What is a 28mm lens good for?

[raid]

At the beach ...you see clearly front and back.

 

[raid]

Vertical shots are equally good with 28mm lenses.

Amman at night:

 

[raid]

Damascus, Syria.

 

[raid]

Damascus, Syria:

 

[jbf]

I am quite fond of 28mm. It's great for street shooting, but my problem is I always have to remind myself to always take two steps forward when I think i am close enough, because of the distortion of space, etc.

I used it extensively in my travels through france last march through june.


Check it out in my flickr if your interested.

 

[mohawk51]

28mm lens

28mm lens

(I sometimes think that what I really want is the optically-perfect short zoom, 28-50. But then I remember that I've still got to decide what zoom setting I should use!)

Anthony

Nikon made a 28-50 zoom. It's a pretty good zoom. It is a F3.5 constant however, but it's still a good one. I have a couple of Voigts I use. One is the 28/2.8 and the other is a 40/2. Both are great but the 28-50 is convenient to use.

 

[jojoman2]

I use a 28 for most of my street work. I find it is the perfect lens for environmental portraits. Check my flickr if you are interested.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131711492@N08/

 

[dmc]

Hmm replying to 7 year old thread, we are. 🙄


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ChrisN]

Any thread that includes comments from Al Kaplan is worth reading to learn something. 🙂

 

[oftheherd]

Any thread that includes comments from Al Kaplan is worth reading to learn something. 🙂

Quite true.

 

[mdarnton]

Now that it's 7 years later, and virtually every cell phone has something like a 24mm or 28mm equivalent as its basic lens that hardly anyone ever bothers to zoom up from, I wonder if this thread would have the same legs today that it did then.

Anyway, for me 28mm is my "normal" view lens, though I don't use it as much as the 50 because I like to drill in on things. a 50/28 combo is always my first pair for a new camera.

 

[sara]

I had a friend who would only ever shoot 28mm...I've never used it but she had some pretty good shots when she travelled to India lol.

 

[narsuitus]

In spite of the fact that 28mm has never been one of my favorite focal lengths for 35mm cameras, I have a few of them.

A. Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 pre-AI (use in reverse position on bellows for close-ups and macros)

B. Zeiss 28mm f/2 Distagon T* ZF 2 (replaced slower 28mm f/2.8 AIS Nikkor)

C. Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 screw mount lens (replaced broken 28mm f/3.5 Fujinon)

D. Nikkor 28mm f/4 perspective control (use for panoramic and architectural photos)

E. Asahi 28mm f/3.5 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar


28mm Lenses by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[steelheart]

The 28mm is an outstanding lens for street and documentary work, even though many swear by the 35mm. Given the choice of a 28 vs. a 35, I'll take the 28 every time. JMHO.

 

[Doug]

The "28"mm view of the world can be very useful... here's one, actually a Summarit 35mm on 0.8x "crop" sensor = 28mm....
Street portrait? Hold it right there, that's fine, look straight ahead... 🙂

 

[silkyfeet]

hey guys i have a question. im looking to get a 28mm for my nikon f apollo and ive seen 28mm 2.8 ais and ai. ill be using it mostly for candid shooting and documenting.

is there a massive difference at distance from 1 metre to 5 metres. which would you suggest and how do they differ?

i know they the ais has closer focus and also excels at close range. i

 

[Emile de Leon]

Nikon 28 F2.8 ais is one of the best and most versatile 28's ever made...
Where it really shines is in resolution...on a tripod...
Up close..it is phenomenal..

 

[silkyfeet]

Nikon 28 F2.8 ais is one of the best and most versatile 28's ever made...
Where it really shines is in resolution...on a tripod...
Up close..it is phenomenal..

ill be using it handheld. with regards to up close where is the limit of this?

 

[Emile de Leon]

It goes real close...almost macro realm...

 

[narsuitus]

I have never owned or used the AI version of the Nikon 28mm f/2.8 but I have owned and used the AIS version. At the same apertures, the AIS version has image quality (resolution and contrast) equal to my Zeiss 28mm f/2 Distagon T* ZF2.

The Nikon AIS focuses closer than the Zeiss. The Zeiss can fill the horizontal full frame with a 17cm object. The Nikon AIS can move in closer to fill the horizontal full frame with a 14cm object.