Nikon 28mm f/2.8 E Series Manual Ai Lens Review

A review of the Nikon 28mm 2.8 E Series lens. This lens is similar to the 50mm 1.8e in terms of build quality, focus ring, and value. In order to use this lens a camera body with the Ai indexing tab will be required. The models that I know will work are any of the current 7000 series cameras, any FF, and the D1's and D2's.
See my written review: https://www.outsidetheshot.com/nikon-...

There is heavy vignetting at 2.8, less at 4, and it is mostly gone at 5.6. I'm not crazy about the heavy vignetting, but if you're after that type of effect, I greatly prefer to have it come from a lens than adding it in post. The vignetting could also be removed in post, but I prefer being lazy.

While I'm sure there is some distortion going on, it was not apparent enough to bother me. While the lens is decently sharp in the center, there is falloff around the edges. I'm not bothered by soft edges. IMO, corner to corner sharpness causes lenses to be over-corrected resulting in flat dead looking images. If you need corner to corner sharpness, the wide angle 1.8g series lenses are great. The downside being the $750 price tag.

Copies of the lens can be had for ~$50-$60 by watching for eBay auctions. The lenses being sold for "buy it now" are clumped up around $100-$130. When copies are available on Amazon they're also similar to the eBay prices.

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