Nikon 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 is very cheap these days, it goes for less than €150 on AmazonDE and for less than $250/£110 on AmazonUS and AmazonUK respectively. I’m considering buying one for my birthday at the of November. 🙂
Reviews
„The Nikon 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 is a good wide-angle prime lens for the Nikon 1 system. Sharpness is very good, with only the extreme borders being somewhat soft, good news given that the 10-30mm is not very sharp at the 10mm wide-angle setting. Due to the size of the sensor the lens has been designed for, diffraction kicks in at around f/8, so the 1 Nikkor 10mm is typically at its best when used wide open – which isn’t a bad thing.
Chromatic aberrations are kept to an absolute minimum, and vignetting isn’t too much of an issue, either. Close-up performance is also quite good for a non-macro lens. Bokeh is nice and creamy when you can throw the background sufficiently out of focus, but it’s not always easy to do given the short focal length and the small sensor size.
In terms of mechanical quality and features, the tiny lens is surprisingly well built for the price. However, there’s no focus mode switch or focus ring on the lens. The latter makes manual focusing an awkward exercise that you won’t want to perform very often.
Auto-focus speed with the lens mounted to the Nikon 1 V1 is sensational in good light, allowing you to photograph fast-moving subjects with ease. Due to factors inherent in the 1 System cameras’ design, low-light focusing is a lot less spectacular, though.”
“As for the optical performance of the Nikon 1 10mm, it has a very impressive center frame sharpness and contrast across the aperture range, especially between f/2.8 and f/4, progressively getting worse from f/5.6 and onward due to diffraction. Its corner sharpness and contrast are also good, peaking at around f/5.6, but generally weaker than other current 1 Nikkor lenses due to green / magenta chromatic aberration. Distortion and vignetting are tolerable, while lens flare and ghosting are controlled well. The two biggest weaknesses of the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 lens are rather noisy AF (when compared to the near-silent AF of the Nikon 1 10-30mm VR) and lack of image stabilization / vibration reduction.”
“The 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 is a very good wide angle lens, that delivers excellent resolution in the image center with very good borders and corners (when stopped down a little).
Distortion and vignetting are as expected for a relatively fast wide angle lens, but both can be easily corrected in post processing. The same is true for CAs, which are a bit on the high side.
The build quality of the lens is excellent and AF action is very fast, but not completely silent. The omission of a hood in the default delivery content is a minor let-down, however the lens handles backlight quite well without any additional protection.
Thus, ompared to the default kit zoom lens, the 1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm, the small pancake lens offers slightly superior performance, but in a much smaller and in addition more robust package. Unlike the zoom, however, the prime does not feature optical stabilization.”
“While the Nikon 10mm ƒ/2.8 1 Nikkor seems to produce some very sharp images, it’s not without a cost in chromatic aberration, distortion and corner shading. All of these traits one might say are the hallmarks of a point-and-shoot camera lens, except those are usually fairly soft, too, which is not the case here. So if you’re not too fussy about optical performance in the corners of your images, for what the lens offers – an extremely light wide-angle platform – it’s a bargain, and well worth a very small space in your bag.”
“The Nikon 10 mm equals the performance of a lens on a camera with an 10-15 megapixel APS-C sensor. The Nikon Nikon V1 and J1 are fine cameras to make the transition from a compact camera to a camera with interchangeable lenses. In terms of image quality, all Nikon 1 lenses are almost of equal quality. For those who prefer a fast or a small lens, this pancake lens is the best Nikon choice at the moment. Those who prefer a wide angle zoom lens, better choose the Nikon 10-30 mm . When you prefer pictures with a telephoto lens, then the Nikon 30-110 mm is a more obvious choice. Within a few weeks we will publish a review of the last Nikon 1 lens: the Nikon 10-100 mm.”
photomadd.com – COMPARED: Nikon 1 – 10-30mm v 10mm pancake lens
“The 10mm prime doesn’t offer that big jump in image quality and sharpness you’d normally expect when comparing primes with zooms, but that is not to say that the 10mm prime is a bad lens, I think it speaks more about just how good the 10-30mm zoom is. As I said at the start, I think the 10-30mm Nikon 1 zoom is the best kit zoom lens available with any camera ever!
If you’re buying the 10mm expecting much better image quality you’re going to be disappointed. Sharpness is improved at the edges, and there is less distortion, so if you’re looking for the absolute best you can get out of your Nikon 1 at wide-angle with a 1 lens right now, then the 10mm is what you’d choose.
The main reason to buy this lens however is to make your Nikon 1 system much more portable, and in that respect it certainly does. I can fit a J1+10mm into my jeans pocket quite easily. The only problem comes when you want a bit more flexibility, and then you’re having to change lenses. In reality you can pretty much stick with the 10-30mm zoom and be sure you’re getting almost exactly the same image quality that you would using the prime.”
“A bit of a disappointment. Yes, it’s small, and it does make for a very pocketable camera. It also seems slightly wider than the 10-30mm kit lens, and it is a half-stop faster. But optically it doesn’t seem to match the very good 10-30mm kit lens. Visible barrel distortion is present. Needs a lens hood; the best option for that would be to get a 40.5-to-52mm step up ring and any one of a number of screw in 52mm hoods, including Nikon’s own low cost HN-3.”
“At an MRP of Rs. 8450, if you own a Nikon 1 system camera, this lens must feature at the top of your list of things to buy next. Apart from its performance, the pleasure of using the V1 or the J1 with the 10mm is truly worth experiencing, especially at this price.”
Samples
Craig Litten’s amazing photos taken with the V1 and 10mm f/2.8
Videos
Nikon 1 J2 & 1 NIKKOR 10mm f2.8 bus ride Riga Latvia test video
Nikon 1 J1 10mm F2.8 Daytime Test with RAM mount 2
Nikon V1 + SB-N5+ 10mm+10-100mm
TIR-TV: Unboxing Nikon 1 V1 w/ 10mm/f2.8 & 10-30mm/f3.5-5.6
Bunch of video samples from VideoFromFoto on YouTube
How you can support me in bringing you more Nikon 1 love?
If you’re intent on buying the Nikkor 10mm f/2.8, consider making your purchase through amazon, by using the following links: AmazonUS, AmazonUK and AmazonDE.
You won’t pay a dime more than when making a direct purchase on amazon, but I will receive a small commission. Thanks for the support! 🙂
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Ivan, one word: 6.7-13mm (well, not exactly one word.. but you get the point).
Try one out. Mine will go with me to the grave when my time comes. Simple as that.
Jan
I have to follow that comment up, I realized I came across being negative towards this poor lens. Sorry.
I love the way you research things in detail and gather info for all to find in one easy place. Thanks once again for doing the hard work to put these case studies together.
Jan
Thanks Jan! 🙂
That lens will have to wait. I don’t use UWA that often.