Customer Reviews

Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Make sure you buy it with the knowledge that you won't be able to use it to the full extent a wide angle lens is used to. Otherwise you will be severely disappointed with this lens. But just how so?

I know a photographer that uses this lens for wedding photography with her 10D. For her the lens does the job wonderfully. The lens takes sharp pictures, is light enough to haul around in a wedding, and wide enough on a 1.6 form factor camera to provide sufficient field of view for such event. The field of view on a 1.6 form factor camera would be equivalent to 45mm on full format; almost normal view.

I on the other hand used my 28mm lens for nature photography, and let me tell you the results were not just disappointing but down right useless! Simply stated, you will not be able to use high contrast/saturation landscape and nature pictures that are procuded by this lens. The bright sun will cause sever chromatic aberration in your pictures. Hence, the fringes of trees and light poles for example will display the dreaded discoloration (with this lens the color is generally purple). Every tree branch at the top corners will become purple at the fringes. Those are truly unacceptable results.

Now for the big question, is it possible that I had a bad copy? Probably not. After being so disappointed I researched this lens extensively (especially on Fred Miranda site) and found that others had the same problem. In fact, its overall score on that site was 7.4 at the time of my research, thus my 3 star rating. After learning the facts I decided to return the lens instead of exchanging it with another one. Since then I have ordered a 17-40 L.

Should you order it? This lens is a great value. In fact, I rank it as a best value lens after the 50mm 1.8 in the lower end range of Canon prime lenses. Nonetheless, don't expect to take stunning nature photos with it; otherwise chromatic aberration will stun you!

PS. I agree with most of what a previous reviewer mentioned in his post, but wonder if he owns a good copy. This lens has been in production for a while and there may be a difference in quality between various batches out there.

Waterfall lovers will appreciate a 28mm lens, and the Canon f/2.8 is no exception. A 24mm lens often puts you into the spray zone. A 35mm lens isn't as dramatic. I prefer fixed focal length lenses for waterfalls and similar landscapes to eliminate the ghosting that blemishes photos taken with zoom lenses: this lens has fewer groups/elements, consequently fewer internal reflections. I sometimes couple this lens with a 12mm Kenko extension tube to create dramatic closeups of flowers.

Don't feel the more expensive f/1.4 is a "better" lens. In my experience, the ultrawide aperture lenses are harder to optically correct and seldom noticeably better--but they are noticeably heavier and more expensive. While the wide aperture might help with shooting action, you should ask yourself if a significant fraction of your photos require this. Otherwise you're paying money for nothing.

In short, this inexpensive lens is a solid performer and a great value.

I bought this lens some time ago and have taken several photos with it since then. I can assure you that despite this lens is quite inexpensive and made maily of cheap plastic, it produces wonderful photos! Sharp on all four cornes! Do not buy that Canon 50mm lens if you have a 1.6 crop factor camera such as Canon Xti or Canon 40D because it will become a 80mm! This Canon AF 28mm F/2.8 on a 1.6 crop factor Camera is actually a 44mm and will do the job much better. It is very light and fast. I really enjoy to connect this little lens to my Canon 40D and go around the city capturing all that I find Interesting. The ony thing I would say against this lens is that it is not a USM lens what means that the auto focus is a little slow sometimes however, for the price it is what you get and I really do not not care to wait a few seconds more for the focus mecanism to lock on the subject of my photo. I RECOMMEND THIS LENS! IT IS A JOY IN MY LIFE AND AN EXCELLENT TOOL... FOR PROFESSIONALS AND AMATEURS....

I bought this lens for a couple of reasons. First of all, I picked it up REALLY cheap used (and you can get it quite cheap even new). Secondly, I really wanted a standard-view lens for my Rebel XT. But honestly, I can't say that I am extremely impressed with it. Simply put, the sharpness is just not there like it is with, say, the 20mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, or 50mm f/1.4. In fact, sharpness ranges from equal to worse than the 28-105mm (depending on aperture). There also seems to be somewhat of a decentering effect, where the right side of the picture is ESPECIALLY soft. And chromatic aberrations are on the high side. Honestly, I don't now how Canon went wrong with this lens, as the 35mm f/2 is a VERY similar design and actually a GREAT lens. Oh, and like the 35mm f/2, build quality leaves something to be desired.

On the other hand, it IS better than the kit zoom. And even though it really can't beat the 28-105mm in terms of sharpness, it DOES beat that lens in terms of contrast and color saturation. Oh, and it is cheap. So it may at least be worth considering. But overall, I would pass on this lens in favor of the MUCH better 35mm f/2. Of course, the 35mm f/2 is somewhat pricier than this lens (but well worth it).

Great price for this 2.8 lens if you do a lot of architectural work. On a crop factor body (I used it on a 30D and 40D), it produces virtually no distortion. Only gripes are that is focuses slow and noisy.

I like my Canon EFS 60mm f2.8 USM better, but this 28mm f2.8 lens is easily equal to it (just noisier focusing). With both lenses the colors, contrast, and sharpness are excellent. I prefer the 60mm lens only because getting up close, without actually getting up close, is more comfortable for me, and I think people are more relaxed when there is space between them and the camera. But when I'm shooting in a crowded space, indoors or outdoors, this little lens earns its keep. I wouldn't want to be without it. I also like my super-cheap Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. It too is very sharp for a budget lens. I wish they had made that 50mm the kit lens that came with my camera. I guess that was a marketing decision - thinking that a zoom lens would impress more potential buyers.

My camera is the 12.2MP XSi and I can't afford L-Series lenses. I'm an amateur on a limited budget. But, with these three lenses, and my Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II printer, I can print startlingly sharp images up to 13X16". The prints are especially sharp when shooting in RAW format. Cheap Class 6 32GB secure memory cards are now available so storage of large RAW photographs is no longer a burden. With all this, I can't justify purchasing a more expensive camera or purchasing L-series lenses.

Actually, when shooting people up close, sharpness is of lesser importance - after a certain point. I also use the Canon EF-S zoom 55-250mm IS lens. In very crowded outdoor events (like town festivals and sporting events) this lens reaches out into the crowds to catch people in the act of being themselves. Setting the camera to Portrait softens the complexions of the subjects - making them look better in my photographs than they do in life. Also, when I increase the ISO setting I can get cool shots of athletes in action. I especially like this lens because of the Image Stabilizer. With it I can shoot at its extreme length without needing a tripod or mono-pod.

I'm very happy with my choice of cameras and with my lens collection - except for the kit lens that came with the camera. I guess it's okay, but it lacks that certain something that would make me want to use it. Being a zoom lens is about all it has going for it.

It may seem that I have gone too far off the subject. I did this because I figured that anyone in the market for a budget 28mm Canon lens might benefit from a broader view of what to buy now, and what to buy in the future. I can't help that I'm a talkative and opinionated old geezer.

Pros: * Sharp center at F2.8, sharp corners at F5.6-8.0
* Great contrast, vivid color reproduction
* no problems with flaring
* fast autofocusing
* has focus ring,distance scale (unlike 50mm f1.8)
* metal lens mount, more solid feel unlike 50mm f1.8
* decent price $200-250

Cons:
* LOTS of chromatic aberration/ Color fringing
* soft corners on full frame
* AF hunts a lot in low light situations
* noisy AF motor
* this lens is known for having bad copies (unsharp at any aperture due to bad glass)
(mine was great though)

Summary:
If you want another prime lens to add to your 50mm f1.8, this lens is a good buy especially since
the 28mm on a crop 1.6 is closer to a real 50mm (28mm=45mm 1.6X crop Rebel, 40D,50D,etc)
Image quality is on par with the 50mm f1.8, but it just has the big color fringing issues.
Also, another good prime although more expensive at $320 is the Canon 35mm F2.0 .....

I had used this lens at night with low light and taken many indoor shots. My camera multiplies the les to 1.6 and it become a 44mm lens. The shots were cystal clear.

I have been happy with this lens so far, using it on a Canon 30D body. The glass is decent quality, without any significant vignetting. It's not particularly wide angle, due in part to the 1.3 magnification factor on the 30D, so not great for getting the full room at a party for instance, but works well for landscapes and such.

My only complaint with it is the noise when focusing, which is significant, and can be distracting if you're shooting a wedding or conference where noise is an issue.

I bought two used copies of this lens in an effort to get a good one. Both copies I tested were very sharp and had good contrast although on one the CA was noticably higher than on the other. On the better copy, images are extremely sharp and CA is almost non-existant. (And with CS2's new functions, what CA there is is easy to get rid of.) Although this lens's only downfall is CA, there are copies out there where even this problem is minimized. For a x1.6 camera, such as the 350D, this is a great "50mm" classic prime!