Nikon Nikkor AF-S 28 mm f/1.8G
11. Summary
- very good image quality in the frame centre,
- good or decent image quality on the edge of the frame,
- slight lateral chromatic aberration,
- well-corrected distortion,
- negligible astigmatism,
- low coma on the APS-C/DX sensor,
- quick, silent and accurate autofocus.
Cons:
- slack on the focusing ring,
- very high longitudinal chromatic aberration,
- significant spherical aberration,
- high coma in the corners of full frame,
- significant vignetting on full frame.
It is fully understandable that full frame, professional 1.4/24, 1.4/28 or 1.4/35 lenses can cost as much as 5,000 – 7,000 PLN. In such constructions, fast and wide-angle, every producer tries to use the newest and optics, the best possible, closing it in a very solid casing made in Japan. I always emphasize, though, how glad I would be if there were their cheaper equivalents available on the market – with the f/1.8-2.0 aperture and with a lower price tag (I think here about the level of 2,500 – 4,000 PLN).
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When I saw the press release concerning the launch of the Nikkor AF-S 28 mm F/1.8G I was sure it would be a great success. The spell was broken when I took it into my hand for the first time. Physically light, made in China, with slacks in the manual focus ring – compared to other cheap models like the Nikkor 1.8/35 for smaller detectors or the AF-S 1.8/50 and 1.4/50 for full frame it really didn’t offer you much more. However, in the case of those last three devices I can still accept their low build quality and the country of origin because they cost only 700-1400 PLN. If we get almost exactly the same in a lens with a price tag of almost 3,000 PLN something must be wrong and I suppose you have every right to feel a bit tricked.
Please, don’t get me wrong – the Nikkor AF-S 28 mm f/1.8G is a good instrument from the optical point of view, able to provide really sharp photos. Unfortunately it is far from optical perfection because it has several annoying flaws (e.g. a very high level of the longitudinal chromatic and spherical aberration or significant coma on full frame) and its build quality definitely doesn’t correspond with its price. Really, if only this lens cost less than 2,000 PLN the overtone of this summary would be quite different.
Sample shots
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 9.04 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/5000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10.5 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/4000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 8.73 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/2000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 8 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 7.26 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 7.39 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 8.17 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/5000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 9.34 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/4000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10.83 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.5, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 7.04 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.5, exp. 1/3200 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 9.07 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/320 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 8.86 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 8.06 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/2000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 11.06 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/3.5, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10.2 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/3.5, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 9.51 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 11.65 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 9.51 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 11.62 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 9.93 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 7.93 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/640 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 12.08 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 9.26 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10.76 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10.47 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 11.39 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/320 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10.09 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/320 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 12.33 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/11.0, exp. 1/125 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048 x 4032 pix, 10.64 MB |
