near wide open, but by stopping down to F2.8 to F4, performance is improved to a level close to the centre. The overall peak is achieved from F4 to F11.

Interestingly, the minimum aperture for this lens is ‘F11’, which is quite small, and it is not possible to stop down any further. Considering the diffraction limit for APS-C, this seems like a reasonable figure, but you may find that F11 is not powerful enough when you want to reduce the amount of light.

Centre of frame

If you look closely, you'll see that the contrast improves when you stop down from f/1.7 to f/4. Spherical aberration and longitudinal chromatic aberration are well corrected from f/1.7. Although there is almost no change in the numerical results, it seems that there is room for improvement with sensors of 20 million pixels or more from f/2.8 onwards. (False colours are occurring in the Z 8, which is thought to be a low-pass filter-less camera, and it seems to be impairing the sense of resolution.

Middle of frame

Compared to the centre, the aperture is soft when wide open, but it gradually improves at F2.8~F4. If you can stop down, it's better to do so, and it peaks at F5.6-8.

Four corners of frame

The image quality is about the same as the surrounding area, or slightly softer. However, it is a good result for a low-priced semi-wide-angle lens. If you want to get good results, it is recommended to stop down to around F4. If you want to emphasise the overall homogeneity, stopping down to around F8 is also an option.

Sample

far-field resolution

Test environment

Date: 26/06/2023, Sunny, Light breeze
Camera: Nikon Z 8 (DX)
Tripod: Leofoto LS-365C
Head: SUNWAYFOTO GH-PRO II
Exposure: Aperture priority AE ISO 64
RAW: High-efficiency RAW
Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
Sharpness: Off
Noise reduction: Off
Lens correction: Off

Test results

The centre is good from F1.7, but there is a significant drop-off towards the edges and corners. By stopping down to F2.8, the overall image improves, and it reaches its peak at around F4. Although the majority of the image is good, the corners of the frame never catch up with the centre or the edges.

Centre of frame

Good results can be obtained from F1.7, but there is a slight decrease in contrast. This can be improved by narrowing the aperture to F2. There is no significant change in image quality at the following aperture values. However, diffraction occurs at F8~ F11.

Middle of frame

F1.7 is much softer than the centre, and the same trend is seen even when it is narrowed down to F2. When it is narrowed down to F2.8, there is a tendency for improvement, and it becomes sharp at F4. The peak continues until F5.6, and then decreases from F8 to F11.

Four corners of frame

The results are soft, as with the surrounding area. If you stop down to F2.8, the results improve, but they don't improve as much as the surrounding area even if you stop down further. However, this trend only applies to the corners, and for the most part you can get sharp results around F4, as with the surrounding area.

curvature of a surface

What is surface curvature?

This refers to the fact that the shooting distance at which the image is in focus differs from the centre to the four corners. For example, even if the image is in focus at a shooting distance of 1m, if the subject is moving back and forth around 1m at the edge of the frame, there is a possibility of field curvature.

Although there are few lenses that have noticeable field curvature, in recent lenses, aberration may increase and become noticeable at close distances. However, there are few opportunities to take photos of flat subjects at close range, so even if there is some image curvature, there is no need to worry.

However, if there is an effect even at infinity, you should be careful. If you are trying to achieve a pan-focus effect, for example in a landscape, there is a possibility that you will end up with an unintentional out-of-focus image. As there is no way to correct this aberration, the only way to avoid the problem is to increase the F-number to widen the depth of field.

Test results

The results of shooting with F1.7 and focusing on the centre and corners are compared. You can see that the results are slightly different depending on the focus position. This lens does not fully correct for field curvature, and it seems that it is necessary to stop down to achieve a pan-focus in the distance.

Lateral chromatic aberration

What is lateral chromatic aberration?

A colour shift that appears mainly around the edges and corners of the frame. Unlike longitudinal chromatic aberration, the effect of correcting this aberration using the aperture is small, so it is necessary to correct it at the stage of optical design. However, it is possible to digitally correct chromatic aberration using the image processing engine built into the camera body. This makes it possible to correct chromatic aberration, which is difficult to correct optically alone, and recently, there have been lenses that prioritise the correction of other aberrations over chromatic aberration correction. In particular, mirrorless systems tend to rely on post-processing.

Test results

Chromatic aberration is not noticeable even when the lens profile correction is turned off during development in Adobe Camera RAW. It is possible that it is corrected internally, but the fact that there is little colouring in the peripheral areas when reviewing bokehballs suggests that it is being corrected well optically.

Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration

What is longitudinal chromatic aberration?

Longitudinal chromatic aberration is a colour shift that occurs in front of and behind the plane of focus. If the area in front of the plane of focus is mainly purple fringing, and the area behind the plane of focus has unnatural green colouring in the out-of-focus area, then the main cause is likely to be longitudinal chromatic aberration. This is more likely to occur with large-aperture lenses such as F1.4 and F1.8, and in such cases it is necessary to close down the aperture to improve the situation. It is possible to correct this using development software, but it is more difficult to process than lateral chromatic aberration, so it is best to suppress the aberration optically if possible. However, when suppressing longitudinal chromatic aberration with a large-aperture lens, the product price tends to be higher. Lenses that perfectly correct for longitudinal chromatic aberration have high contrast on the focal plane from wide open aperture, so you can expect a punchy resolution.

Test results

You can see the colouring caused by residual chromatic aberration at F1.7. It's not excessive colouring, so I don't think there will be many situations where it becomes a problem in actual photography. Even when the aperture is stopped down to F2.0, there is no improvement, and it is almost completely eliminated at F2.8.

Distortion

What is Image Distortion?

Distortion is the phenomenon where a straight line does not appear straight on a flat surface. It is particularly noticeable in cases where there are many straight lines, such as in man-made objects or when the horizon is visible, and it is divided into two types: barrel distortion, which is similar to the fisheye effect, and pincushion distortion, which causes the centre of the image to appear squeezed.

This is a relatively easy aberration to correct, but it is difficult to manually correct for distortions that have a special shape, such as ‘bamboo hat-shaped’ distortion. In this case, a correction profile that matches the lens is required.

Test results

If you remove the Adobe Camera RAW correction, the remaining barrel distortion will become apparent. It may be noticeable if you include a linear subject in the frame, but the effect is minimal.

Coma aberration

What are coma and astigmatism?

Coma and astigmatism are mainly the failure of a point of light to appear as a point of light in the four corners of the frame. For example, this can be seen in artificial lights, stars and illuminations in night scenes. Even during the day, bright point light sources such as sunlight filtering through trees can also have an effect. As this problem cannot be corrected in post-processing, it is necessary to correct it optically.

Although it can be improved by narrowing the aperture, in situations where shutter speed is important, such as night scenes and astrophotography, it is not possible to narrow the aperture, and optical correction may be necessary.

Test results

If you check the corners of the frame, you can see that the point light source is deformed at F1.7. If you don't crop or enlarge the image significantly, it won't be noticeable, but if you want to focus on reproducing the point image, it's better to use a narrower aperture. Although the vignetting disappears when you narrow the aperture, the radial deformation, such as astigmatism, remains.

Spherical aberration

Foreground and background blur

What is a beautiful blur and a noisy blur?

The evaluation of bokeh tends to be subjective, but I personally think that ‘soft, diffused bokeh’ is beautiful, while ‘sudden bokeh or hard-edged bokeh’ is not so good (or is a unique depiction). However, everyone has their own preferences, so there may be people who prefer the opposite. For reference, here are some examples of ‘blurred bokeh’ and ‘hard-edged bokeh’. The difference in the tendency of the depiction is mainly due to the state of correction of spherical aberration, and when the bokeh on either side is soft, there is a tendency for the bokeh on the other side to become hard.

Back Blur

The bokeh quality is neutral, with little difference between the front and back, but if you look closely, you can see that the back bokeh is a little softer. There are probably not many situations where you would want to emphasise the front bokeh with a semi-wide-angle lens, so the bokeh quality of the back bokeh is a point that can be positively evaluated. Unfortunately, the effect of longitudinal chromatic aberration is not completely absent, and there are cases where the bokeh takes on a tint.

Front Blur

Bokehball

Effects of Vignetting and Spherical Aberration

If vignetting is strong, the bokeh at the four corners of the frame will be elliptically deformed or partially missing. The only way to solve this problem is to close down the aperture. However, closing down the aperture will make the bokeh smaller and in some cases the shape of the aperture blades may become visible, so it is necessary to compromise on the amount of vignetting depending on the situation.

If the amount of vignetting is small, it is possible to get a circular bokeh from wide open to the four corners. Ideally, a lens with little vignetting is preferable, but to eliminate it, it is necessary to fundamentally increase the size of the lens. There is a need to strike a balance between portability and cost, so some kind of compromise is necessary.

If the correction of spherical aberration is not perfect, there will be a difference in the depiction of the bokeh in front and behind (as shown in the review of bokeh in front and behind). In this case, one side will have a smooth depiction with blurring, while the other side will have a hard depiction like double-line bokeh.

Test results

Although it is a small, lightweight lens, it is not affected by significant vignetting, at least when the bokeh is large. The shape of the bokehball is maintained as a circle up to F2, but it begins to become angular when it is stopped down to F2.8.

F1.7 makes it easier to create a larger bokeh, but the bokeh becomes noisy towards the corners, and this is particularly noticeable when the focus point is on the far side. This is a common tendency with large-aperture semi-wide-angle lenses, and it is not limited to this lens. If you are concerned about noisy bokeh, you can stabilise it by stopping down to F2. (If you are concerned, you may need to stop down even further.)

The drop in overall contrast is well controlled around the maximum aperture. The only effects of the strong light source are flare near the light source and slight ghosting. When the aperture is narrowed, the ghosting that was hidden becomes slightly more noticeable. It seems that the occurrence of flare, which is thought to be caused by surface reflection, is well controlled due to the small number of lens elements.

Sample of a boke

Close range

By making the most of the close-up performance, you can get a large out-of-focus effect even with a semi-wide-angle lens. In this case, you can get a soft, smooth out-of-focus effect from F1.7 to the corners, and the effects of chromatic aberration are not noticeable. This is an unbeatable result for a low-priced lens.

Short range

When the shooting distance is slightly increased, you can see signs of noise in the highlights in the corners. If you stop down to f/2, the corners will be softened and the image will be rendered more gently. f/2.8 has a similar effect, but if you stop down to f/4, the outlines of the bokeh will start to stand out again.

Medium range

Furthermore, as the shooting distance increases, the area where the bokeh is perceived as noisy also increases. Apart from the narrow area in the centre, the bokeh is strongly outlined, and depending on the background, it can become quite noisy. If you stop down to F2, it will improve over a wide area, but the four corners and surrounding areas will need to be stopped down a little more. If you stop down to F2.8, you will get a bokeh that looks good overall.

Portrait

The following are the results of taking pictures of a tripod that is 170cm tall while changing the distance and aperture.If you include the whole body in the frame, it will be difficult to separate the subject using depth of field alone. It seems that you will need to use some other method, such as light or perspective. If you move in close to the subject, up to the knees or upper body, the blur will become larger, but at this shooting distance, the blur is a little noisy, so it is recommended that you use a maximum aperture of F2. If you move in close to the subject, up to the bust, it will be possible to separate the subject with good blur quality. If you take a close-up of the face, the blur will become even larger.

Vignetting

What is vignetting?

Unnatural drop in light intensity around the frame.
The light intensity is lower than in the central area, and there is insufficient exposure in the four corners of the frame. This mainly occurs with large-aperture lenses and wide-angle lenses.

Although this is a phenomenon that can be easily corrected using software, it is necessary to be careful about the fact that it can cause noise, as the insufficient exposure is covered by post-processing correction (sensitization). In particular, when using high sensitivity for nightscape or starry sky photography, there is a possibility that noise will appear strongly.

Minimum focusing distance

As you would expect from a compact wide-angle fixed-focus lens, it stands out a little as an APS-C lens. It improves when you stop down the aperture, but the same situation continues after F2.

Infinity

The situation worsens at infinity. A very noticeable drop in light level occurs at F1.7, and even when you stop down, it doesn't completely disappear. This may seem acceptable, but in scenes where a flat exposure across the entire frame is required, compensation using camera software is essential.

Backlight resistance, sunstar

centre

corner

The drop in overall contrast is well controlled around the maximum aperture. The only effects of the strong light source are flare near the liWhen the light source is placed in the corner, good results are maintained across the entire aperture range.

sunstar

Sunstars begin to appear at F5.6, and by F8-F11 they have taken on a solid shape. Up to F5.6 the image is not very good, but if you stop down to F11 you can get a sharp result.

Summary

Good points

Compact and lightweight
Dustproof and drip-proof
Affordable
Lens hood included
Linear response-like MF
Lateral chromatic aberration correction status
Longitudinal chromatic aberration correction status
Smooth background bokeh
Smooth bokehball
Backlight resistance

Well-made, compact and lightweight wide-angle fixed-focus lens at an affordable price. The solid plastic lens barrel is dustproof and splashproof, and the rubber focus ring with linear response can be operated smoothly. Although the optical performance is not perfect, it is possible to obtain satisfactory results in many shooting situations. Although this lens is not one that excels in any particular area, it offers good cost performance.

Bad points

Screw-on lens hood
Decrease in resolution performance in the periphery when the aperture is open
The effect of field curvature remains
The bokeh in the periphery may be noisy
Slightly noticeable barrel distortion
Vignetting is noticeable

There are no particular weaknesses to note, but if you expect ‘outstanding optical performance from the open aperture’ like with expensive lenses, you may be disappointed. If I had to say something, compared to the ‘XF23mmF2 R WR’ from a competing company, the build of the lens barrel and optical performance give the impression of being one grade lower (although there is a difference in price for that reason).

Conclusion

This is the perfect compact, lightweight, fixed-focus lens for enjoying APS-C Z cameras. It is reasonably priced, dustproof and splashproof, and has a good optical performance, so you can enjoy the kind of depiction you would expect from a large-aperture fixed-focus lens. If you are an APS-C Z user looking for a fixed-focus lens, this is the first one you should consider.

Lens Buying Guide

Creating in-depth reviews like this requires time and resources.If you found this article useful and decided to buy a lens, please consider using the affiliate link. This will help us to create more content in the future.

Example

The original data is available on Flickr.