Jonathon Delacour
Subscriber Member
In the Nikon D3s - now out thread, Graham Welland wrote:
Canon offers 24/1.4 and 35/1.4 L-series primes (and a consumer-grade USM 28/1.8). Leica offers 21/1.4, 24/1.4, and 35/1.4 lenses (and, admittedly, a superb 28/2). However the rumors on upcoming Leica lenses focus on a redesigned 35/1.4 rather than a 28/1.4. Nikon currently offers only a consumer-grade 28/2.8 and rumors concerning new Nikon primes consistently mention 24/1.4, 36/1.4, and 85/1.4 lenses rather than a redesigned 28/1.4.
I can do 95% of my shooting with lenses in the 28mm to 90mm range so -- unlike perhaps a majority of members in this or any other forum -- if there were no lenses wider than 28mm or longer than 90mm, it would have hardly any impact on the kinds of pictures I like to make.
But consequently this means 28mm is a key focal length for me. So my question is: when/why did the 28mm fall out of fashion/favor?
I hope Graham won't mind my using his post as an example of the most common request for new wide angle prime lenses from Nikon. It's just that in asking for those particular lenses he illustrates an issue that has puzzled me for quite a while now: why doesn't the 28mm focal length get any love?Some new updated FX primes at the mid-wide to wide end wouldn't go amiss it's true. The current pro zooms (14-24/24-70) are excellent but a new nano coated AF-S 35/1.4, a 24 and a 21 would be wonderful.
Canon offers 24/1.4 and 35/1.4 L-series primes (and a consumer-grade USM 28/1.8). Leica offers 21/1.4, 24/1.4, and 35/1.4 lenses (and, admittedly, a superb 28/2). However the rumors on upcoming Leica lenses focus on a redesigned 35/1.4 rather than a 28/1.4. Nikon currently offers only a consumer-grade 28/2.8 and rumors concerning new Nikon primes consistently mention 24/1.4, 36/1.4, and 85/1.4 lenses rather than a redesigned 28/1.4.
I can do 95% of my shooting with lenses in the 28mm to 90mm range so -- unlike perhaps a majority of members in this or any other forum -- if there were no lenses wider than 28mm or longer than 90mm, it would have hardly any impact on the kinds of pictures I like to make.
But consequently this means 28mm is a key focal length for me. So my question is: when/why did the 28mm fall out of fashion/favor?