NikonAF FX NIKKOR 28mm f/1.8G Compact Wide-angle Prime Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLR Cameras

About me: Been an avid photographer for over 20 years... I've used Leica, Nikon, Canon SLR's... currently using Nikon D800, and have recently updated my collection of lens and in particular FX lenses.I have many Nikkor D lenses and few G lenses, but recently I bought this 28mm f/1.8G and the 28-300mm VR lens. Both of these are FX lenses (for full-frame cameras like D4 and D800/D800E), and they have superb sharpness. I use the 28-300mm for my travels, and it's my all-purpose lens, and I got this 28mm prime in large part to (1) large aperture of f/1.8, and (2) the fast focusing.With regard to the large aperture, there are two key benefits I was looking forward to have and it did not disappoint. First, it gives a beautiful background blur (bokeh) and was able to isolate subjects with sharp focus while producing a creamy background. However, you cannot expect this lens to produce the same bokeh as that from the 70-200mm f2.8G VRII (which I also own). Again, these lenses have different purposes. I use the 70-200mm for sports and portraits (with subjects far away). This 28mm allows me to stay very close to my subject (e.g. lifestyle shots of kids) to get full body portraits while throwing the backdrop off focus. Compared to the 28-300mm at 28mm, the bokeh of this 28mm prime is much nicer as it have a wider aperture than the zoom. The second key advantage of its f/1.8 is the fact that it really allows to shoot at virtually anywhere in the day (indoor or outdoor), and I still get great shots in evening or dimly lit places with my D800.With regard to focusing speed, my experience has been predominantly with the D800 - which on its own has improved and very capable focusing. Getting the subject focused is not only fast, but also much more consistent in giving great results (sharp eyes in human subjects). In comparison to my other prime D-type lenses, and the G-type zoom lenses (e.g. 70-200mm, and 28-300mm), the 28mm f/1.8G beats them all.With regard to image quality and contrast, there has already been many reviews on the edge sharpness of this lens and the quality of it at various apertures. You can refer to those provided by DPReview and ByThom (Thom Hogan) for details, but I would attest that the quality of image produced by this lens is exceptional! However, please note that as with all great lenses, it's important to have good glass in front of them if you intend to put a protective filter in front.I'll be writing more and perhaps uploading some shots on the bokeh (background blur) if people are interested. If this review is of some help to you, just let me know by clicking the "This is helpful" button, and if there's any areas not covered, feel free to include the comments, and I'll update the review. Thanks for reading.

No wonder DXOMark rates this 28mm F1.8G among the best Nikkor lenses (the 85mm F1.4G prime lens holds the top honors), (hundreds of) pictures taken with our 3 Nikon bodies (D800, D300S, D3200) are just marvelous in all aspects (color depth/vibrancy, contrast, sharpness both at center and edges). We’d wanted a wide-angle prime in addition to our (Nikon Trinity) 24-70mm F2.8G zoom but also wanted to stay away from 24mm or less focal lengths to avoid too much distortion. Although this 28mm lens is DXOMark-rated slightly (just 1 point overall) below the Nikkor 24mm F1.4G, it serves us well for both FX (28mm) and DX (35mm) purposes. Its auto-focus is fast and also precisely accurate out of the box (AF-fine-tunings on our D800 and D300S stayed at 0 (the D3200 does not have the AF-fine-tuning capability)). As with all premium Nikon FX lenses, this lens can bring out the best and, unfortunately, the worst of your camera/sensor. It easily out-resolves both our D3200 and D300S when pictures of the same subject/scene are compared to those from the D800. It also shows the (sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious) differences in the camera/sensor qualities; for example, at the same very fine ISO settings (250 or less), my test pictures of Bird-of-Paradise vibrant flower colors when viewed at Actual Pixel resolution in both Photoshop CS6 CameraRAW and ViewNX2 show silky smooth color transitions end to end of the flowers with both the D800 and D300S, whereas those with the D3200 appear to be slightly noisy with subtle chromatic aberrations. Shooting wide open at F1.8, the bokeh with this lens, while noticeably less than those with our 85mm F1.4G and 105mm F1.8G primes, is about as pleasant as the bokeh with our prime 50mm F1.4G, and slightly beats the bokeh, albeit not bad, with our (Nikon Trinity) 24-70mm F2.8G zoom at 28mm F2.8 (obviously due to the narrower aperture). For this type of effects, this lens easily picks out its focused subject and dramatically isolates from foreground and background scenes in literally all different lighting conditions we put it through. Overall, extremely satisfying for wide-angle photography.

GOOD LENS, BUT NOT FOR EVERYDAY NORMAL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. I WAS COMPARING THIS WITH A 35mm LENS WHEN I DECIDED TO BUY IT. EVEN FOR INDOOR USE, THIS WILL NOT CREAT BOKEH AS COMPARE TO 50mm LENS. YES THIS IS A PRIME LENS WITH F/1.8G, DOES HAVE NANO CRYSTAL COATINGS ALONG WITH SOME OTHER COATINGS, IT DOES HAVE GOOD LOW LIGHT PERFORMANCE BUT 28mm IS VERY WIDE FOR MY USE, INSIDE THE HOME AND ALSO OUTSIDE, IT'S WIDE ALSO WILL NOT CREATE MUCH OF BOEKH WHICH MAKES THE PHOTOS LOOKS ATTRACTIVE, USING A PRIME LENS.IF YOU REALLY WANT A 28mm LENS, AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED, THAN YES, THIS IS A GREAT LENS, PRICED VERY REASONABLY. IT'S LIGHT WEIGHT AND VERY GOOD LOW LIGHT PERFORMANCE.

When I bought this lens, I was looking for a sharp, fast prime for group photography, walk-around and landscapes. It meets all those needs very well. I've used it with a D600, D610 and D750. It produces very nice bokeh wide open and is sharp all around.Since then Nikon has released the 20mm f/1.8G and the 24mm f/1.8G. It's possible that if I had to choose with all three available at the time, I would have probably picked the 20mm f/1.8G instead, but I'm glad those choices were not open to me at the time, because I feel the 28mm is a bit more versatile. It's not too wide and it's not too narrow. The 20mm and 24mm would have been a bit too wide for most other photography. They probably would have stayed in the bag more often than the 28mm does. In fact the 28mm is attached most of the time when going out for casual shooting even though I also have a 50mm f/1.4G and 85mm f/1.8G, both of which can be a little too narrow sometimes.Simply put, the 28mm is ready for just about any situation. Love it.