Review sites have it being a pretty good lens. Lensrentals blog, Lenstip, Digital Picture, DXOmark, etc... all show the lens as having pretty good performance.
What about any aspects of the lens performance the review sites don't get into -- performance at infinity, color/pop of the images, etc... ?
Gunzorro posted a 24mm f/2.8 IS vs 24 TS comparison recently that was fairly convincing.
I like 28mm focal length and would want to use it for general purpose use and landscape on Canon FF. It would complement the 17-40L where more speed, IS, small size, or simple-mindedness of using a prime is desired.
Any help is appreciated! There aren't a lot of user samples out there.
I can't tell you a lot of detail about testing and such. But I do own the lens and can tell you my experience. I use mine for the same purposes mentioned. It is not quite wide enough to be my only focal length for landscape (working on getting another wide angle).
If you like that focal length, it is probably the best lens. I used to own the 28 1.8 which was garbage in comparison to the 2.8 IS, or at least my copy. If by pop you mean sharpness or micro contrast, I have found that it is an extremely sharp lens for the price. To me color is very good but nothing unusually good.
Basically if you truly want "more speed, IS, small size, or simple-mindedness of using a prime", this would be a great lens for that. Sadly I don't have too many samples worthy of this site but I'll be working on it.
Hi Dave! Thanks for your citing my comparison on the 24 TSEII and the 24/2.8 IS.
I previously owned the trio of the original three EF lenses: 24/2.8, 28/2.8 and 35/2. I currently own the 35 IS and the 24 IS, and opted to keep the original 28/2.8 over the new 28 IS for a couple reasons.
1) The 28 IS was the first of the new wide angle IS lens I bought (on sale from Adorama). Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I had focusing consistency issues with it on several camera bodies. Adorama happily accepted the return and refunded my money promptly.
2) Considering the three lenses, I enjoy the spread of angle of view between the 24 and 35 the best, and have the cute little original 28 when desired. So I have no burning need for the 28 IS at this moment.
All that said, if I were choosing only one lens out of the three, I find the 28mm suits me best for general sight-seeing and nature walks. Coupled with a 40mm or 50mm lens makes an excellent and light weight pair.
Even though I don't "need" it, I still have my eye on acquiring the 28 IS to complete my trio. The image quality is right up there with the other two wide angle IS primes.
If you like that focal length, I say unreservedly: buy it.
Review sites have it being a pretty good lens. Lensrentals blog, Lenstip, Digital Picture, DXOmark, etc... all show the lens as having pretty good performance.
I'd say it is more than pretty good. I compared it directly to my C/Y Zeiss 28mm f2.8. Same subject, same position, same light, tripod mounted, mirror locked up, etc. It was every bit the equal to the Zeiss, plus offering AF and IS.
Mine never really grew on me, had a little more CA than I had expected. There was quite a drop in sharpness going from f/8 to f/11. In the end I sold mine for a Nikon 28mm AI-s. The Canon is a sharper lens at wider apertures, but it just didn't gel with me stopped down.
Could have been my copy though as it's considered by most people to be top notch.
This lens is a real treat to me. Coming from the Pentax world, the rendering characteristics of the 28mm f2.8 IS remind me of the best FA and DA Limited lenses.
I had one briefly but sold it to finance another hobby, but I miss it deeply! It's most important feature to me was it's utterly compact size, it's a little bigger than the 50/1.8 II plastic fantastic. Here's one frame that I got with it:
The stabilizer was awesome as well! It had more than enough sharpness but I found it's colours to be a little dull and I wasn't overly happy with the chromatic aberrations. I've also had 35/2 IS and technically it's a much better lens in most respects, but also considerably larger. If I buy into these new prime IS's again I'll think 24/2.8 IS + 35/2 IS would be on my list.
I owned the EF 28 2.8 IS USM for a week and concur it's a darn tooting' little lens. Once I dialed in +7 MA it was deadly sharp from edge to edge on my 6D. The problem is I bought it as a walk around for my SL1 and, since Rebels lack MA, I needed to stay stopped down to F8 for good results so I exchanged it for an EF 24 2.8 IS USM. Luckily that one was sharp at default and stays on my SL1 most of the time. The 28, once dialed in, was a tad sharper than the 24 and slightly smaller and lighter to boot.
Fantastic lens. One of my favorites. Sharp corner to corner wide open. As sharp as the 24LII and 35L at f/2.8. Can be handheld pretty easily to 1/8 second or slower. Brilliant focus - the most consistent AF of any lens I've owned on my 5d3s. Super light weight.
The only downside is that it vignettes a fair amount at f2.8. Stopping down to F4 helps.
The other issue is, that for a prime, f2.8 is a little slow. I wish it was f2. I tried replacing my 24/35 combo with this lens, but I enjoy the extra stop of the 35IS, and I also enjoy working with the 35mm focal length better for people photography.
