Mini Review: £50 Nikon 28-85 f/3.5-4.5.

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brman

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Toby
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I just bought a Nikon 28-85 f/3.5-45 AF from someone here mostly because I was curious what you could get for £50, especially as Ken Rockwell says it used to be his favorite mid range zoom. Even though I tend to take what he says with a pinch of salt I had some hope I wasn't wasting my money...


So, having spent a day playing with it (on my D300), I thought I would report back what I think.

Bottom line - I agree with Ken Rockwell! :eek:
It is a nice solid lens marred by a plastic, rotating front part. Focussing is by in camera screw so not fast but never appeared too slow in use. Not as noisy as some i have used either. Macro is only available at 28mm and so is not that useful.

Test shots show it loses sharpness in the corners at 28mm and wide open but centre is ok. This would of course be worse with a full frame camera.
Colours are nice with good contrast and there is remarkably little flare. I shot a lot into the sun without a lens hood and only got some flare a couple of times.

Out and about I was pleasantly surprised. It will never win prizes for sharpness but out of about 50 shots I didn't get any that ruined by the lens (plenty ruined by me though!).

All shots were taken in RAW and, having post processed then, I found I needed less PP than normal with (eg) my 18-200VR. Maybe I was just luckly with the light today but a promising start anyway.

So, some examples shots.....
1st lot with a small amount of curves adjustment but no additional sharpening.
1. Flowers.

DSC_1826 by tobyjm, on Flickr

2. backlit flower.
No sign of flare despite sun shining on the front element.

DSC_1835 by tobyjm, on Flickr

3. another flower.....

DSC_1841 by tobyjm, on Flickr

4. locks
A crop straight from the camera.

DSC_1856 by tobyjm, on Flickr
 
Now some from out and about. These are all processed as I normally would. i.e. generally a bit of curve adjustment and some additional sharpening if necessary.

5. Comma butterfly.

Comma Butterfly by tobyjm, on Flickr

6. Red Admiral Butterly.
Unfortunately it would not stop fluttering its wings!

Red Admiral Butterfly. by tobyjm, on Flickr

7. Roots
Testing depth of field at 28mm.

old roots by tobyjm, on Flickr

8. Plane 1:1 crop.
To check centre resolution

1:1 crop at 85mm by tobyjm, on Flickr

9. landscape.
An test of colours and sharpness without cropping.

Long valley by tobyjm, on Flickr

10. Flare
One of the few times I found lens flare....

ok, so it does flare.... by tobyjm, on Flickr
 
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Glad you like the lens! Having played with it I found it rather good. If I hadn't had a DSLR I would have kept this and the 70-210 and gone Nikon! :)
 
I have one of these and sometimes used it on my D700 (RIP :().

It is a very good lens and a bargain at £50!
 
crazyp said:
Very nice! I'm going to try an old lens as well this weekend - the 35-105 f 3.5-4.5 macro - another gem according to uncle ken. There really are some old gems out there
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The 28-105 f3.5-f4.5 D is a cracking bargain for £100 - £150 used, it has a macro setting.
 
Very nice, a bargain at £50 - with shots like that how could you go wrong.

I also took Ken's advice regarding the 24mm f/2.8 AF-D which I bought from TP. It's one of my most used lenses lately!
 
crazyp said:
Very nice! I'm going to try an old lens as well this weekend - the 35-105 f 3.5-4.5 macro - another gem according to uncle ken. There really are some old gems out there
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I take what Ken says with a pinch of salt. I've also got a 35-105 and have found it a bit soft and low in contrast. Not my favorite lens I am afraid!

However it is possible I have a bad one so I be interested to see how you get on.

Toby
 
Martyn... said:
The 28-105 f3.5-f4.5 D is a cracking bargain for £100 - £150 used, it has a macro setting.
Click to expand...

The only problem is that, like the 28-85 and 35-105, I believe the macro only works on the wide angle setting and only gives about 1:3 or so I think. I found that pretty useless on my 35-105 and suspect it will be the same on this 28-85.

I did play with the macro on the 28-85 today but I don't think I got any usable shots.

Toby
 
brman said:
The only problem is that, like the 28-85 and 35-105, I believe the macro only works on the wide angle setting and only gives about 1:3 or so I think. I found that pretty useless on my 35-105 and suspect it will be the same on this 28-85.

I did play with the macro on the 28-85 today but I don't think I got any usable shots.

Toby
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Probably correct, but you will struggle to find a sharper zoom lens for the £100 I paid for mine (the 28-105 3.5/4.5), if you want macro look at the older AiS manual focus lenses, 55mm and 105mm are pretty good, with macro you will be manual focusing more often than not.
 
Martyn... said:
Probably correct, but you will struggle to find a sharper zoom lens for the £100 I paid for mine (the 28-105 3.5/4.5), if you want macro look at the older AiS manual focus lenses, 55mm and 105mm are pretty good, with macro you will be manual focusing more often than not.
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Agreed, I wasn't knocking these lens, just pointing out for anyone who hasn't used them that they aren't great for macro. Not that i am a expert at macro!
 
brman said:
One of the reasons I take what Ken says with a pinch of salt. I've also got a 35-105 and have found it a bit soft and low in contrast. Not my favorite lens I am afraid!

However it is possible I have a bad one so I be interested to see how you get on.

Toby
Click to expand...

My friend who is lending me it said his aunt who was an ex pro swore by the lens for years, so I think at the very least it should be a good copy. Shame about the macro, had hoped it would work at 105mm.....I'll try it and report back.
 
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