What Is Wrong With 28mm? –It's The Most Ignored and Rejected Lens

5:28 Micro Four Thirds
6:00 Nikon
6:29 Canon
7:00 Others

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My name is Matti Sulanto, I'm a photographer based in Helsinki Finland.

[mattisulanto]

After I recorded the video I realized that Viltrox has a 28mm F1.8 for Sony. Somehow I ignored that.

[ReiDoesIt]

I believe the wider you go, the more skill of composition and light capture you need. As an amateur, even 35mm feels too wide for me to get good results, let alone 28mm or 24mm. Hats down to pro's like you who can get results from 24mm or 28mm 🎉

[windle]

One of my favorites for the micro four-thirds is the Panasonic-Leica 15mm F1.7 (30mm). It's not quite a 28 but it's awfully close. It's compact, sharp, and a superb option for this type of photography.

[borderlands]

The optimum focal length is a function of how close you are comfortable shooting people. In crowded, elbow-to-elbow situations 20mm is not too wide, but 28mm is a good compromise. A lot of classic black and white New York street photography was shot on a 28.

[DanniPortillo]

28 mm should be used to tell a story. They're fantastic for street photography if you get close. They're wonderful lenses for everyday shooting. You'll get a deeper depth of field than you will with a 35mm lens. I just love it but that's my opinion.

Great video

[edc]

Fuji's 18mm 1.4 or f2 has a 27mm field of view. Also, the X100v has a 28mm conversion lens that works very well. I use it all the time.

[michaelschneider]

I love 28mm, but I started as a film photographer. 28 seems to be more popular with folks that came through film. In film, I shot Contax with Zeiss lenses. The 28 was my go-to street and wide. I still use that lens adapted. I have larger cameras and use the HUGE Sigma Art 28mm f1.4 DG HSM, that is an incredible lens, one of their best ones, but it is It was released with one of their best, the Sigma Art 105 f1.4 DG HSM and the 40 f1.4 DG HSM

[ledheavy]

28mm has always been my favorite wide angle lens. Coming from the film days I had 24mm lenses labeled "super wide", nowadays that label seems laughable with how prevalent ultra wides are now. 24mm was always just too wide for me to really walk around as my prime lens and I never really cared for 35mm. Imo if I could only choose two it would be 28mm and either 40 or 50mm. For many years I just shot a 28-70 2.8 zoom and never wanted for anything else aside from an occasional 16mm fisheye shot.

[geoguimages]

28mm focal length discussions always sound like this. Even Leica Q/Q2 shooters and GR3 fans simultaneously praise and grumble about its limitations. But you’re correct, Sony shooters are deficient in 28mm options which would give us an equivalent focal length which our Leica friends prefer. So having said that, I managed to get a great deal on a Leica CL with the 18mm pancake lens - 35mm crop equivalent of 27mm, and whoops, I’m really liking that focal length (and the camera, dang). But I’m hard pressed to leave a nifty 50 or one of my many 35mm options for 28mm, because I crop a whole lot less..

[apwip]

Definitely need a compact high quality 28mm prime for a walkabout one prime lens solution. 24mm a bit wide for people and 35mm a bit narrow for landscapes. The 28mm FL is a good compromise.

[PanAmStyle]

When I started out I had a 50 (of course) then got a 35. After that my tutor discouraged me from getting a 28 because it was too close to a 35. When I eventually got a 28 I determined that his advice wasn’t really appropriate for me. The 28 opened up a whole new world. Over the years I also discovered that a ~40mm was the “real” normal lens. *FOR ME* … I could happily live with just the 28 and 40 for almost all of my work. I’ll keep my OM 21/2 forever - it’s one of the best “super wides” ever made. On a crop sensor the 28 becomes ~40 equivalent and the 21 becomes ~32 - close enough. I also have the Rokkor M mount 28mm - right now it pretty much lives on my XPro. And I have the Summicron-C 40mm, which makes a nice short tele on a crop sensor.

The point is, all that is personal taste and habits. I have no idea why the 28 and 28 equivalent fell out of favour, except that there seems to have been a bit of a craze for wider and super wide. 28 and 40 for general and street work are pretty much perfect for me.

[BBUB]

I often carry a 28 and a 35 simultaneously. Love both; each has its strengths. I find the 35 to be more useful more of the time.

[anthonydennis]

I bought the Fuji 18mm f1.4 ( 27mm on my APS Fuji camera. Life is beautiful now. It is used for almost all my work now..

[bnwchris]

For me the Fujifilm XF18 1.4 is the lens i really like using for Party- / Eventphotography. Especially for kind of Dancefloor shots and so on.
In my eyes a fantastic lens and good in combination with X-T3/5 or X-H2 and so on. I like the focal lenght also for general photography.
A bit wider than 35mm but a bit less distortion than a 24mm lens.

[traditionalgirl]

I have been a street photographer for over twenty years. Recently, I bought the original Leica Q with a 28mm lens. It's ok. Not my favorite. Stick with 35mm. I think it looks better for street.

[roxikoko]

It's the most versatile focal length. My most used lens at weddings. It's the lens I use as a filler while I'm creating "art" with the other focal lengths

[Jonathan-hulk]

I learnt photography on a 35mm Ricoh KR-10, where my everyday lens was a 28mm for many years. It’s great for street/documentary photography and I love it to this day. It wasn’t a premium lens, but it got the job done, which is exactly how I see the Lumix 14mm. You refer to 40mm as being an odd ball lens, but this is a field of view I have grown to love as well. I’ve used both the lumix 20mm and Fuji xf 27mm which are roughly 40mm equivalents on their systems and they’re both great. Also, I believe 40mm is closer to what the human eye sees than a 35mm or 50mm lens, which is probably why I love it so. I’m no pro, so I won’t usually spend vast amounts of money on lenses, but there are decent enough choices out there. You’ve got me thinking about the Fuji xf 18mm f1.4 now though

[enduringtech]

For.a long time, I avoided the 28mm for a silly reason. I figured (back then) that if I want to shoot in 28mm, I can just use my phone so I rather spend my money on other focal length. Then I got a used GX9 with the 14mm f2 5 attached and found I actually enjoyed that lens.

[kristoffergo]

In your video, you actually answered your question. The compacts has the 28mm. that is the reason why companies are not making a 28mm, it's because they are saving it for the compact cameras.

[MrJakobwolf]

Hi Matti. You should be taking in the aspect ratio also when comparing lens focal lengths between systems. In landscape orientation, the Leica 15mm for micro 4/3 for example works out comparable to a full frame 30mm lens width wise but comparable to about a 26mm lens in image height, and this is a great lens not far at all from the 28mm full frame lens with a 3:2 aspect ratio.