I recently added the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z into my Nikon Z system arsenal mainly because I needed a wide-angle coverage for my street shooting. I have the venerable 40mm F2 Z, so adding the brother lens 28mm F2.8 Z makes sense - both are compact-sized, budget prime lens designed primarily for street shooters. I found the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z on Lazada (online retail store here in Malaysia) at such a good price during a recent sales event, I just could not resist the temptation, and since I have the lens, I have been shooting on the streets with the lens mounted on my Nikon Z5. I am sharing my quick thoughts on the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z for street photography, as well as plenty of fresh images! I have also made a video to talk about this, you can find it here (click).
DESIGN & BUILD
The Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z that I have is the "SE" version, or Special Edition, with a classic-retro design resembling the older Nikon film SLR lenses. The design is beautiful, it looks sleek, and it matches the Z5 camera body very well. I do love how it looks, and it does inspire you to pick it up and shoot more, which is a positive. The lens is rather compact in size, being a 28mm wide angle prime with bright aperture F2.8, and it weighs only 160g, which is insanely light for a full frame lens. It pairs very well together with the Nikon Z5, handling is not an issue as I have shot with this combination roaming the streets of Kuala Lumpur for several hours. The lens body/chassis is made of entirely plastic, that is to be expected considering the budget price tag, but what bothers me a little is the choice to use plastic for the lens mount. A metal mount would have inspired a bit more confidence, as I do change lenses a lot.
AUTOFOCUS
Autofocus while using the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z on the Z5 is blazing fast and super reliable. Using the human face/eye Ai tracking, the camera locks onto human eye or face almost instantaneously and managed to follow the movement within the frame very effectively. Whether I was using AF-S or AF-C, the camera and lens combo performed very well, delivering high hit rate when I was trying to hit critical moments.
LENS SHARPNESS & BOKEH
Nikon claims the use of 9 elements in 8 groups optical construction, with some special elements, namely 2 aspherical lenses. Looking at the image output, I am quite impressed by the sharpness of the lens, even shooting at wide open aperture F2.8. Images come out very sharp, full of fine details and very good contrast. The sharpness is also quite consistent from edge to edge and corner to corner, though there is a noticeable drop in sharpness at the extreme corners, but this is not a big issue to me as I am using the lens for street photography, and corner performance is not a priority. I would not hesitate to shoot at wide open F2.8 if I have to.
The lens renders beautiful bokeh. The out of focus areas looks smooth, buttery and creamy. It is not distracting or nervous and combining the pleasing looking bokeh with sharp in focus area, you can achieve the "3D pop", images look almost 3 Dimensional, they look realistic and organic. I really like the rendering of this lens.
LENS FLAW CONTROL
The lens manages flaws quite well. I do not notice any barrel distortion, but this could easily be due to the use of some software correction, which is not a problem. There is some purple fringing (chromatic aberration) at high contrast areas, but the purple fringing quickly disappears as the lens is stopped down from F2.8 to F4. I observe some flare and ghosting when shooting against strong sources of light, but this is also not a deal-breaker, it is a common trait for wide angle lenses and the flare is quite well controlled too. Vignetting can be an issue if that is important to you, drop of light is noticeable. To me, as I said before, corner performance is not critical for street photography. Your mileage may vary.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Having used the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z extensively for my own street shooting, I must say I have enjoyed using it tremendously, and I was pleased with its results. I highly recommend this lens to any Nikon Z shooters who do street photography. The lens is compact, lightweight, delivers sharp and beautiful results yet the asking price is on the budget side. I only wish the lens is weather-sealed, and it has metal mount, but I understand the omission of these features considering the low-price tag.
Having used the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z extensively for my own street shooting, I must say I have enjoyed using it tremendously, and I was pleased with its results. I highly recommend this lens to any Nikon Z shooters who do street photography. The lens is compact, lightweight, delivers sharp and beautiful results yet the asking price is on the budget side. I only wish the lens is weather-sealed, and it has metal mount, but I understand the omission of these features considering the low-price tag.
Have you owned the Nikon 28mm Z? Do share your thoughts!
