The Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G could be considered a broad angle lens designed for Nikon’s broad variety of DX and full-frame FX-format DSLRs. Announced April 2012, it’s the bigger aperture sibling in the direction of venerable Nikkor AF 28mm f2.8D from 1994. It also can be regarded a much less pricey choice in the direction of AF-S 24mm f/1.4G and AF-S 35mm f/1.4G (see my Nikon 35mm f1.4G evaluation for that all round performance of the high-end model).

With a line-up of three not as well pricey f1.8 primes at 28mm, 50mm, and 85mm, Nikon appears to possess finished the renovation of the founded of FX-capable contacts that are regarded the main intent for individuals wanting large aperture primes at a acceptable price.

The 28mm focal time period sits nicely in-between 24mm and 35mm when you can see while in the pursuing image precisely where I’ve inserted the frames for that respective focal lengths. therefore an 28mm lens could be regarded a a good offer more eye-catching complement to some 50mm prime compared to two the slightly wider and extended alternatives. 28mm provides a obviously wider angle of view: it captures near to 56% a good offer more place of any offered scene than a 35mm lens. Which also could be regarded as well near in the direction of framing of the 50mm lens getting of recognition to proprietors from the latter. But conversely a focal time period of 28mm on an FX-body is not as “extreme” like a 24mm. Distortions on the borders from the frame are much less pronounced and therefore a good offer more acceptable. Meanwhile on the DX-body a 28mm lens is equivalent to 42mm and regarded near in the direction of perfect focal time period that fits the diagonal from the sensor and therefore produces “normal” looking images.

Interestingly Nikon has so much selected not to develop an AF-S 24mm f/1.8G or an AF-S 35mm f/1.8G to the FX full-frame structure (although of program there will be the favored DX 35mm f/1.8G lens for cropped bodies). That might probably probably must complete with affordable reasons, but Nikon might probably have fared increased obtained it provided its DX 35/1.8G a right FX graphic circle and complemented it acquiring a 24/1.8G, due to the of the reality that the 28mm prime might probably just be as well considerable for some and as well short for others. But again, these sorts of a proceed might probably have brought the possibility of jeopardizing product sales of its 24/1.4G and 35/1.4G lenses.

So much Nikon’s new f1.8 types (the 50/1.8G and as well the 85/1.8G) have confirmed to arrive to be sharp and contrasty rendering natural colorations (see myNikon 50mm f1.8G examine and Nikon 85mm f1.8G review). This puts quite significant expectations to the newcomer. during this examine I’ll use a show up into Nikon’s newest 28mm f1.8G prime, and obtain out no matter what whether the lens day-to-day lives up in the direction of the expectations.

Facts from the catalog

As usual I’ll have a look at the technical data first. I’ve rated the features with a [+] (or [++]), when it’s better than average or even state of the art, a [0] if it’s standard or just average, and [-] if there’s a disadvantage.

Size (diam. x length): 73 x 81 mm (2.9 x 3.2 in.). It’s slim but pretty long – especially compared to the Nikon 28/2.8D at only 45 mm (1.8 in.) length [0]

Weight: 330 g (11.6 oz) = pretty light-weight, although the 28/2.8D is only 205 g (7.2 oz.). But the lenses from Sigma and Zeiss are both much heavier at around 500 g. [0]

Optics: 11 elements in 9 groups. More than the 28/2.8D with 6 lenses in 6 groups but still only a small amount of glass compared to zooms that tend to have something like 21/16. That bodes well for contrast and flare-resistance. Plus Nikon used Nano-coating on this lens and the cross-section does show two aspherical elements. [+]

Closest focus distance/max. magnification: 0.25 m (0.82 ft.) / 1:4.5. This is close to what I often need in nature (1:3-1:5). [+]

Filter-thread: 67mm = a cheaper standard than with the larger pro-lenses [+]

IS: No = not really critical at such a short focal length, although Nikon’s own 24-120/4.0 has VR [0]

AF: AF-S with SWM (silent wave motor), so does work on D60/3×00/5×00-bodies, and there’s manual-focus override by turning the focus ring [+]

Covers full frame/FX or smaller = very good [+]

Price: around 700 EUR new (incl. 19% VAT) = not cheap! The old Nikon AF 28/2.8D is around 280 EUR now, the Sigma AF 28mm 1.8 EX DG Asp Macro can be had for 430 EUR and only the manual focus Zeiss ZF.2 Distagon T* 28mm 2.0 is more expensive at over 1000 EUR. [0]

Comes with a flexible lens pouch, lens-shade is included and revertible for transport, and the lens-caps are standard Nikon’s. [0]

Distance information is relayed to the camera, so the Nikon body can do all the advanced exposure-related stuff with this lens. But this is true for most alternatives too. [+]

Aperture ring = no, just like all Nikon G-lenses. [0]

Sealing: yes! A rubber grommet at the lens-mount. [+]

So the score in the “features-department” is 0[-]/6[0]/7[+]. This lens ticks almost all important boxes, except perhaps a price below 500 EUR.

Motivation:

A 28mm lens may be a favorite for landscape shooters but they need corner-to-corner sharpness more than an f1.8 aperture. But the large aperture makes this lens also fit for fast street-/PJ-style shooting with an immersive in-the-middle-of-things perspective. A large aperture is also always good for isolating your subject from the background. But at 28mm focal length you have to be close to enjoy this effect.

Alternatives:

Current 28mm primes include only three alternatives:
- The old Nikkor AF 28/2.8D
- Sigma AF 28mm 1.8 EX DG Asp Macro (meaning 1:2.9 max magnification)
- Zeiss ZF.2 Distagon T* 28mm 2.0 manual focus

But if you look at 24mm (-14% focal length/magnification) or 35mm (+25% focal length/magnification) lenses there are more alternatives to chose from.

Testing: Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration

With significant aperture primes one extraordinary because of this main checks I execute is for longitudinal CA (loCA, a.k.a. “axial color” or “bokeh CA”) also it ordinarily displays some fairly nasty coloration except if you could have got a exceptionally high-priced apochromatic lens. preceding examining demonstrated the facts that amount of loCA is mostly fairly serious at close-up but does not demonstrate as well prominently at additional regular shooting distances. To give you successes which are additional appropriate to daily photographic scenarios I changed my examining process to making use of identical range as using the Siemens-star test-targets: 40x focal time-span – during this circumstance 1.2m. I also switched to Adobe common digesting to produce the successes additional very easily identical throughout special digital camera techniques – but in the price of making these successes incomparable to my more mature reviews.

Here’s the final result for that AF-S 28/1.8G in the 100% crop at f1.8. These colorations is mostly removed fairly effectively in CaptureNX or Lightroom’s most recent release 4.1 however you require an supplemental point of post-processing.

Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration (loCA)

100% crop, f1.8, left=closer, right=farther away

The effect is clearly visible but at f5.6 the greenish (background) and reddish (foreground) hues are almost gone. What you can observe too when stopping down is a pretty huge focus-shift: Subjects in the background become sharper much faster than in the foreground – the lens develops quite some back-focus. This has the effect that for optimal sharpness you have to pull focus a bit towards you or otherwise your image-quality will effectively decrease when stopping the lens down. Have a look at the concentric circles in the following 100% crops from the center of my test-target shot at constant focus (optimized for f1.8). The effect is strongest at f4.0 and f5.6.

I’ve by no indicates noticed a very close conduct before. This poses instead a concern for people relying on regular AF-operation generally because AF grabs concentrate at completely opened aperture (f1.8) and can not compensate for almost any concentrate shift. And if you utilize AF Fine-Tune because of this lens you can actually optimize sharpness both for f1.8-f2.8 or for f4.0-f5.6 although not for both styles of apertures (from f8.0 on distinctions are negligible). This influence brought about a terrific offer of retesting for me and honestly is instead a disappointment: At f4.0 and f5.6 an extremely good lens usually reaches the very best of its general performance (which his certainly the situation while using 28/1.8G, as we’ll see while using after subsection about sharpness and contrast) also it is frequently a main set-back because of this lens to wreck its potential which includes a adjusting focus. Of instruction course this could just benefit from to my different evaluate sample, but it is one component potential proprietors must be mindful of.
On a excellent note: Shooting trees in opposition to a glaring sky will not develop the terrible ghostlike magenta twigs that a few other big aperture primes acquired been so susceptible of (see pursuing image). while using way: This could be considered a shot where ever you can actually see the influence of vignetting intensive start as I did not appropriate it in post-processing. it is frequently not as well pronounced while using FX-frame and basically negligible while using DX-frame inserted right here for less difficult comparison.

Chromatic Aberration test: shot with Nikon Nikkor 28/1.8G on a D800
f1.8, 100 ISO
f1.8, 100 ISO		f1.8, 100 ISO		f1.8, 100 ISO

Sharpness and contrast

Let’s have a look at the theoretical performance (MTF-charts) of the new lens and its smaller sibling first:

Nikkor 28mm MTF
The new Nikkor AF-S 28/1.8G		Its smaller, older sibling, the Nikkor AF 28/2.8D

These charts demonstrate the lens-performance while using biggest aperture, through this circumstance for f1.8 (resp. f2.8 to the elderly lens). greater beliefs are greater and also nearer the dotted and also steady lines of every solitary colouring are with each other the much less astigmatism (= solution is dependent near to the orientation within of the test-pattern) the lens has. The x-axis demonstrations the range due to the of the optical axis (=center within of the sensor) in mm. I’ll demonstrate you the real-life general performance at 4 mm (center), 13 mm (DX-corner), and twenty mm (FX-corner) on the D800.

From the charts the brand new lens should execute greater outdoors the DX image-circle compared to the 28/2.8D. however the brand new design demonstrates some astigmatism at generally great structures (S30/M30) involving a few of mm and 8 mm due to the of the center. let us see how this theoretical general performance translates into real daily life benefits within sharpness check based on Siemens-stars.

What follows are near-center benefits (first row) adopted by DX-corner benefits and FX-corner benefits on the D800. The D800 benefits due to the of the DX-corner must be considered a generally wonderful approximation for general performance on the 16MP DX sensor (like the D7000), for the grounds how the pixel-pitch of both equally as sensors is the same. But variations within AA-filter and micro-lens-design of the D800 additionally to some D7000 will probably yield a various end-results.

Processing was performed in Lightroom 4 from natural at digital camera common settings. this in certainty is another deviation from my previous assessments which acquired been made in CaptureNX 2. This was triggered with a near comparability of both equally as RAW-converters: Lightroom 4 attributes a sharpening algorithm that normally be greater tuned for small details. Noise-reduction is decided to 0, sharpening to 70/0.5/36/10, with no additional tone, color, or saturation-adjustment. White-balance was adjusted to some basic light and i truly do some advertising pay plans to establish the brightness match. CA-removal is ON. through this check concentrate was optimized for each solitary aperture – which I ordinarily will not do. But owing on your potent focus-shift there is no other tactic to obtain the sharpest results.

Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G with Nikon D800 100% crop from center		Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G with Nikon D800 100% crop from DX-corner		Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G with Nikon D800 100% crop from FX-corner
f1.8, 100 ISO		f1.8, 100 ISO		f1.8, 100 ISO
f2.0, 100 ISO		f2.0, 100 ISO		f2.0, 100 ISO
f2.8, 100 ISO		f2.8, 100 ISO		f2.8, 100 ISO
f4.0, 100 ISO		f4.0, 100 ISO		f4.0, 100 ISO
f5.6, 100 ISO		f5.6, 100 ISO		f5.6, 100 ISO
f8, 100 ISO		f8, 100 ISO		f8, 100 ISO

These 100% crops directly from a 36MP D800 sensor show that this lens performs very good in the center. Even wide open center resolution is very high and astigmatism is not really an issue. The performance in the DX-corner is clearly behind the center performance wide open with a good overall contrast but limited sharpness until the lens is stopped down to f4.0. At f5.6 it reaches excellent results.

The FX-corner shows a completely different characteristic than the DX-corner: They show some serious haloing of bright areas: Overall contrast is pretty low. BTW. this can confuse the contrast-based AF: You can increase the overall contrast of this corner by adjusting the focus a bit but then the sharpness/micro-contrast of the target is reduced. It took me quite some experimenting to get the sharpest results under these conditions.

Sagittal coma flare

This is something that influences corner performance by producing odd shapes out of point-light sources. Some large aperture primes are quite prone to this effect and the 28/1.8G is not immune to it. You need to stop down to f5.6 to get rid of it. These results coincide with the observations in the previous chapter.

Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G with Nikon D700		Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G with Nikon D800		Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G with Nikon D800
f1.8, 100 ISO		f2.8, 100 ISO		f5.6, 100 ISO

Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G with Nikon D800 in contra-light From left to right: f1.8, f2.8 and f5.6

Behaviour in contra-light

The image on the right shows a sequence of shots against a strong light-source shining directly into the lens but still outside the image circle of a FX-body. It shows how well the lens copes under these adverse conditions wide open and stopped down to f2.8 and f5.6.

Some lenses simply produce lower contrast when closing the aperture, although that should minimize stray-light in the lens. But unfortunately the reflections from the aperture itself sometimes cause some veiling glare. 

You can judge the effect if you look at the shadows at the lower left of the camera body and the mounting-plate. The shadows are already pretty good at f1.8 and become only a little when stopping down to f2.8. At f5.6 shadows get a little lighter but nothing too dramatic. In this respect the lens performs quite well, probably due to the Nano-coating.

Nikon AF-S 28mm f1.8G sample images gallery

The following images were taken with the Nikon AF-S 28/1.8G on a D800. Each image was recorded in RAW and converted with Lightroom 4 at Adobe Standard settings. Noise-reduction is set to 0, sharpening to 70/0.5/36/10, no extra tone, color, or saturation-adjustment was used. Some images have White Balance set to a standard daylight value to make them comparable. You can click on each image to access the large original. Please respect our copyright and only use those images for personal use.

The first image shows what you can achieve in a typical landscape situation. Focus was acquired at f1.8 and not optimized for other apertures.

Unremarkables: Infinity shot with Nikon Nikkor 28/1.8G on a D800
f5.6, 100 ISO; Below: 100% crops from main image at different apertures
f1.8, 100 ISO		f2.8, 100 ISO		f4.0, 100 ISO

The next row shows 100% crops from the right border. Apart from vignetting at f1.8 the performance is pretty astonishing!

Unremarkables: border performance with Nikon Nikkor 28/1.8G on a D800, 100% crops
f1.8, 100 ISO		f2.8, 100 ISO		f4.0, 100 ISO

The second shot should give you an impression of the bokeh that this lens can produce wide open. The 50% crops are from the foreground, the sharpest point, and the background in the overall image and should demonstrate the very smooth rendering of out-of-focus elements. This is a very impressive performance for a wide-angle lens and is even slightly better in the background than the mighty 35/1.4G.

Flowers: bokeh shot with Nikon Nikkor 28/1.8G on a D800
Main image and all crops: f1.8, 100 ISO
50% crop from foreground		50% crop from center		50% crop from background

Check out more Nikon AF-S 28mm f1.8G sample images.

Focus and build quality

Focus accuracy and repeatability is particularly crucial for sizeable aperture prime contacts with their shallow depth of field. Repeatability (the accuracy of concentrate to identical topic next repeated focus-acquisition) is fantastic with no outliers through a sequence of twenty shots regardless of the reality that there may be normally a slight focus-difference once the lens usually takes area from infinity vs minimal concentrate distance. The lens focuses reasonably fast: near to 0.7 sec from infinity to 0.25m.

The concentrate industry of the 1.8G turns roughly 95 degrees from infinity to MFD. This toss should be fantastic ample for e-book concentrating (in live-view), but alas there may be virtually a few of mm of hysteresis/slack/play in between the focus-ring collectively with focus-action, which would make precise concentrate under crucial problems fairly hard. The measures of the focus-ring is not really extremely smooth but AF-operation is quiet. In standard the impression of build high class of the lens is less expensive than its value draw suggests: A plastic material building blended which characteristics a conditions sealed aluminum lens-mount, and 7 rounded aperture blades. In comparability in the direction of the Nikon AF-S 35mm f/1.4G it feels flimsy.

But general the most recent Nikon Nikkor AF-S 28mm f/1.8G produces a fairly fantastic performance, which only leaves me to reveal a additional selection of Nikon AF-S 28mm f/1.8G sample pictures forward of wrapping items up at my Nikon AF-S 28mm f/1.8G verdict.