On Sat, 31 May 2003 21:42:49 +0100, "Joseph Kewfi" <Joe_Kewfi@iol.ie> wrote:

>How does this lens rate: distortion/sharpness for architectural photography?

It is an excellent lens ("snappy" and sharp to the

corners by f5.6), with fairly minimal linear distortion

as retrofocus wide-angles go (some moderate "wavey-line"

distortion near the edges turning into slight barrel

distortion a bit away from the edges, as I recall - see:

www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/slemn.html). As lenses go for

architectural work, I prefer a combination of the 28mm f4

PC Nikkor and 15mm f5.6 (with the 16mm f3.5 fisheye and

8mm [or 8mm + 1.4X] serving well occasionally) - the 20mm

often isn't really wide enough for interiors without

tilting it, though it may serve well enough for exterior

views. BTW, note the f-stops on the lenses above - I

prefer the older 28mm PC Nikkor to the newer f3.5 (better

off-axis sharpness when shifted) and the older 15mm

(better center-to-corner sharpness than the newer, and

it has NO linear distortion...). On a budget, though,

I would recommend the 20mm f2.8 Nikkor in any version

(but not most of the earlier f3.5 and f4 20mm versions...).