Product ReviewsCanon EF 28mm f/1.8 AF USM Lens

Fun little lens

I'm just a zoom type of guy. I tried a bunch of primes and came to the conclusion that I must be too lazy to get the best out of them. This particular lens, the 28 mm, was always sharp and weighed very little so it was easy to lug around.

This unit apparently is better in low light than the 24 mm pancake. That was never an issue for me.
Given the choice, I'd take the 24 mm pancake. Smaller, less expensive, and always sharp as a tack.

With that disclaimer in mind, the 28 mm performed flawlessly. I couldn't have asked for better photo
quality or easier use. It's also not particularly expensive.

If you like using primes and would like to play with a wide angle at a reasonable price, you should have some fun with this.Read full review...

Good general purpose, fast wide angle lens with peripheral distortion.

For low light photography requiring a wide angle lens, this is great. Canon lenses are solid. However, at the periphery, there is both geometric and chromatic aberration. For general purpose use, it is not noticeable, however, for night sky photographs, you readily see the distortion in the periphery.Read full review...

Great versatile lens

When used properly, this lens is excellent. Wide open, it's usably sharp in the center where slower lenses would be useless due to motion blur and camera shake. Corner sharpness isn't great wide open when shooting flat subjects, but the only time you'd do that is if you were shooting the night sky. Landscapes look great when stopped down. Real life images of people and scenes look good when you have different things in different focal planes and your desired subject isolated. I think this lens might employ intelligent field curvature (IFC) since near-field objects seem to be in better focus at the edges than the edges in a flat scene.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: milehighmobilellc

Fantastic match for 5D classic - sharper than expected, fast & sharp autofocus!

Originally I bought this lens (in 2023 June, used) as a sour-grapes lens, because I got the Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 as my perfect dream-lens and it would not communicate with my 5D classic. So, my focus shifted to get a lens that is not perfect by itself, but has a reputation to communicate very well with the 5D. I got this instead, and it was discounted because of haze. So, I did not expect much, I just wanted something that works for sure, as my nifty fifty lens died and the adapted M42 lenses hit the mirror, and can be used only to a limited degree (close focus only). The reviews said this lens is tragically soft, not sharp at all. However, it was the only Canon lens that was wide enough (I wanted 35mm or a little wider), fast enough (at least F1.8), and has an affordable price tag. (Had enough with expensive modern lenses not working because they are not backward compatible...)
I expected a hazy lens... but luckily, I see no haze on it, and no problems with shooting either. To my surprise, this lens is so much sharper than expected!!! Even at f2.2 the center of the image is very sharp - I got eyes rendered with the most amazing life-like likeness, it put even my 50mm Asahi Super Takumar to shame (which lens takes wonderfully sharp images). Did I luck out on with an unusually sharp copy? Maybe... Its colors are beautiful, both indoors and outdoors. It focuses fast, and precisely, even when I am shooting the sky with the sun. A world apart better than the nifty fifty! (Canon EF 50mm F1.8) The lens looks and feels very sturdy, and has a perfect weight to it, making it a wonderful balance / suit with the Canon 5D. (The nifty fifty feels like a plastic toy in comparison, and the shooting experience is very unbalanced, I feel the camera is not propped / stabilized enough, awkward to shoot.) There is no feel like that with this lens, balance and stability is wonderful. I had a two hours walk this weekend with the 5D and the lens on it, doing a little outdoors photography, took about 400 shots. No straps, just holding it hanging in hand by the grip, and my hand did not get tired at all! Was VERY comfortable and not tiring to carry, which I did not expect at all due to its weight, which is quite heavier than any of my other lenses. I think though, that weight helps to balance the camera, so I did not need to force the grip, and could hold it lightly, without any fear of dropping it. Also, The size is such that it just fits in my little camera bag, by reversing the hood. (The hood screws off very nicely, and screws back on in reverse to save space. It works!) My only Negative comment about it is the lens cap, which is almost impossible to take off when the hood is on - I have to remove the hood to get to it! Will replace it with a hood that pinches to remove, will solve it.
Even with the supposed haze on the lens, no extra filter on (just the hood on) I had zero flares and aberrations taking those hundreds of shots in the hard and challenging Hawaii summer daylight conditions. It takes the most gorgeous shots of the sky and the clouds... which not any lens can do!
An incredible PLUS for the hood: make sure to get the hood with it!!!! It is amazing, the inside feels like soft velvet, but it's some sort of very durable plastic as it feels like new even now despite the lens being 30+ years old. So, the inside of the lens hood is not a direct reflecting surface. I have not run across such a phenomenal lens hood ever.
So, while I have yet to experience more with it to learn to use its full potential - yet - my initial impressions after a few days are extremely positive! I expected this lens to be a placeholder until I find "the perfect" lens, and it's turning out to be a keeper!
I have been looking at Soo many lens reviews, and there's one aspect rarely touched upon: it's not just the lens by itself, it is the lens - camera body combination that is the most important! Some lenses work better on certain cameras, and fail on other bodies. For sure, if you have an 5D classic, this will be a wonderful match!Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: radiant.-51

Great lens!

I've tried the newer IS primes, but I wanted faster than 2.8, wider than 35mm, and light weight and compact. The reviews don't do this lens justice. It is sharp and the focus is fast, quiet and accurate. This lens has been in the Canon lineup since 1995. I have no doubt that there is sample variation, and I'd be willing to bet that the ones produced in recent years are generally better than those from 20 years ago.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: hannahrox10

Fast Wide Angle Prime Lens

I'm using the 28mm F1.8 on a Canon 40D. As you may know the 40D is a crop frame sensor body, the 50mm F1.4 was forcing me to always step back from my subject and sometimes you can't go back any further. The 28mm F1.8 offers all the 50mm F1.4 offers but with a wide angle.

Also important to note the 28mm will focus very closely, much closer than the 50mm from my experience. No IS capability but at 28mm and say F2.0 images are sharper at a slower shutter speed due to the wide angle. Ultrasonic focusing is silent and FAST. Build quality is great, this is defiantly on the higher end of EF glass.

Summary: Looking for a wider angle prime for your crop frame sensor camera? This is the solution at a reasonable price.Read full review...

Compact, Sharp & Affordable.

I'm a professional photographer and I was looking for a lightweight, affordable, fast wide angle lens. I'm incredibly satisfied with the Canon 20mm f/1.8 USM. As one would expect, the image is somewhat soft when the lens is used wide open, but at f/2.8 it is probably the sharpest wide angle lens you can buy for less than $1,000.

Despite its excellent build quality, it is incredibly lightweight. The weight and compact size make it a no-brainer for me to give this lens a permanent spot in my camera bag.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: qa10X6DOSia@Del...

Artistic Lens

This lens was designed for film cameras where it is not as demanding for resolution and sharpness. If that's what you are looking for, I would pass on this lens. On my 6D, it gives it an old school film quality, which I like. Very pleasant to my eyes. If "artsy" is your goal, I think you will enjoy it. The item came as described and quickly. Thank you! Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: ericbbutler

Canon 28mm f/1.8 USM lens

I bought this lens because I wanted a wide prime lens that was faster than my 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens and 24-105mm f/4.0 L lens. 28mm is a nice focal length for a lot of different things. 24mm is often too wide and 35mm too narrow. I should say, I'm talking full frame Canon 5D-mk2 here. 28mm seems right for nature, groups of people, interiors, a lot of things where ultra wide is not needed. This is the fastest prime lens canon makes in this focal length, and it's too bad they didn't do a little better job. On first examination it is a lot like my 85mm f/1.8 lens. A step up from Canons low end offerings with fast quitet USM and a nice quality feel. The 85mm lens is a little soft wide open, but sharpens up nicely by about f/2.2 - 2.5. The edges are also pretty sharp by that setting. The 28mm lens is about $100.00 more expensive, smaller and lighter, but that's where the similarity ends. It is quite soft wide open, the corners are a mess on my full frame camera. By f/2.8 the center third of the lens has sharpened up. By f/8.0 the center 2/3 is sharp and finally by about f/11 the lens is good enough for landscapes where you would like the edges to be somewhat sharp. Color and contrast are OK, and the lens does not flair too badly when the sun is in a corner. In my opinion 28mm is an important focal length, and as long as Canon doesn't have a $1600.00 L prime available I think Canon should have and could have produced a better lens in this price catagory. I find it to be a useful lens, handy at social events, existing light indoors, evening street photograpy, low light landscapes, but I hesitate to use it when a hight quality result is needed.Read full review...

Great Normal Lens that works in low light

I have used cropped sensor cameras (Canon Rebels and xxD series) for several years. In that time I have owned the Canon 28mm F/1.8, 50mm F/1.4 and 50mm F/1.8 and I like this lens (28mm) much more. This is the lens that I use for gatherings when I want to get pictures of people. I can use the high speed of the lens to isolate people from there background and to take natural light pictures.

When Compared to the 50mm F/1.8, this lens is easier to use due to a perspective that allows for pictures of people and indoors scenes without having to stand so far back. With an aperture of F/1.8 the lens lets in a lot of light, enough to shoot without a flash with normal dim indoor lighting. The USM motor makes using the lens much more pleasant, it just works well and is fast.

The 50mm F/1.4 is also a very good lens, but it was harder to use in normal indoor settings because you have to stand farther away to fit people into the frame. I liked the lens, but didn't use it as much.Read full review...

Good 28mm

Bought this because close to focal length of my iPhone. Works to get similar pictures with much higher quality.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: zinnanti