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I bought my first 28mm Nikkor lens at a local photo store. It was sitting in the case and looked like it was rarely used.. I asked to look at it, no scratches, no dust, fungus or haze. It was 25$ and I couldn’t get my debit card out fast enough. “Hmmm, I”ll take it.” I researched the serial number when I got home and learned more about AI and AI-S. It was an AI version. I knew I liked a wide angle lens and I had read about the 28’s being a great focal length.
I had read quite a bit about Nikkor lenses and also Nikon Series E lens. How can I not help being interested? Truly these lenses are optical engineering marvels. Even the Series E was recognized as having good performance but there was this one particular reference to the Series E 28 f2.8 that was’t kind…
I’m not a professional and I don’t claim it. I’m far more an amateur enthusiast. I’ve heard that my photography is more of a photojournalist style than anything. I think I can live with that.
Sometimes I’ll buy a lens just because a professional photographer writer just doesn’t like it. I want to know why. I want to understand what they see that the don’t like. So I found an acceptable copy of a Series E 28mm and started to use it and quickly it became a lens I placed on my everyday carry camera. I really liked the perspective it gave my pictures. I like that lens and I like my AI version.
That’s why I really don’t pay too much attention to people that review lenses without proving their point with methodical photographs and objective rendering.
Anyway, in a period of equipment reduction to, “just what I need, both of the 28’s were sold to Used Photo Pro. Their team of purchasers are far more equitable in pricing than KEH. That comes from apple to apple comparisons in selling my lenses. I took the proceeds from the first reduction sale and invested in a few higher end lenses. I trimmed my kit to a lean collection of quality auto focus lenses.
But I ended up missing the Series E 28, my 50mm f1.2 AI-S. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed working to get great shots with my manual focus cameras and lenses. I completely sold ALL of my manual focus kit. The reason was simple, I wanted to get serious about my photography with a quality kit of G series lenses for my F6 and D780.
It was a mistake to sell my manual focus kit.
I loved goofing around with a manual focus lens and a basic camera. The F3 I had was nice but not simple enough. I needed a much simpler design. The needle match system of my FE2 was what I liked over the LED of the F3. The 00 and 0 frames of my FE2 and F3 would not meter, they just got wound on the spool. I wanted those extra frames and #37 too! I wanted simple and I wanted more frames per roll.
I researched the Nikon line and bought an FE and the MD-12. I liked the grip far better than the MD-4 on the F3. I found one, bought it and cleaned it up. I sourced a grid viewfinder screen and started thinking, “how many lens do I need for this camera?” Before I knew it, I was working past 6 or 7 AI and AI-S lenses. Damn it. I was doing it again. My full kit for the F6 and D780 was 8 lenses from 14 to 500mm and I’m really happy with it but I was just collecting manual focus lenses, again.
Used Photo Pro back in town and I sold my extras (again) and was left with the AI 20mm f4, the 50mm f1.8 JP pancake and the 135mm f2.8 AI. I love the close focus of the JP pancake and the wide end of the petite 20mm f4. I decided on the 28mm f2.8 AI-S which had a close focus of about 8” I really like the 18” focus on my JP pancake 50mm. I enjoy the 28mm perspective and the close focus is really going to promote the creative.
I now have a small but tight four lens quiver for the Nikon FE. 20mm f4 AI, 28mm f2.8 AI-S and the 50mm f1.8 AI-S. I get the killer wide from the 20, the close 8” focus wide with the 28 and the 50mm normal also has a relatively 18” close focus normal view with the 50mm. The 135mm f2.8 AI has a super sharp focus and a long throw on the focus ring. This is a sharp, bokeh lens for portrait and street.
This is a good lens kit for walking around, goofing around with my FE. This simplicity provides extra frame metering and precise wide and close focus along with the 135mm portrait centric lens.
Just what I want, just what I need.
I’m sure that this lens is going to be one of my favorites.
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