Users Opinion of Nikon 28 f1.4 e Lens

Thinking of buying the 28e. Have AIS 28 f2 8 which I like for lite weight and performance at f4 and 5.6. Thanks in advance for opinions.

What is your reason for considering the E lens?

 

Rick H.

I now have a D850 and assume the 28e can better maximize performance than the AIS lens.

If I were a hardcore 28mm shooter with a D850 and if I had the cash, I would get this. If I were a sometime 28mm shooter, I'd consider the 28mm/1.8.

At 2 grand in price, and a pound and a half in weight, I think you'd have to be seriously in love with the 28mm focal length and desperate for the extra stop of aperture to even consider this lens.

 

If the little AI-S 28mm f/2.8 has served well so far, why not give it a chance on the D850 and just see if it's lacking in any way?

 

I have the AI-S 28mm f/2, which performs about the same as the f/2.8, and it serves OK on a D800.

 

For the, presumably handheld, work where a 28mm f/1.4 would come into its own, I really don't see how super optical quality is going to be the foremost consideration.

I haven't used the new 28mm but eventually plan on acquiring it. I think when hand holding a lens at a wide aperture in low light, the photographer needs all the help the equipment can give to reach good enough image quality at f/1.4. This includes autofocus that is the most accurate in low light, and a lens that gives satisfactory sharpness and nice out of focus blur (as well as the transition between the two). I think with wide angles of f/1.4 the biggest challenge is in sufficiently accurate autofocusing in dim lighting conditions. When hand holding a wide angle using a sufficiently fast shutter speed that freezes subject movement, camera shake won't be an issue.

 

Of course there are also other options to consider including the 28/1.8 AF-S, the 28/1.4 AF-D (second hand), and other adjacent focal lengths such as 24mm and 35mm primes. I would get the 28/1.8 only if you never expect to use the manual focus ring. It has the advantage of light weight (which can be a real benefit if you work with a number of lenses, the total weight does add up quickly). The 28/1.4 AF D is quite rare and maybe it has some collector value keeping prices up, as I said I think the crucial issue is the most precise and accurate AF you can get when working at f/1.4, and for that kind of use I am sure the AF-S motor is more precise.

"I would get the 28/1.8 only if you never expect to use the manual focus ring."

 

- What makes you say that Ilkka?

 

If you think you're getting a brighter viewfinder image at f/1.4, then you're sorely mistaken. Plus it's been shown time after time that residual SA in wide aperture lenses actually makes open aperture optical focussing more problematic.

I don't know but when I use a 28mm I generally use it stop down quite a bit so the large aperture isn't important.

"I would get the 28/1.8 only if you never expect to use the manual focus ring."

 

- What makes you say that Ilkka?

Ilkka might be referring to the little bit of play of the coupling of the ring to the actual focus unit; i.e. when focuusing manually and especially when reversing focus direction with the focus ring, there is a bit of play until the ring actually "catches" and follows the movement of the focus ring - quite annoying when one is used to the "tightness" of a manual focus Nikkor.

I have never used the 28mm/f1.4 E AF-S so that I won't comment on its quality. I bought the 28mm/f1.8 AF-S a few years ago and that is a decent lens, very light in weight.

 

For those who would like to look a little further ahead that Nikon may get into mirrorless offerings, most likely those future bodies will not have the mechanical aperture control and will have a new mount with a shorter registration distance since there is no mirror to get in the way. The advantage of E is that any future adapter will be simpler without the need of any built-in motor to move the aperture mechanism. The down side is that retro-focus wide angle lenses designed for SLRs are not necessarily optimized for mirrorless cameras.

 

If one is only concerned about using this new wide angle on F-mount DSLRs such as the D850, all of that is a moot point.