On Sun, 17 Jan 1999 02:45:03 -0500, Victor Balaban wrote:

> I am feeling the need for a wider angle lens than my 24mm and am
>debating whether to go for an 18 or a 20 mm. I mainly use my Nikon FE2,
>and so will go for a Nikkor AI lens. Does anybody have any experience
>with either of these focal lengths and any suggestions or advice?

I agree with David Rosen's analysis, though I sold my 18mm
f3.5 since the 20mm f2.8 is virtually the same width in
practice (marked FL's aren't always accurate...), and
the 20mm f2.8 Nikkor is somewhat better optically than the
18mm f3.5, especially for B&W work. If you like fisheyes
(I do!!!), you might consider a used Nikkor 16mm f*3.5*
to pair with the 24, or run a 16-20-28 sequence (the f2.8
28mm *AIS* is rather fine, and better at the edges than
the 24 - and better at stops wider than f5.6 than either
the 24 or 20...). BTW, another possibility is a 16 plus the
TC14A combined with a 24 or 28... (the 16 + 1.4X is very
sharp, and the strong curvature makes it a more suitable
"people" super-wide lens than a 20mm). (There is a Nikkor
evaluation list on my web page, under "I babble".)