New Nikon 28mm f1.4 announced

[BernardLanguillier]

https://www.dpreview.com/news/7860163392/nikon-adds-to-fast-prime-series-with-af-s-nikkor-28mm-f1-4e-ed

Sounds like a wonderful addition to the Nikon line up.

Sharpness at f1.4 seems outstanding as well as the bokeh. Looks like a wide 105mm f1.4. My Otus 28mm f1.4 may hit the second hand market.

http://imgsv.nikon-image.com/products/lens/nikkor/af-s_nikkor_28mm_f14e_ed/img/sample/pic_05_l.jpg

Cheers,
Bernard

[Hulyss]

Yep, seen that this morning and i like what I'm seing. Also, the price seems ok.

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/camera-lenses/af-s-nikkor-28mm-f%252f1.4e-ed.html?icid=img_en_us:featured_lens:button:3:lens:AF-S_28mm:053117:newprod

[Paulo Bizarro]

Wasn't there a 28 f1.4 lens before in Nikon line?

[kers]

Wasn't there a 28 f1.4 lens before in Nikon line?

yes, in 1993 Nikon made the first...
http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/723-nikkorafd2814ff

[BernardLanguillier]

Wasn't there a 28 f1.4 lens before in Nikon line?

Yes, one of their most legendary designs along with the 58mm f1.2 Noct.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Paulo Bizarro]

Thanks kers & Bernard, I thought so. At the time, the lens was around USD 2,000, so it seems the new one is coming cheaper.

[BernardLanguillier]

https://www.dpreview.com/news/4419201855/first-shots-from-new-nikon-28mm-f1-4e-ed

Cheers,
Bernard

[shadowblade]

Regardless of the optical quality of the lens, I never understood the 28mm focal length, especially as a prime.

It's too wide to be a 'normal' lens or for environmental portraits, too wide to be particularly useful for stitching, but not wide enough for the landscapes, interiors amd other things you'd typically use a UWA for. It seems to be a focal length that sits better as a step between 24mm and 35mm on a zoom lens, to be used for exact framing of certain subjects where you can't,  or don't want to, move the camera or the subject, rather than something that's particularly useful as a prime in its own right.

[BernardLanguillier]

Regardless of the optical quality of the lens, I never understood the 28mm focal length, especially as a prime.

It's too wide to be a 'normal' lens or for environmental portraits, too wide to be particularly useful for stitching, but not wide enough for the landscapes, interiors amd other things you'd typically use a UWA for. It seems to be a focal length that sits better as a step between 24mm and 35mm on a zoom lens, to be used for exact framing of certain subjects where you can't,  or don't want to, move the camera or the subject, rather than something that's particularly useful as a prime in its own right.

Interesting, because that's 100% exactly how I used to feel about the 28mm until I bought the Otus 28mm f1.4... somehow just to try.

And I have to confess that I am a convert. Nowadays, I find the 28mm to be a perfect compromise between wide and long, sitting on a delicate sweet spot where you see the totality of a scene, the environment if you will, but are still able to identify clearly a main subject. The 35mm somehow feels too tight, the 24mm too generic and dillusive in its attempt to encompass too much.

In terms of lens design also, 28mm is pretty much the widest you can use and still get sufficient subject isolation over the background. You have to get way too close with a 24mm f1.4 or wider.

I will most probably sell my excellent Otus and go for the Nikon instead. The ability of recent Nikon bodies (D5/D500 and soon D820/D850) to focus accurately and reliably at f1.4 together with the sharpness differential offered by this new 28mm f1.4 (very sharp where its sharp with a great transition to OoF areas) will provide unique creative opportunities for street photography.

Cheers,
Bernard

[kers]

I see it is only 645 grams... half the weight (size) of the Otus...
I have the cheaper f1.8 24mm Nikkor and it is also a lightweight design with very good optics.
AF is spot on even in dim lit situations.
Will try this one to see if 28mm is something for me.

[scooby70]

Regardless of the optical quality of the lens, I never understood the 28mm focal length, especially as a prime.

I'd guess that these days there are more pictures taken each day with 28mm equivalent lenses than anything and everything else put together.

[shadowblade]

I'd guess that these days there are more pictures taken each day with 28mm equivalent lenses than anything and everything else put together.

Is that the angle of view of the iPhone, or the Samsung Galaxy?

[scooby70]

I think most if not all phones are there or there abouts aren't they?

[shadowblade]

I think most if not all phones are there or there abouts aren't they?

That's a bit of a different case. For one, they're designed to be able to take a selfie at arm's length. You'd struggle to do that with a 50mm equivalent, unless you had very long arms or a small head. Also, a lot of time, phone photos are heavily cropped, or automatically stitched using phone software, for a more appropriate angle of view. That's usually not a problem for the intended end-use, which is typically web-sized images. But I doubt anyone wants to pay for a full-frame camera and 28mm prime only to crop it to some narrower angle each time. Phone manufacturers can't fit a zoom lens in there, so they seem to have gone for an in-between option which still does the job.

I sometimes wonder, though, why no-one's thought to put a rotating 'disc' of lenses in front of the phone's camera sensor, containing lenses of a number of different focal lengths (e.g. 16mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm and 200mm equivalents). Just rotate to the one you want before shooting.

[NancyP]

Mechanical moving parts on a phone represent a possible failure point at the scale needed to keep the phone "fashionably thin". Cost of sensor isn't huge, so putting in two fixed lens/sensor cameras makes more sense, as in iPhone 7 Plus, etc.

[scooby70]

That's a bit of a different case. For one, they're designed to be able to take a selfie at arm's length. You'd struggle to do that with a 50mm equivalent, unless you had very long arms or a small head. Also, a lot of time, phone photos are heavily cropped, or automatically stitched using phone software, for a more appropriate angle of view. That's usually not a problem for the intended end-use, which is typically web-sized images. But I doubt anyone wants to pay for a full-frame camera and 28mm prime only to crop it to some narrower angle each time. Phone manufacturers can't fit a zoom lens in there, so they seem to have gone for an in-between option which still does the job.

I sometimes wonder, though, why no-one's thought to put a rotating 'disc' of lenses in front of the phone's camera sensor, containing lenses of a number of different focal lengths (e.g. 16mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm and 200mm equivalents). Just rotate to the one you want before shooting.

My point was that rather than 28mm being oddball it's actually the most used FoV these days.

[araucaria]

A 28mm Lens would be perfect for environmental portraits if the sensor is 4:3 and 36mm wide. Using the 24mm plus crop leaves bad taste, 28mm looks right but lacks space on the short edge.

[JKoerner007]

I see it is only 645 grams... half the weight (size) of the Otus...
I have the cheaper f1.8 24mm Nikkor and it is also a lightweight design with very good optics.
AF is spot on even in dim lit situations.
Will try this one to see if 28mm is something for me.

The question as to focal 'ideal' focal lengths is a personal one.
For me, I purchased the Zeiss Distagon T 15mm ... because of its reputed quality ... but it was too wide, too heavy, and too fragile, so I sold it.
(Before that, I also had the vintage Nikkor 15mm AIS, which was better-built than the Zeiss, but I didn't like the flare/ghosting, so I sold it as well.)

Of contemporary Nikkor 'standard' wide-angle MF lenses, I have enjoyed the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8, the Nikkor 28mm f/2.8, and the Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 AIS lenses immensely. All of the AIS lenses are excellent in their own way, and my 50mm f/1.2 AIS is better than any of the Nikkor G AF contemporaries. (See Michael's Article. See, also, Nasim Mansurov's Article.)

However, as both a private investigator, and a nature photographer, the 28mm Nikkor gets the most use, by far, of the 3 'wide' focal lengths I carry. (I never bought the Nikkor 24mm AIS because it isn't as good.)

While I enjoy the tactile pleasure of MF lenses, this new Nikkor 28mm f/1.4E AF-S ED is extremely interesting to me. The only thing I don't like is the change in its closest focusing distance (.7 ft with the AIS vs. .92 with the new, cutting-edge AF design), but everything else is perfect.

To me, 28mm is wide enough to be wide, yet close enough to see detail. While I may not be a professional photographer, in the sense most of you are accustomed to, my images have to document thousands (sometimes millions) of dollars in casualty losses + scene investigations, in heavily-litigated files.

I have found the 28mm focal length to be more useful, as a middle ground between wide expansion, matched with the ability to still see detail, than any other 'wide' focal length, so this new Nikkor lens excites me

[JKoerner007]

First review I've seen:

• "The Nikon 28mm f1.4E is a high quality wide lens that fills the gap between their 24/1.4G and 35/1.4G lenses for full-frame bodies. It delivers very good image quality coming close to or even surpassing the Zeiss Otus 28/1.4 in my tests."

https://www.cameralabs.com/nikon-28mm-f1-4e-review

The article is somewhat poorly-written, redundant, and repeatedly mentions results "on a DX" (will any DX owner buy this? ).

However, the takeaway is the Otus beats the new Nikkor for fringing (Apo) but not on sharpness. While the Zeiss' sharpness is more even from center-to-corner, the Nikon AF nails the focus every time, whereas manually-focusing the Zeiss at f/1.4 can result in hit-or-miss. Both have great bokeh for the category. The Otus is twice as heavy, more than twice as expensive, no weather sealing, no AF.

The Nikkor 28mm f/1.4E beats anything else in its class (Nikkor 24 f/1.4G, Nikkor 28 f/1.8G, Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G), including the Sigma Art 24 f/1.4 ... which "cannot match" the bokeh of the 28 f1/4E, and also suffers from coma blur.

It appears to be a great value. Optically, it is positioned ahead of everything else, nearly as good as the Otus, will nail the shots more dependably, and yet is less than half the price.

[BernardLanguillier]

Nikon is on a roll, all of their recent lens releases have been benchmarks.

On top of irreproachable technical qualities, what's great about these lenses is that they simply render beautifully.

You've got to love the facts that many photographers deprive themselves from such wonderful tools because of strategic concerns about Nikon's financial health.

Cheers,
Bernard