Along with the Nikon D3200, Nikon also announced the new AF-S Nikkor 28mm f/1.8G lens today. Contrary to how it usually happens, however, this piece of equipment is likely to receive the most attention this time. We at Mansurovs.com are very happy to see such a lens announced – the biggest complaint throughout the years directed towards Nikon was the lack of modern fast, high quality prime lenses. During the last couple of years, however, Nikon seems to have been extremely persistent in making sure their prime lens lineup is as broad in choice as possible, offering insanely good, yet very expensive f/1.4 lenses, such as the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G (read the review) and Nikon 85mm f/1.4G (read the review), and much more affordable and featuring a much better price/performance ration f/1.8G lenses. First, it was the fantastic Nikon 50mm f/1.8G (read the review), then, very recently, the Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens was announced. Considering how good the latest f/1.8 lenses have been, this new alternative to the exotic Nikon 24mm f/1.4G prime (read the review) should deliver superb performance at a relatively low price of $699.95.
Lets face it, the rather specialized Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens is not for everyone – impressive as it is, not that many people use or even know how to use such a lens well, it requires a lot of skill to deliver all of its potential. At that price, then, it makes a very difficult decision: who would want to own a $2000 lens and not use it that much because it is too wide? With the new 28mm f/1.8G not only do you pay only about a third of that price, it is also not as wide, and thus suitable for more general photography on both Full Frame and DX sensor cameras. That is not to say it is less demanding, but more mainstream for sure. The best thing is, however, the choice Nikon is giving us. All that’s really missing is an inexpensive 35mm f/2G and 135mm/105mm f/2G lenses, but I’m sure we can expect those to come pretty soon, too.
