Sharpness at 20mm

Our sharpness tests are carried out by photographing a real-world subject rather than a test chart. The Nikkor Z 20mm f/1.8S lens was attached to a Nikon Z7, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. Self-timer mode was activated to steady the camera completely. Any slight tonal changes you may see across the crops are a result of slight changes in natural light during the shooting session.

The full frame at 20mm

At the centre of the image, sharpness is good at the widest aperture of f/1.8, with sharpness increasing again at f/2 and again at f/2.8. We can see the best (sharpest) results between f/4 and f/8, after which sharpness drops off a little again, with the softest results at the narrowest aperture of f/16. The overall impression when viewing images at normal printing sizes is good throughout the aperture range. At the edges of the frame, we can see the best results between f/5.6 and f/11.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/1.8
f/2
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16