Nikon 1 18mm f/1.8 - 25 Dec 2012

Santa Claus brought me a new 1 Nikkor 18.5mm f/1.8 for my V1 camera today! I'm hoping that this new lens will be a viable replacement for the 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 lens that I currently use as my digiscoping lens.

Glenn Kincaid posted a nice review of the new 18.5/1.8 lens on his blog site, and reported a 2-stop improvement in shutter speed compared to the 10-30mm lens.  I'm hoping to put the lens to the test as soon as I get a new adaptor put together - but I have to wait 'till tomorrow to go the hardware store.

Hand-holding the new lens against the Zeiss 40X W eyepiece showed no vignetting.  Unfortunately, since it is a fixed focal length lens, there is no protruding lens barrel, so it will not fit my current homemade adaptor. I'll need something wider to fit the entire lens.

I tried it with the Zeiss 20-60X Zoom eyepiece, and again, the 18.5mm/1.8 does not show vignetting, even at 20X.  There is slight shadowing at 40X on the zoom, but even this hardly noticeable. It disappears at 60X, providing a very nice magnification range.  It appears that I'll be going back to the zoom eyepiece, assuming that I'm able to build a stable adaptor for it. 

As much as like the 40X eyepiece, I'm actually happy to be able to use the 20-60X zoom eyepiece again.  It'll give me versatility of a zoom magnification eyepiece for scoping near and distant birds, and the fixed focal length lens means that I don't have to worry about repositioning the lens-eyepiece distance to maintain optimal focus when I zoom the eyepiece.

First thing tomorrow I'll be off to the hardware store...