Nikon 28mm f/1.8G AF-S review and first impressions

Nikon 28mm f/1.8G AF-S mini review and first impressions

I recently purchases the new Nikon 28mm f/1.8 AF-S prime. This isn’t a full review, just some first impressions on how I use and rate this lens. I have been using a 35mm F/2 lens, and this is great though can be a bit too tight for some situations (bridal preparations and smaller wedding venues is one). So when I saw the announcement of the reasonably priced (£600) 28mm f/1.8 AFS lens then I put my name down straight away. To put this lens in context a little history lesson is needed. When I was shooting Canon and Nikon cameras then Canon were streets ahead when it came to prime lenses, they had 24mm g/1.4 L and a 35mm f/1.4 L together with a 50mm f/1.2 L and a 85mm f/1.2 L. This gave canon the real advantage when it came to shooting primes. However Nikon came back recently with the 24mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.4 lenses and also updates to the 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4. Additionally Nikon also updated their other primes, the 50mm f/1.8G AFS and the 85mm f/1.8G AFS. With the 28mm f/1.8G AFS Nikon have finally given photographers a great choice of tools at our disposal. The advantage of the 1.8G lenses are lightness, portability and also great quality too.

How good is the Nikon 28mm f/1.8G?

So how does the 28mm f/1.8G AFS fare? First impressions are very well indeed. Build is good, focusing is silent and quick, images are very sharp and flare and high contrast situations are handled very well. I’ve used this lens at a couple of weddings now and am very impressed with the bokeh (out of focus areas) and the image quality. It’s just wide enough to give more of a storytelling aspect, but not as wide as the 24mm f/1.4G AFS that I always found a bit too wide and distorted to resign it to an occasional use lens.

Verdict

Nikon 28mm f/1.8G Sample images
Below are some samples from the Nikon 28mm f/1.8G AFS lens.

Nikon 28mm f18G AFS Sample 4Nikon 28mm f18G AFS Sample 3Nikon 28mm f18G AFS Sample 1