Specifications

1) Lens Specifications

Main Features:

1. An elegant and thin wide-angle lens with super portability, perfect for daily casual snapshot and spectacular landscape
2. Superior portability from a stylish, slim wide-angle fixed focal length (prime) lens with a maximum length of just 22 mm
3. Metal mount adopted for increased durability, and a metal exterior for an elegant feel
4. The perfect lens for those who want a lens that can easily be taken anywhere to capture snapshots with superior image quality
5. Two aspherical lens elements

If you have used Nikon Nikkor lenses in the past, you will not be disappointed with the new Nikon 1 lenses. The Nikon 1 10mm is a very solid lens, despite its compact size. It has a metal barrel with two metal rings – one threaded ring to help mount and dismount the lens and another one for aesthetics. Here is a comparison of the lens with other 1 Nikkor lenses:

As you can see, the Nikon 1 10mm is the smallest in the group, roughly twice smaller than the compact Nikon 1 10-30mm VR lens (when collapsed). Nikon put plenty of thought into the new Nikon 1 lens line-up and developed the CX mount from scratch. Compared to the current Nikon DX/FX mounts with 8 contacts, the Nikon 1 lenses and cameras have a total of 12 contacts, which allows for more communication between Nikon 1 cameras and lenses. As a result, many of the lens functions are now controlled by the camera, so all buttons and switches have been completely eliminated from the lens. Even the manual focus ring has been removed to simplify lens operation. Another positive outcome of the new CX mount with extra contacts is the ability to upgrade lens firmware through the camera, which has never been possible before. Now you see an extra “L” firmware in addition to the traditional “A” and “B” under “Firmware version” in the camera setup menu, which shows what firmware the lens is running on.

Just like the rest of the Nikon 1 lenses, the Nikon 1 10mm has a metal mount for better durability. Unfortunately, the rubber gasket on the lens mount that Nikon has been putting on all new DSLR AF-S lenses is absent, which could make the lens and camera more susceptible to dust. As of now, none of the Nikon 1 system components (including all current lenses) are weather sealed. On a positive note, I have used the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 in cold, windy and very dusty environments (Great Sand Dunes and White Sand Dunes in November) and I did not have any issues with dust specks making their way into the camera or the lens.

Despite its ultra compact size, the Nikon 1 10mm sports an impressive optical design with 6 elements (2 of which are aspherical) in 5 groups. Aspherical lenses greatly reduce lens aberrations such as Spherical and Chromatic Aberration and significantly increase lens sharpness. Even the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G does not have a single aspherical element by comparison. In addition, the lens features Super Integrated Coating (helps reduce lens flare and ghosting) and Rear Focusing (only the rear lens group moves for focusing, resulting in faster AF).

Unfortunately, Nikon does not ship the Nikon 1 10mm lens with a lens hood. It can be purchased separately, although I do not see much value in getting one – it would only make the lens larger, plus you can always use your hand to block off the light, if it impacts your images.

3) Autofocus Performance and Accuracy

As I have already pointed out in my Nikon 1 V1 Review, the new autofocus system on the Nikon 1 system is phenomenal when compared to all other mirrorless competitors. It is very fast and accurate, thanks to the hybrid autofocus system that Nikon specifically developed for the Nikon 1 cameras. Hybrid autofocus is a combination of phase and contrast detect AF that work together to obtain quick and accurate focus.

I had a very positive experience with autofocus performance and accuracy of the Nikon 1 10mm lens. It truly does acquire focus very quickly and most importantly, accurately. Wide angle and large depth of field due to the small 2.7x crop factor sensor do contribute to a much larger depth of field, making it easier to get subjects in focus. However, I have used other compact cameras with even smaller sensors in the past and had a lot more focus issues in comparison, so the combination of rear focus and the hybrid AF system surely do their magic. As for AF noise, the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 is unfortunately not equipped with the same Silent Stepping AF Motor (STM) that is found on 1 Nikkor zoom lenses like the 1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6, so AF operation is louder in comparison. I would say very comparable to the AF noise we hear on most AF-S lenses.

4) Lens sharpness, contrast and color rendition

As I reveal in my sharpness tests in the subsequent pages of this review, the performance of the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 is very good in the center throughout its aperture range, even wide open. The corners suffer from some chromatic aberration and vignetting, especially wide open. You can see many examples of lens sharpness taken in a controlled environment in the next page, along with comparisons against other lenses.

A quick note on lens sharpness that generally applies to all Nikon 1 Nikkor lenses. Due to the small size of the sensor and the nature of compact optics, an aperture of f/5.6 is rather small and often represents peak lens performance. While diffraction negatively effects images on DX and FX sensors above f/8-f/11, it greatly impacts lens performance at anything smaller than f/5.6 on CX sensors. In the case of the Nikon 1 10mm lens, try to shoot at apertures between f/2.8 and f/5.6 for optimal results and do not stop down beyond f/8 or you will see a very heavy loss of resolution and contrast due to heavy diffraction. Unlike some other 1 Nikkor lenses, the lens minimum aperture is limited to f/11. This is yet another negative consequence of a small sensor camera design.

5) Bokeh

Due to the wide-angle nature of the lens and its short focal length, obtaining good bokeh would require you to shoot wide open at f/2.8 and stay very close to your subject. Again, the tiny CX sensor has a negative impact on depth of field, so if you shoot portraits and your goal is to better isolate subjects from the background, you will be better off with a longer focal length lens like the 1 Nikkor VR 30-110mm, or you might want to wait until Nikon releases a fast prime lens. If you are very close to your subject and the background is not too close, you can get a relatively good-looking background when shooting wide open at f/2.8. The lens is equipped with a rounded 7-blade diaphragm, which helps in obtaining circular bokeh highlights.

6) Vignetting

As for vignetting, there is a very noticeable amount of vignetting wide open at f/2.8, which is greatly reduced when the lens is stopped down to f/4. Unfortunately, a slight amount of vignetting stays visible at all apertures:

RAW shooters will see more vignetting in their images, because vignetting is automatically reduced on JPEG images. If vignetting is an issue for you, it is easy to fix in post-processing, so I would not worry about it. Adobe has already added a lens profile for the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 into Lightroom 3.6 and their Camera RAW 6.6, so you can easily remove the effect of vignetting with a single click through the Lens Corrections sub-module in Lightroom.

7) Ghosting and Flare

Thanks to clever lens design and Super Integrated Coating, the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 lens handles flares and ghosting quite well – one of the reasons why Nikon did not include a lens hood. Here is a sample image with the sun right in the frame:

If you see the effects of flare and ghosting in your images, then simply use your hand to block the incoming light rays. I have done that a few times when shooting on the field and it worked great.

8) Chromatic Aberration and Distorion

As I have already pointed out, the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 suffers from some chromatic aberration in the corners. The type of chromatic aberration I saw in my lab tests is green on one side and magenta on another. The good news is that this sort of chromatic aberration is absent in the center and is only pronounced in the extreme corners when shooting at a close distance. I went through many image samples that I shot outdoors and I could not find any images that showed this kind of aberration, which means that it is generally not an issue.

Some visible barrel distortion is present, which is very typical for a wide-angle lens. It is slightly less pronounced compared to the Nikon 1 10-30mm VR at 10mm, plus you can easily get rid of it using the Lens Correction module in Lightroom/Camera RAW. The latest version of Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW fully support the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 lens.

Let’s now move on to the good stuff – Sharpness tests. Select the next page below.