Nikon 24mm F/3.5D PC-E

The Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E is an ultra-wide perspective-control lens. Key features include:

• Great for architectural and nature photography

• Extensive perspective-control options

• 8.4” minimum focusing distance

• DX and FX compatible

The Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E is an ultra-wide perspective-control (PC) lens featuring 8.5° tilt, 11.5mm shift, and 90° rotation capabilities, allowing complete perspective control.

It’s perfect for architectural and nature photography, and with 3 ED glass elements and Nano Crystal Coating, it’s amazingly sharp and flare resistant.

Please note that mastering a perspective-control lens isn’t something that can be accomplished in an hour or two. If you don’t have experience with this type of lens, you’ll need a day or two with the manual to practice before tackling an important assignment.

It’s true that mastering a tilt-shift takes a lot of practice. I’m not sure how much yet. But doing useful things with one, especially a wide angle like the 24 can be accomplished with a little chi…

It’s true that mastering a tilt-shift takes a lot of practice. I’m not sure how much yet. But doing useful things with one, especially a wide angle like the 24 can be accomplished with a little chimping and some common sense. (For those who don’t know what chimping is, its when you look at the shot in the camera’s LCD and go “ooh,oooh,oooh”).

Using the shift function to alter perspective for architectural photos can be done by two methods. The first is the scientific method and involves lots of study and practice. The second is just play with the damn thing and chimp away until you get what you want. Sometimes you’ll nail it right away. Sometimes (like when I took a shot that made our three story building look like a pink Mayan step-pyramid) you’ll get something that will remind you why you don’t do drugs anymore.

Compared to other tilt-shift lenses, this one is, well, interesting. It’s pretty sharp wide open in the center, but even stopped down the corners are weak, and they’re weaker when tilted. It has some chromatic aberration and that gets much worse when shifted (it also gets worse stopped down). You can correct that in post, of course, but that reduces corner resolution even further. To be honest, if you want to shoot at f/5.6 or f/8, I’d just as soon get the much cheaper If you’re shooting wide open, then I definitely prefer the Nikon.

May, 2013