Nikon PC Nikkor 19mm f/4E ED - Review 2022

Photographers working in architectural fields appreciate the movements and perspective correction available when working with a tilt-shift lens. The Nikon PC Nikkor 19mm f/4E ED ($three,399.95) is the widest you tin can become for a Nikon organization—Canon shooters accept access to the TS-Due east 17mm f/4L ($two,149)—and features dual points of rotation, also as tilt and shift movements. It's a premium lens that delivers strong image quality for enervating professionals, and can besides be used in a more uncontrolled fashion to snap images with more creative flair. It's expensive, fifty-fifty when compared with other lenses of its type, simply a potent performer. If your needs aren't equally enervating, consider the Samyang T-South 24mm F3.v ED AS UMC every bit a low-cost alternative.

Design

The PC Nikkor 19mm is a big lens, which isn't a surprise considering its wide-angle field of view and perspective correction features. It measures four.9 by 3.5 inches (HD) and weighs in at just under 2 pounds. The front lens element is bulbous, so at that place'southward no ability to use lens filters. In that location'south likewise no hood, just a twist-on lens cap to protect the front end chemical element during storage and transport. It'southward piece of cake to fingerprint the forepart chemical element if you're non careful, only a fluorine coat repels grease and makes information technology quite easy to clean.

Nikon PC Nikkor 19mm f/4E ED : Sample Image

The lens is rife with physical controls to adjust its shift and tilt capabilities. Shift is adjusted well-nigh the base, with a control knob moving the lens. Shift is a flat movement, with the lens elements moving in parallel to the sensor. You can go left or right, using a knob to control the motion, useful for shooting multiple images in succession with the intention of stitching them together for a panorama.

Holding downward the tab at the base of the lens frees it to rotate in 30-degree increments. There are certainly some creative uses for shooting at a 30 or sixty-caste angle in conjunction with tilt, merely the existent key here is moving the shift machinery to straight vertical. Shifting the lens directly up or down allows you lot to hold the camera level while getting the top of a tall edifice in frame, without introducing the keystone baloney you lot'd get by pointing the camera and lens up at an angle.

The forepart portion of the lens also rotates, independent of the rear command. This makes it possible to shift left or correct, while adjusting the tilt up or downwardly, or at an angle, if desired. Tilt, which angles the lens elements so that the focal plane is not parallel with the image sensor, is adjusted using a knob at the top, and tin be locked using a switch or tension control knob at the bottom.

Changing the bending of the focal plane changes the way that focus works. Instead of locking onto a airplane parallel to the image sensor, the plane of focus is at an angle. If y'all're shooting a scene where focusing on a series of objects in a diagonal row is of import, a tilt move lets you focus attention on them while blurring other areas of the photo. It's a technique that is oftentimes mimicked with filters identified equally the Miniature Effect—named then because, when shooting from a distance, it tin can make real-world scenes look like close-upward photos of dioramas.

There are some creative uses for tilt, particularly when working with a broad angle lens like the PC 19mm. I honey using information technology to isolate a unmarried part of a wide frame, highlighting your subject field and minimizing distracting background details. It also encourages experimentation, and can exhale new life into images of often-photographed locations.

At that place's a manual focus ring—the 19mm omits autofocus. It's covered in textured rubber and turns easily. Focus distance is marked in anxiety and meters, and a respective depth of field scale shows the zone of focus at f/8, f/16, f/22, and f/32. Minimum focus is ix.viii inches, which lets you get quite close to subjects, and delivers a maximum magnification of i:5.v.

Prototype Quality

I tested the PC 19mm with the 36MP Nikon D810. At f/four the lens shows good, but not impeccable performance, notching a 2,913-line score on Imatest's middle-weighted average evaluation. The eye of the frame shows excellent marks, 3,333 lines, but it drops to good as you lot motility away from the centre (2,706 lines) and just exceeds our 2,200-line acceptable mark at the edges (ii,367 lines).

Stopping down to f/5.6 raises the average score to iii,216 lines, with first-class marks through most of the frame and skilful results at the edges (ii,737 lines). At f/8 performance is excellent from center to border, with the average score hitting 3,627 lines and edges hitting three,300 lines. Results are the strongest at f/11, 3,800 lines, and remain solid at f/sixteen (3,374 lines). You can finish down to f/22 and f/32, but the results aren't as good—two,543 and 1,592 lines respectively.

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Shifting the lens fully changes the resolution, every bit you're at present using the very edge of the image circle to capture photo. Scores do drop a flake—at f/iv the boilerplate is 2,611 lines, with edges that show 2,456 lines. Results lag backside the centered lens by most the same margin, 200 to 300 lines, as you stop down to f/5.vi (2,972 lines) and f/8 (iii,494 lines). The deficit is lessened equally you finish downwards, with an average driblet of less than 150 lines at f/11 (3,666 lines) and f/sixteen (3,228 lines), with negligible differences at f/22 and f/32.

The Nikon puts up better numbers than the Samyang T-S 24mm, simply nosotros tested the Samyang on a 20MP camera, the Canon EOS 6D, which puts it at a disadvantage when it comes to maximum resolution, so we don't compare scores directly. In general terms it delivers acceptable sharpness wide open, but with soft edges. Resolution is strong at f/5.6 and f/eight, even at the edges of the frame. The Samyang doesn't hold up as well to shift, and is prone to flare—not an issue with the Nikon—requiring you lot to shoot at f/five.6 through f/11 for best performance. Only don't forget that the Samyang sells for less than $800, compared with the Nikon's $3,400 cost tag.

Typically nosotros weight wide aperture sharpness heavily when looking at lenses, so the simply-acceptable edges at f/4 would exist a concern. But the PC 19mm is a lens that is going to be used in conjunction with a tripod for whatsoever technical piece of work.

Distortion is very well controlled for a 19mm lens. There's about 2 percentage butt baloney evident, which is pretty easily corrected using software. Y'all exercise have to argue with slightly dimmed corners (-1.6EV when centered and -1.9EV when shifted) at f/4. At f/5.six and narrower the frame is illuminated quite evenly—it'south a skilful idea to stop downwards a flake if you're shifting the lens with the intention of stitching images together for a panorama in order to keep illumination even.

Conclusions

The Nikon PC Nikkor 19mm f/4E ED is the widest tilt-shift lens bachelor for Nikon SLRs. It not only allows you to capture images at dramatic wide angles, but also supports tilt and shift adjustments in several places, with a dual-rotation machinery that allows the two movements to be controlled independently. As you lot'd look from a lens priced so loftier, prototype quality is strong, peculiarly when stopped downwards. Photographers with demanding technical requirements will certainly reach for the lens, especially for architectural work, both interior and exterior. Photographers who are simply after the tilt look, but don't want to spend an arm and a leg, should consider the Samyang T-Southward 24mm as an affordable culling.