Photography Life

PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels

  • Lens Reviews
  • Camera Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Compare Cameras
  • Forum
    • Sign Up
    • Login
  • About
  • Search
Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Nikon 28mm f/1.8G Review

Nikon 28mm f/1.8G Review

By Nasim Mansurov 53 Comments
Last Updated On August 11, 2020

«»

Summary

At just $699, the Nikon 28mm f/1.8G costs almost a third of the Nikon 28mm f/1.4E and yet offers relatively solid performance overall. It produces beautiful images with excellent colors, deals very well with ghosting and flare and despite its 7 blade diaphragm, it actually renders bokeh nicely at large apertures. During my lab testing, I discovered that the Nikon 28mm f/1.8G suffers from focus shift and field curvature issues, as noted earlier in this review. Even after testing three samples of the lens, I saw similar issues on all of them, which indicates that it is not just sample variation, but rather the result of its optical design. Interestingly, even the 28mm f/1.4E has similar field curvature issues (although its focus shift is under control), so it is not like you can fully get away with it by buying a much more expensive version.

Nikon 28mm f/1.8G Sample (8)
NIKON D3200 + 28mm f/1.8 @ 28mm, ISO 160, 1/60, f/5.6

To be honest though, unless you are planning to photograph flat subjects (where field curvature might make mid-frame appear less sharp compared to the center), I would not worry about it. The bigger issue is focus shift in my opinion – if you notice that your focused area drifts from where you actually focused initially, you might want to use live view and stop down the lens to the desired aperture in order to accurately focus on your subject. And if you shoot landscapes at small apertures, you probably won’t notice problems with focus shift anyway…

Overall, I would certainly recommend this lens to anyone looking for a fast and reasonably priced 28mm prime. Despite its flaws (which many other lenses have as well), the Nikon 28mm f/1.8G is a great addition to the f/1.8 family of fixed focal length lenses.

Nikon 28mm f/1.8G Sample (20)
NIKON D4 + 28mm f/1.8 @ 28mm, ISO 250, 1/1600, f/2.8

Where to Buy

You can order your copy of the Nikon 28mm f/1.8G lens for $699 from B&H Photo Video.

Nikon 28mm f/1.8G
  • Optical Performance
  • Features
  • Bokeh Quality
  • Build Quality
  • Focus Speed and Accuracy
  • Handling
  • Value
  • Size and Weight

Photography Life Overall Rating

Photograhy Life Silver Award
4.5

Table of Contents

  • Overview and Specifications
  • Optical Features
  • Lens Comparisons
  • Summary
  • More Image Samples
  • Reader Comments
«»
Looking for even more exclusive content?

On Photography Life, you already get world-class articles with no advertising every day for free. As a Member, you'll get even more:

Silver ($5/mo)
  • Exclusive articles
  • Monthly Q&A chat
  • Early lens test results
  • "Creative Landscape Photography" eBook
Gold ($12/mo)
  • All that, PLUS:
  • Online workshops
  • Monthly photo critiques
  • Vote on our next lens reviews
 
Click Here to Join Today
 
Disclosures, Terms and Conditions and Support Options

Learn

  • Beginner Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Wildlife Photography
  • Portraiture
  • Post-Processing
  • Advanced Tutorials
Photography Life on Patreon

Reviews

  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews
  • Best Cameras and Lenses

Photography Tutorials

Photography Basics
Landscape Photography
Wildlife Photography
Macro Photography
Composition & Creativity
Black & White Photography
Night Sky Photography
Portrait Photography
Street Photography
Photography Videos

Unique Gift Ideas

Best Gifts for Photographers

Subscribe via Email

If you like our content, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly email updates using the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Beginner Photography
  • Lens Database
  • Lens Index
  • Photo Spots
  • Search
  • Forum

Reviews

  • Reviews Archive
  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews

More

  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Workshops
  • Support Us
  • Submit Content

Copyright © 2025 ยท Photography Life

You are going to send email to

Move Comment