Not many appreciated or agreed to the fact for me going to buy a 28mm lens for my crop sensor camera. I did some basic study on the internet but then the reviews had its own negative impacts on me. It took a while for me to understand & then I strongly believed that this focal length is something special and would give some amazing results for wide as well as portrait compositions.
In this post, I wanted to narrate how this 28mm makes my day quite often and is one of the best lenses I have in the collection.
Photos by Siddharthan Raman
#1 The Focal Length
Quiet interesting it was for me to figure out that there exists something called a 28mm f/1.8 against the likes of 35mm and the 40mm pancake lens(focal length). But what made me push further was the aperture at which it can respond to low light photography. The focal length hailing at 28mm is a huge benefit for me & having been an ardent fan of prime lenses, I had hardly used my kit lens nor my zoom over quite some period of time. I am a firm believer in getting closer to the subject or scene rather than twisting my lenses. Hence, Investing on a 28mm was always a good bet for it can save you a fortune while 1 day I plan to upgrade to a full frame sensor.
#2 Properties
It was very shallow and pretty decent to start with. Super strong bokeh at 1.8 but I wouldnt say it is really sharp when wide open. The sweet spot is somewhere between 2.2 -2.8 and you can hardly notice the DOF differences. Very pleasant and a dreamy bokeh to counteract all the other stuff and I was very much in awe right from the beginning. A pretty decent built quality with an unbelievably noiseless USM motor and a crisp AF sensor.
#3 Objective
I love the way this lens makes me shoot versatile. Shooting both landscapes and beautiful portraits with this super fast lens is infact an added advantage. The beauty of this focal length is compelling and the nearest focusing distance is pretty less for you to get really closer to your subject while shooting portraits.
#4 Verdict
A real workhorse with excellent possibilities for you to experiment and go about. Image quality and chromatic aberrations are yes quite visible when wide open. But then we can shoot some unbelievable angles and interesting compositions always. My favorite and walkaround lens when on streets and travel. I love it over the 50mm for its wide characteristic able to deliver better.
