Your best 28..and how you got there :)

[uhoh7]

Thanks to nefarious influence from here and a few other places I marched down a path of 28s to what i will eventually bring up.

My first one was a kiron 28/2--and it is a damn good 28. I still have not sold it. They bring around 120USD.

Soon after an elamarit from the 80s fell into my hands, but I never properly apreciated it--thinking the SLR 28s must overmatch it.

I did take it out one evening







these all wide open with original nex-5

One thing is clear: 28 is a superb normal lens on aps-c with its 1.5x crop. The FL is super versitile and can be used as wide, normal, or porrait.

Meanwhile...TBC (next: the nikons)

Please chime in with your 28mm odesseys

Installments, thoughts...your first good one....you hate 28s..whatever

[RTI]

[Kathmandu]

Soligor Wide-Auto 28mm f2.8 (62mm):






Spiratone Expandar Wide Angle 28mm f2.8






Have not used it as a potrait lens ,but I imagine it would be very interesting.

Cheers

[iangreenhalgh1]

Hmm, I've had a lot of 28mm lenses, let's see if I can summarise:

Began with a Pentacon 2.8/28 in PB mount, loved this lens, vintage character and colours and pretty sharp, I converted it to EF mount to use on my EOS. Thing I disliked about it was the cheap, plastic build.

Next I got a Vivitar Close Focus 2.8/28, not bad but inferior to the Pentacon as the images it produced were boring, flat, I felt the contrast and colours were merely okay. I never got anything really good from this lens, I just gave one of my two copies away to a friend. Build quality feels quite cheap and fragile.

Then I got an Ensinor 2.8/28 and liked it, pretty sharp and with nice vivid colours but the single coating meant it was prone to flare, I have two copies, the other labelled Clubman.

After that came a lucky find, a Hoya 2.8/28 which is excellent, very sharp, great colours and contrast, coatings on this one definitely very good, I still use it from time to time, superb build quality.

I was happy with the Hoya but couldn't resist a Pentacon 3.5/30 (Meyer Lydith) when I saw one dirt cheap, love this lens but not better than the Hoya, probably not quite as sharp nor as contrasty and colours more muted, but it has wonderful bokeh and just a good all-round lens.

Still I felt I could do better in this FL and kept reading glowing praise for the Yashica ML 2.8/28 so I picked one up really cheap with a FX-3 body and 2/50 ML pancake lens. Pretty disappointing lens, not bad but inferior to the Hoya by a fair margin imho.

Then I picked up a Canon AE-1 with some FD lenses from a local lady for peanuts, it included a mint 2.8/28 S.C. I tried this out and it's not bad, sharp, low CA, nice bokeh, colours fairly saturated, contrast not bad, but I felt it was merely good, nothing special, my Hoya is a better lens.

So there I was, happily using the Hoya and Pentacon 30 when I read about the Hexanon 3.5/28 early version with 7 elements and how good it was. I had just bought a NEX and a dirt cheap mint 1.8/50 Hexanon which is razor sharp even wide open and has everything you could want in a lens. So I grabbed a mint 3.5/28 for 30ukp and wow, what a lens, just one of the best lenses in any FL I have ever encountered, it's one weakness is the single coating.

I'm convinced the Hexanon 3.5/28 is about the best lens in this length I will ever be able to afford, only way to improve on it would be a Distagon and I can't see me being able to afford one of those.

Moral of my story is simply, I was lucky to stumble across the Hoya 2.8/28, it really is a wonderful lens, I should have stuck with it and not wasted my money on the others. The Hexanon 3.5/28 is the only one better than it and is my favourite lens for most situations and shots. I would never part with either the Hoya or the Hexanon, the others I'm happy to part with and have listed the Ensinor, Vivitar, Canon and Yashica for sale. I'm keeping the two Pentacons purely because their resale value is next to nothing and they might come in handy one day.

[WolverineX]

my favourite 28mm lens is nikkor 28mm/2.8 ais because of it's close focus ability

[Excalibur]

Well I've only sixteen ordinary 28mms and joint first would be Canon fd and Hexanon, and would use a CZJ more but it's on a Praktica mount, also special mention for the Tamron.

[hoanpham]

too many 28mm...

my first 28mm, and my second lens purchase after the 'kit lens 50/1.2' from the 80s, was pentax K 28/2.8 shift. Still have it. Can be used with canon FF.

then my worst lens ever: Tokina 28/2.8 rmc something... soft wide open, still soft step down, ok at f8. Still have it. Fell so wrong to sell to another person. It is still as-new and will be my new modify project.

then just regular one by one: pentax M and A 28/2.8, K 28/3.5, A 28/2.
2 Vivitar 28/2.8 (among 30 other vivitars) close focus and sms.
Kiron 28/2
then half dozen in m42: pentacon, vivitar, petri, ... some havent been mounted, yet.

then Olympus Zuiko 28/2.8, 28/3.5 and nikkor ais 28/2.8, 28/3.5 and 28/3.5PC, and canon fd

latest 28 is the K 28/2 'pentax's distagon', due to availability and pricy.

I found all f3.5 and f2.0 razor sharp, and f2.8 are so so.

[walter g]

I have a Vivitar Kiron 28mm f2.5 which I use for my EOS 10D. For when I shoot film in my Minolta I have a Minolta MD 28 2.8.
For my Canon film cameras I have a Soligor like Kathmandu has.
As soon as I get a NEX, my next big purchase will hopefully be a Minolta MD 28mm f2. Unfortunately everyone else wants one and the prices have really risen over the last couple years.

[RTI]

[jjphoto]

I had a loaner Leica M4-P for a little while, with the M 28/2.8 ASPH. Man, what a lens. If that focal length and rangefinders are your thing then the M 28/2.8 ASPH would be my pick.

JJ

[heartcat]

It is interesting to me that someone else found the RMC Tokina 28mm 2.8 to be their worst lens at that focal length. I have one and absoluely love it. In fact it might well be my favourite lens.

I was never a wide angle shooter (not that 28mm is that 'wide' on my crop sensor) but I had picked up a Tokina made Vivitar 35mm 2.8 and it made me want to try other Tokina lenses. I happened upon an RMC Tokina 28mm 2.8 on the 'bay for $11.50 and couldn't resist. I loved it from the first test shots.

I have found it to be very sharp, even from wide open. Sharpness is retained even at significant crops. It is close focusing with beautiful, natural colour straight out of the camera. I love it so much I have since picked up a couple of inexpensive RMC Tokina zooms, which while not quite as sharp, have been good value nonetheless.

I haven't tried any other 28mm lenses, but have no desire to do so. I am quite happy with my Tokina and it is my 'go to' lens most of the time. Even if I'm planning on using a longer focal length I usually bring it along 'just in case'. I'm not very adept at post processing and that aspect of photography isn't something I really enjoy, so I like that my Tokina 28mm photos need very minimal processing.

A few samples.

[eddieitman]

Have to agree i have the Tokina 28mm RMC and it is a very nice lens

My favourite 28mm would be the Kiron 28mm F2 then the Konica 28mm F3.5

[hoanpham]

My copy is a very different one

I saw another copy of this lens in the local fleamarket for 2 euros and let it go.
Also I saw a Tokina 17 in K mount for 30usd, and let it go.
Told myself: never by anything with Tokina name on it.

Very nice and very good contrast photos.
I have to re-think the Tokina brand...

[ManualFocus-G]

I went:

Pentacon 30/3.5 - very nice bokeh and vintage look to landscapes (kept)
Vivitar 28/2.8 (Komine) - Nice and sharp but colours are a bit flat to me (kept)
Tamron AD1 28/2.8 - Decent lens all round (sold)
Tamron AD2 28/2.5 - As above, slightly contrastier (sold)
Carl Zeiss Distagon 28/2.8 AE - Stunning! This was my entry into Contax lenses and I haven't looked back. Great pop, bucketloads of contrast and sharp in the corners stopped down to f5.6 or so (sold)
Carl Zeiss Distagon 28/2.8 MM - Stunning + 1! Same as AE but sharper wide open in the corners (kept - primary 28mm)
Yashica ML 28/2.8 - Excellent lens, very sharp. Weird lug on some of them which means it won't mount on ff Canons (sold)
Konica Hexanon 28/3.5 AE - Very good, probably on a par with the Tamron AD2 28/2.5, or slightly better (kept...for the mo)
Tokina RMC 28/28 - Not tried yet

[Tedat]

until today it was the Vivitar close focus 2/28 (Komine), now after a few tests in bad weather I can say it's the Konica UC Hexanon 1.8/28. It's very sharp even wide open and has beautiful colors.. I already love it!

[indianadinos]

Well, the best 28mm ever mounted on my cameras is undoubtely the SMC Pentax-K 28/3.5:


SMC Pentax-K 28 3.5 - IMGP7673 by indianadinos, on Flickr



SMC Pentax-K 28 3.5 - IMGP7654 by indianadinos, on Flickr



Engine Alliance GP7200 Inlet - _IGP2925 by indianadinos, on Flickr


Too pity, up to now i didn't yet have the time for playing with my other 28mm ...
But i think it will be harder to find one better than this one (at least, in my closet) ...

[timo832000]

Tried two cheap Porst 2.8/28, a Vivitar 2.8/28, a Pentax m 2.8/28, a Pentax A 2.8/28 and a SMC Tak 3.5/28. Except the Tak al those lenses did not fulfill my requirements, maybe some of them are not htat bad, but I did not like them.
The Tak is a very good lens with solid perfomance and fantastic haptics. For me the only disadvantage of the Tak is it`s mount. I don`t like using M42 lenses on Pentax cameras.
So I hope for me the story ends with my newest aquisition, the Pentax M 2/28.

If you are interested in, have also a look on this thread:

http://forum.mflenses.com/smc-pentax-m-12-28mm-pix-added-t45201.html

[Attila]

my order is Konica 28mm f1.8 UC Hexanon, Konica 28mm f3.5 EE, Nikon 28mm f2.8 close focus, vivitar series 1 28mm f1.9 , etc

[barnaby]

I have not tried many, so comparisons would be difficult for me. My first wide lens was the Pentacon 30mm 3.5 so I was kind of happy from the start. However I did discover the Tak's SMC's and have built a rather nice collection of them, of cause a collection would not be complete without the 28 3.5 SMC Tak. I now find myself jostling between the Pent. and the Tak.

I am very happy with the two lenses and can't see any reason why I would want to change that, but, and there is always a but! A good friend of mine has just given me a Tamron 28mm 2.8 BBAR Multi C. in FD mount, I quite like using M42's on my Canon EOS and am now after a mount for this Tamron so I can give it a try, I just hope it does not prize me away from my Pent and beloved Tak.

indianadinos that SMC Pentax-K 28/3.5 really is something special, I am loving the shot of the turbine inlet.

[NewStuff]

I don't actually own a 28 of any variety. I like my Pentacon 30/3.5 too much, and 28 isn't that much wider.

[james]

Let's see....started out with a Nikkor 'E' 28/2.8 years ago when I was shooting film. Never took to the lens; as I recall, soft in the corners even to ƒ5.6 and color fringing. I "upgraded" to the pricey 24/2 which wasn't much of an upgrade, sadly.

Years later, bought a Nikkor 28/2 AIS; very fine bit of glass; little to complain and more than usable at ƒ2. Had a ZF 2/28 for a stretch but found that its quirks of strong field curvature and CA adding little to what I already had from the Nikkor, so I sold it (at a profit!).

Last but not least was a Leica R 28 Elmarit v.2 that unexpectedly made itself available. Broke the bank with that one but the delicate subtleties of color reproduction, lower contrast, *very* different drawing style than my Nikkor and startling resolution almost to the last 1-2mm in the corner of the frame at 2.8 has plainly been revelatory.

[ManualFocus-G]

Ooh I tell you what is good...the Nikkor n.c. 28/2. There is a fast, Sharp lens with good coating

[uhoh7]

great thread

incredible jet engine! I need to learn to make image hot for clicks to full like that

[DSG]

[Excalibur]