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Nikon AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm F/2.8D

Fisheye lens • Film era

Abbreviations

AF Autofocus lens with mechanical coupling with camera.
FISHEYE An ultra-wide angle lens with strong uncorrected barrel distortion and extreme 180-degree angle of view.
D The lens relays subject-to-camera distance information to the camera.

Model history (3)

■Nikon AI Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm F/2.8A8 - 50.3m-- 1979 ●
■Nikon AI-S Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm F/2.8A8 - 50.3m-- 1981 ●
■Nikon AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm F/2.8DA8 - 50.25m-- 1993 ●

Features highlight

•
Extreme AoV
•
Fast
•
CRC
•
Body AF
•
Compact
•
Built-in hood
•
TC

Specification

■ Production details
Announced:September 1993
Production status:● In production
Original name:Nikon AF Fisheye NIKKOR 16mm 1:2.8D
System:Nikon F (1959)
■ Optical design
Focal length:16mm
Speed:F/2.8
Maximum format:35mm full frame
Mount and Flange focal distance:Nikon F [46.5mm]
Lens construction:8 elements in 5 groups
Close Range Correction (CRC)
■ On Nikon D APS-C [1.53x] cameras
35mm equivalent focal length:24.5mm (in terms of field of view)
35mm equivalent speed:F/4.3 (in terms of depth of field)
Diagonal angle of view:82.9°
■ Focusing
Closest focusing distance:0.25m
Maximum magnification:1:10 at the closest focusing distance
Focusing modes:Autofocus, manual focus
Autofocus motor:In-camera motor
Manual focus control:Focusing ring
Focus mode selector:None; focusing mode is set from the camera
Manual focus override in autofocus mode:-
■ Diaphragm mechanism
Diaphragm type:Automatic
Aperture control:Aperture ring (Manual settings + Auto Exposure setting)
Number of blades:7 (seven)
■ Vibration Reduction (VR)
Built-in VR:-
■ Physical characteristics
Weight:290g
Maximum diameter x Length:⌀63×57mm
Weather sealing:-
Fluorine coating:-
■ Accessories
Filters:Removable front filters are not accepted
Additional features:Rear bayonet filter holder
Lens hood:Built-in petal-shaped
Teleconverters:Nikon Teleconverter TC-14 → 22.4mm F/3.9
Nikon Teleconverter TC-14A → 22.4mm F/3.9
Nikon Teleconverter TC-200 → 32mm F/5.6
Nikon Teleconverter TC-201 → 32mm F/5.6
■ Source of data
Manufacturer's technical data.

Compatibility

  • The autofocus will not be available with Nikon D40, D40X, D60, D3000-D3500, D5000-D5600 digital SLR cameras.

Manufacturer description #1

Combines the special effects advantages of 180 deg. coverage with Nikon's advanced D-type autofocus lens technology. Bright f/2.8 aperture for photographing in dim light or with fast shutter speeds. Full-aperture viewing and metering. Four 39mm filters bayonet onto the back of the lens. High-contrast images even at full aperture. Exceptionally lightweight for a fisheye lens. Built-in lens hood.

Manufacturer description #2

Full frame 180° fisheye coverage with D-type autofocus lens technology. Delivers high-contrast images even at full aperture. CRC system provides high performance at both near and far focusing distances. Super Integrated Coating minimizes flare and ghosting. Filter size is 39mm bayonet

Manufacturer description #3

If you’ve ever worried that a fisheye lens will spend more time in your lens bag than on your camera, just look at the stunning photos taken by the AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D. Its unique yet versatile 16mm perspective and supreme optical performance brings a new angle to landscapes, architecture, interiors—even close-ups. Compact, lightweight and fast enough for low-light shooting, the AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D will inspire new views of your world.

Put on the AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D and watch nearly every setting or space open up to a stunning new view. Achieve dramatic 180-degree fisheye coverage with edge-to-edge sharpness, even at the lens’ widest f/2.8 aperture setting. From lanscapes and action to architecture and interiors, the AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D delivers consistently spectacular images.

The technology behind the AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D assures that every image will meet and exceed your expectations as a photographer. Close-Range Correction (CRC) system enables closer-than-typical focusing—as close as 0.8-ft from your subject. Nikon's Super Integrated Coating (SIC) minimizes flare and ghosting while providing rich color balance and contrast. Create stellar images, even in demanding shooting situations.

From the editor

The Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm F/2.8D is a compact and lightweight diagonal fisheye lens designed for Nikon 35mm film SLR cameras. It can be also used on modern Nikon full frame and APS-C digital SLR cameras with restrictions in terms of autofocus support. Although the focal length of this lens is only 2mm longer than that of the Nikon AF Nikkor 14mm F/2.8D ED lens, it offers impressive 180-degree diagonal angle of view on full frame SLR cameras compared to 114 degrees of 14/2.8D. On APS-C digital SLR cameras, AF 16mm F/2.8D is no longer a fisheye lens due to its equivalent focal length of 24mm with much narrower angle of view of 107 degrees, and the uncorrected barrel distortion of the lens still remains strong.

The lens was designed to replace manual focus AI-S version which was the only Nikon’s fisheye lens with focal length of 16mm available at the moment. Compared to the predecessor, the AF-D lens received Nikon’s proprietary close range correction system. Despite the fact that this lens has the same number of groups and elements as the AI-S version, the optical arrangement is different.

The lens does not have a filter thread and is supplied with four standard rear-mounting bayonet-type filters: L37C UV filter, A2, B2 and O56 color filters.

On digital cameras, there is no need to use UV filters because all digital cameras have a UV/IR filter in front of the sensor. As for the color filters, their effects can be easily applied in post-processing. However, because of the optical construction of this lens, it is necessary to keep any filter attached to the lens at all times. When shooting with this lens on a digital SLR camera, it is recommended to mount L37C filter.

The front lens cap is not of a usual snap-on type that comes with most Nikon lenses, but a slip-on cover. It has the diameter of 61mm and is also compatible with the Nikon AF DX Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm F/2.8G ED lens.

Typical application

Class:

Fast full-frame fisheye lens

fisheye lens

A fisheye lens is a type of ultra-wide angle lenses with extreme 180 degree angle of view. Unlike conventional wide-angle lenses, fisheyes are not corrected for distortion - strong barrel distortion is a characteristic of all lenses of such class.

Fisheye lenses are normally used for specialized purposes and unusual special effects in advertising, commercial, scientific, surveillance, meteorologic and astronomic photography, but also popular for shooting extremely wide landscapes, interiors, action sports and even funny close-up portraits.

There are two types of fisheye lenses:

  • a circular fisheye produces a 180 degree angle of view in all directions (horizontal, vertical and diagonal) and the image circle of the lens is inscribed in the image frame;
  • a diagonal fisheye produces a 180 degree diagonal angle of view and covers the entire image frame. For this reason diagonal fisheyes are often called full frame fisheye lenses.

Missing features (3):

Built-in autofocus motor • Weather sealing • Fluorine coating

Genres or subjects of photography (2):

Scientific photography • Industrial photography

Recommended slowest shutter speed when shooting static subjects handheld:

1/20th of a second

Lenses with similar focal length

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Nikon AF Nikkor series lenses (80)
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Nikon AF Nikkor series lenses

A line of lenses designed for Nikon 35mm SLR cameras having an autofocus motor. There is no AF-drive motor built into the lens, the lens autofocus system is driven from a motor within the camera body via an AF-coupling. With this type of lens, there can be no autofocus operation unless a digital or film SLR camera with the autofocus motor built-in to the camera body is used. Selected digital SLR cameras such as the D3000 series or D5000 series do not have an autofocus motor built-in to the camera body because most lenses produced for these cameras have one in the lens.

Internally the lenses are fitted with a CPU to communicate specific lens data to the camera's autofocus drive and exposure metering systems, via a set of electrical contact pins located around the rear edge of the lens mount.

Compared to the non-AF Nikkors, the focusing helixes were replaced by a cam construction similar to that employed in zoom lenses to change the focal length. This was done for two reasons. First to reduce the load on the focusing motor, which would otherwise have had to move the traditional greased helixes, and second to increase the response time of moving the lens elements to provide a sufficiently quick AF system.

The very low resistance to the rotation of the focus ring when operating these lenses manually and their narrow focus rings did little to endear them to professionals and enthusiasts alike. Beginning in 1988 Nikon responded to the criticism from photographers concerning the design of the first generation AF Nikkors, and began to replace them with lenses that have more traditional, wider rubber coated focusing ring, and a greater focusing resistance to improve their manual focus action.

A new version of AF lenses was introduced at the same time as the F90. These have a modified CPU that provides the approximate focus distance of the lens to the camera in order this information can be incorporated with the exposure calculations performed by the camera's metering CPU. These AF-D Nikkors are a key component of the 3D Matrix-Metering system. The same technology is also included in the newer G-type lenses.

The G type marks the end of the near universal compatibility of Nikkor lenses with all camera bodies from the Nikon F SLR of 1959 onwards. The reason for this is simple: the G types have no aperture ring. They are intended for cameras that allow the aperture to be set via a control on the camera body.

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35mm full frame

43.27 24 36
  • Dimensions: 36 × 24mm
  • Aspect ratio: 3:2
  • Diagonal: 43.27mm
  • Area: 864mm2

In-camera motor

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Image stabilizer

A technology used for reducing or even eliminating the effects of camera shake. Gyro sensors inside the lens detect camera shake and pass the data to a microcomputer. Then an image stabilization group of elements controlled by the microcomputer moves inside the lens and compensates camera shake in order to keep the image static on the imaging sensor or film.

The technology allows to increase the shutter speed by several stops and shoot handheld in such lighting conditions and at such focal lengths where without image stabilizer you have to use tripod, decrease the shutter speed and/or increase the ISO setting which can lead to blurry and noisy images.

Original name

Lens name as indicated on the lens barrel (usually on the front ring). With lenses from film era, may vary slightly from batch to batch.

Format

Format refers to the shape and size of film or image sensor.

35mm is the common name of the 36x24mm film format or image sensor format. It has an aspect ratio of 3:2, and a diagonal measurement of approximately 43mm. The name originates with the total width of the 135 film which was the primary medium of the format prior to the invention of the full frame digital SLR. Historically the 35mm format was sometimes called small format to distinguish it from the medium and large formats.

APS-C is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the film negatives of 25.1x16.7mm with an aspect ratio of 3:2.

Medium format is a film format or image sensor format larger than 36x24mm (35mm) but smaller than 4x5in (large format).

Angle of view

Angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view.

As the focal length changes, the angle of view also changes. The shorter the focal length (eg 18mm), the wider the angle of view. Conversely, the longer the focal length (eg 55mm), the smaller the angle of view.

A camera's angle of view depends not only on the lens, but also on the sensor. Imaging sensors are sometimes smaller than 35mm film frame, and this causes the lens to have a narrower angle of view than with 35mm film, by a certain factor for each sensor (called the crop factor).

This website does not use the angles of view provided by lens manufacturers, but calculates them automatically by the following formula: 114.6 * arctan (21.622 / CF * FL),

where:

CF – crop-factor of a sensor,
FL – focal length of a lens.

Mount

A lens mount is an interface — mechanical and often also electrical — between a camera body and a lens.

A lens mount may be a screw-threaded type, a bayonet-type, or a breech-lock type. Modern camera lens mounts are of the bayonet type, because the bayonet mechanism precisely aligns mechanical and electrical features between lens and body, unlike screw-threaded mounts.

Lens mounts of competing manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony etc.) are always incompatible. In addition to the mechanical and electrical interface variations, the flange focal distance can also be different.

The flange focal distance (FFD) is the distance from the mechanical rear end surface of the lens mount to the focal plane.

Lens construction

Lens construction – a specific arrangement of elements and groups that make up the optical design, including type and size of elements, type of used materials etc.

Element - an individual piece of glass which makes up one component of a photographic lens. Photographic lenses are nearly always built up of multiple such elements.

Group – a cemented together pieces of glass which form a single unit or an individual piece of glass. The advantage is that there is no glass-air surfaces between cemented together pieces of glass, which reduces reflections.

Focal length

The focal length is the factor that determines the size of the image reproduced on the focal plane, picture angle which covers the area of the subject to be photographed, depth of field, etc.

Speed

The largest opening or stop at which a lens can be used is referred to as the speed of the lens. The larger the maximum aperture is, the faster the lens is considered to be. Lenses that offer a large maximum aperture are commonly referred to as fast lenses, and lenses with smaller maximum aperture are regarded as slow.

In low-light situations, having a wider maximum aperture means that you can shoot at a faster shutter speed or work at a lower ISO, or both.

Floating element system

Provides correction of aberrations and ensures constantly high image quality at the entire range of focusing distances from infinity down to the closest focusing distance. It is particularly effective for the correction of field curvature that tends to occur with large-aperture, wide-angle lenses when shooting at close ranges.

The basic mechanism of the floating element system is also incorporated into the internal and rear focusing methods.

Closest focusing distance

The minimum distance from the focal plane (film or sensor) to the subject where the lens is still able to focus.

Closest working distance

The distance from the front edge of the lens to the subject at the maximum magnification.

Magnification ratio

Determines how large the subject will appear in the final image. For example, a magnification ratio of 1:1 means that the image of the subject formed on the film or sensor will be the same size as the subject in real life. For this reason, a 1:1 ratio is often called "life-size".

Manual focus override in autofocus mode

Allows to perform final focusing manually after the camera has locked the focus automatically. Note that you don't have to switch camera and/or lens to manual focus mode.

Manual focus override in autofocus mode

Allows to perform final focusing manually after the camera has locked the focus automatically. Note that you don't have to switch camera and/or lens to manual focus mode.

Electronic manual focus override is performed in the following way: half-press the shutter button, wait until the camera has finished the autofocusing and then focus manually without releasing the shutter button using the focusing ring.

Manual diaphragm

The diaphragm must be stopped down manually by rotating the detent aperture ring.

Preset diaphragm

The lens has two rings, one is for pre-setting, while the other is for normal diaphragm adjustment. The first ring must be set at the desired aperture, the second ring then should be fully opened for focusing, and turned back for stop down to the pre-set value.

Semi-automatic diaphragm

The lens features spring mechanism in the diaphragm, triggered by the shutter release, which stops down the diaphragm to the pre-set value. The spring needs to be reset manually after each exposure to re-open diaphragm to its maximum value.

Automatic diaphragm

The camera automatically closes the diaphragm down during the shutter operation. On completion of the exposure, the diaphragm re-opens to its maximum value.

Fixed diaphragm

The aperture setting is fixed at F/2.8 on this lens, and cannot be adjusted.

Automatic aperture control

For Programmed Auto or Shutter-priority Auto shooting, lock the lens aperture at its minimum value.

Number of blades

As a general rule, the more blades that are used to create the aperture opening in the lens, the rounder the out-of-focus highlights will be.

Some lenses are designed with curved diaphragm blades, so the roundness of the aperture comes not from the number of blades, but from their shape. However, the fewer blades the diaphragm has, the more difficult it is to form a circle, regardless of rounded edges.

At maximum aperture, the opening will be circular regardless of the number of blades.

Weight

Excluding case or pouch, caps and other detachable accessories (lens hood, close-up adapter, tripod adapter etc.).

Maximum diameter x Length

Excluding case or pouch, caps and other detachable accessories (lens hood, close-up adapter, tripod adapter etc.).

For lenses with collapsible design, the length is indicated for the working (retracted) state.

Weather sealing

A rubber material which is inserted in between each externally exposed part (manual focus and zoom rings, buttons, switch panels etc.) to ensure it is properly sealed against dust and moisture.

Lenses that accept front mounted filters typically do not have gaskets behind the filter mount. It is recommended to use a filter for complete weather resistance when desired.

Fluorine coating

Helps keep lenses clean by reducing the possibility of dust and dirt adhering to the lens and by facilitating cleaning should the need arise. Applied to the outer surface of the front and/or rear lens elements over multi-coatings.

Filters

Lens filters are accessories that can protect lenses from dirt and damage, enhance colors, minimize glare and reflections, and add creative effects to images.

Lens hood

A lens hood or lens shade is a device used on the end of a lens to block the sun or other light source in order to prevent glare and lens flare. Flare occurs when stray light strikes the front element of a lens and then bounces around within the lens. This stray light often comes from very bright light sources, such as the sun, bright studio lights, or a bright white background.

The geometry of the lens hood can vary from a plain cylindrical or conical section to a more complex shape, sometimes called a petal, tulip, or flower hood. This allows the lens hood to block stray light with the higher portions of the lens hood, while allowing more light into the corners of the image through the lowered portions of the hood.

Lens hoods are more prominent in long focus lenses because they have a smaller viewing angle than that of wide-angle lenses. For wide angle lenses, the length of the hood cannot be as long as those for telephoto lenses, as a longer hood would enter the wider field of view of the lens.

Lens hoods are often designed to fit onto the matching lens facing either forward, for normal use, or backwards, so that the hood may be stored with the lens without occupying much additional space. In addition, lens hoods can offer some degree of physical protection for the lens due to the hood extending farther than the lens itself.

Teleconverters

Teleconverters increase the effective focal length of lenses. They also usually maintain the closest focusing distance of lenses, thus increasing the magnification significantly. A lens combined with a teleconverter is normally smaller, lighter and cheaper than a "direct" telephoto lens of the same focal length and speed.

Teleconverters are a convenient way of enhancing telephoto capability, but it comes at a cost − reduced maximum aperture. Also, since teleconverters magnify every detail in the image, they logically also magnify residual aberrations of the lens.

Lens caps

Scratched lens surfaces can spoil the definition and contrast of even the finest lenses. Lens covers are the best and most inexpensive protection available against dust, moisture and abrasion. Safeguard lens elements - both front and rear - whenever the lens is not in use.