Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI-S Review

My thoughts on the d7000 are still coming, but I wanted to share a few on a recent acquisition: the Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI-S. I got this for $50 (+$5 shipping) off of EBay, and it was well worth the price. The d7000 treats this just like any other lens thanks to its "non-CPU lens" data features.

If you've paid any attention to my previous posts, you'll know that I have a 24mm f/2.8 Non-AI lens as well, which isn't compatible with the d7000—it won't mount. I was pretty disappointed by this. The reason I got the 28mm f/3.5 was to replace the 24 in my line up. While I'm sorry to say that the 28 so far hasn't been quite as nice, I'm pretty pleased by its performance (especially for the price).

Most remarkable in my experience is the excellent ghost control (these are shot with a plain-jane $10 Tiffen UV filter):

28mm, f/3.5 @ 1/8000s, IS0 400

I shot this straight into the sun, wide open. I actually couldn't see the shot I was taking—I didn't want to risk breaking Brian Regan's sun stare record. Here's another example shot at f/11:

28mm, f/11 @ 1/1600s, ISO 400

All in all, that's very pleasing.

A 28mm lens on a DX-format camera is almost equivalent to the FX normal lens of 50mm (you'd need a 35mm lens for that). It's not a wide angle lens (even on FX, really, where you'd probably want 24mm or less), but it does have a close focus distance of about seven inches. While the effect isn't as dramatic on DX, you can still get some interesting shots:

28mm, f/3.5 @ 1/25s, ISO 400

In terms of sharpness, I'm not convinced it's as good as the non-AI 24mm I have. That said, it is remarkably consistent across its range. At f/3.5 it's nearly as sharp as f/8 in the center (which is really the only place I've tested it so far):

28mm, f/3.5 @ 1/20s, ISO 100

28mm, f/8 @ 1/15s, ISO 400

A standard test for me is to find some text and shoot it. The resizing done to put this on Picasa doesn't really do it justice, but you can get some idea of the sharpness here as well:

28mm, f/8 @ 1/50s, ISO 400

Color reproduction seems consistent, and I've definitely enjoyed taking it around with me in the past couple of days. Manual focus on the d7000 is easier because of the > o < style focusing, though I really miss the split prism focus screen I had on my d40. That gave me quite precise results that have been harder to duplicate with the d7000.

I haven't had a chance to do any real work with the lens, nor have I been able to shoot at night. I'm hoping to play with the d7000's intervalometer to get some night shots in the coming days and weeks, especially as the weather has begun to warm up.

Some more shots for your viewing pleasure (keep in mind that some of these were shot from inside of a car and are unmodified; so the contrast and clarity aren't so great):

28mm, f/8 @ 1/200s, ISO 100	28mm, f/5.6 @ 1/320s, ISO 100
28mm, f/8 @ 1/160s, ISO 100	28mm, f/3.5 @ 1/25s, ISO 800