28mm on a Crop Sensor - The 40mm Experience

Using a 28mm f/2 Nikkor 28mm lens on a Nikon D2Xs, I photographed this scene at three different settings, all with 1/125th shutter speed. The first was at 3200 ISO and f/8. The high ISO negated any advantage of the small aperture. The third was at 200 ISO and f/2. Despite what I had read about the excellence of this lens even wide open, it was not the best. The picture shown here was easily the best despite the use of 800 ISO where received wisdom says that the D2X becomes unusable. The aperture was f/4. In every case I cleaned the photos up using the same settings on Lightroom. That made a big improvement to all of them.

Draining board photographed using a Nikon D2Xs and a Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens. On the D2Xs the field-of-view is equivalent to a 42mm lens on full-frame camera, so it obviously loses its wide-angle character on an APS-C DSLR. Interviewed for ‘Camera & Darkroom’ magazine during the 1980s, Sally Mann (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Mann) said she had supported her artwork by doing lots of small freelance jobs. For this work she often used a 40mm Zuiko lens on a 35mm camera. She felt that 40mm was "about right." Mike Johnston comments on the 40mm focal length in 'The Online Photographer' theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/why-40mm.html For photographers who find 35mm generally too wide, and 50mm a bit too tight, 42mm could be the answer. Of course this presupposes you have never heard of a zoom lens. These devices are a boon to photographers who like to root themselves to one spot and twizzle a zoom ring to frame. Put another way, if you have to move yourself around a bit and change your perspective, the chances are that you will get a picture you would not otherwise get. But with kitchen sinks as your subject, it might not work as well as prime lens devotees often claim.

Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens, made circa 1981, and said by Bjørn Rørslett to be excellent for DX, FX, and on film. Rørslett commented that the lens offers outstandingly sharp images and these are produced at all aperture settings from f/2 to f/8. Rørslett found it unusually resistant to flare and ghosting and eminently suitable for shooting directly into the sun. ISO 100; f/3.3; 1/80th.

Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens, made circa 1981, and said by Bjørn Rørslett to be excellent for DX, FX, and on film. Rørslett commented that the lens offers outstandingly sharp images and these are produced at all aperture settings from f/2 to f/8. Rørslett found it unusually resistant to flare and ghosting and eminently suitable for shooting directly into the sun.

Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens, made circa 1981, and said by Bjørn Rørslett to be excellent for DX, FX, and on film. Rørslett commented that the lens offers outstandingly sharp images and these are produced at all aperture settings from f/2 to f/8. Rørslett found it unusually resistant to flare and ghosting and eminently suitable for shooting directly into the sun.

Photographed with a Nikon D2Xs fitted with a manual 28mm f/2 Nikkor AI lens and a Minolta Close-Up No. 1 supplementary lens.

Nikon D300s and Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens.

Nikon D300s and Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens.

The manual focus 28mm f/2 Nikkor lens stood at the top of the tree. Owners of the f/2.8 version think their lens is somehow better, but I doubt that can be so.