Fuji A question about the Nikon 28/2.8 AI-S

kevistopheles

Top Veteran
It's been ages since I've used any Nikon lenses and even then it wasn't MF stuff. The question I have is does anyone know about this lens? I ask because after doing a bit of research I've come up with some pretty contradictory stuff. If what I have read is to be believed it is both sharp and not sharp, can close focus and not close focus and has both good contrast and low contrast.

So after all that and checking a number of images it appears to actually be very sharp closeup and middle distances but perhaps not its best at infinity (although some claim it is good a small apertures just not infinity). The 20cm MFD sounds pretty appealing to me and since I'm not a big shooter of landscapes any softness at infinity isn't a big loss. Besides on my XE1 it's a 42mm EFL so...

Are there any users of this lens and of so what do you think?
 
It's optically pretty much the same as the 28 f2.8 D auto-focus lens, but is built better and has a nicer MF action. Within Nikon full frame circles, people shooting the 36mp sensor bodies generally aren't too fond of it, people shooting 12 or 16mp are generally pretty happy with it, and people shooting 24mp are mixed, probably down to how picky they are. It's a film era lens, so it's not going to be as sharp in the corner of a full frame file as some of the newer lenses. I shoot with a 16mp Df and I was happy enough with it when I had the "D" version - a bit soft wide open but not terrible, and pretty nice stopped down. I'd think it would be more than fine on any of the crop-sensor Fuji models at 16mp, which isn't the highest resolution and the corners are never seen... Although I don't know that it would be any better than the Fuji 27, which is a pretty nice little lens at roughly the same focal length. But I'm sure the MF action would be a good deal better...

-Ray
 
Looking at the Nikon was really an attempt to find a nice sharp 28 that would fill a need that I can't find in the Fuji native lenses. I want a lens like the Panasonic 20/1.7 on m43. It was my ideal EFL at 40mm, sharp, reasonably fast and close focused to about 6 inches. That perfectly suits my needs and there doesn't appear to any such beast in the Fuji X lineup. The 27 is definitely sharp and has my favored EFL but the longish 13" MFD is a pain. The 35 is a terrific lens but I don't particularly like 50mm EFL (I never liked the PL25/1.4) and the 10" MFD is better but not great. The Nikon was meant to fill in that hole but right now I have a Vivitar 28/2 close focus and it does the job well enough.
 
I used to own this lens, and on Nikon film cameras it was a great performer. I think some of the mixed feedback on the 'net about this lens is because some/many confuse the Nikon "Series E" 28mm f/2.8 lens with it. While technically the Series E lenses also were indeed "AI-S" the 28/2.8E had a different optical formula without close-range correction (and all the Series E lenses were built to a lower build-quality standard for a lower price point).

The "real" 28mm f/2.8 AI-S that you're referring to has Nikon's CRC which allows the shorter MFD and superior performance close up. When I owned it, it was among my favorite lenses and I always considered it a stellar performer. I no longer have it, though (I liked it on my 12MP D3 but sold it when I moved to the 36MP D800E), and I never tried it on a Fuji.

Using Fuji's now, though, I find the performance of the 27 to be excellent - have you considered putting one of the new extension tubes on a 27 to solve your closer-focus needs?
 
I used to own this lens, and on Nikon film cameras it was a great performer. I think some of the mixed feedback on the 'net about this lens is because some/many confuse the Nikon "Series E" 28mm f/2.8 lens with it. While technically the Series E lenses also were indeed "AI-S" the 28/2.8E had a different optical formula without close-range correction (and all the Series E lenses were built to a lower build-quality standard for a lower price point).

The "real" 28mm f/2.8 AI-S that you're referring to has Nikon's CRC which allows the shorter MFD and superior performance close up. When I owned it, it was among my favorite lenses and I always considered it a stellar performer. I no longer have it, though (I liked it on my 12MP D3 but sold it when I moved to the 36MP D800E), and I never tried it on a Fuji.

Using Fuji's now, though, I find the performance of the 27 to be excellent - have you considered putting one of the new extension tubes on a 27 to solve your closer-focus needs?


I went with the 18-55 (and I can use an extension tube with it). I suspect that it's the start of a few more native lenses.
 
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