Canon 28mm f/2.8 EF Autofocus Lens

This is one of the MUST HAVE "affordable" lenses for any Canon EOS camera bag, for Digital or Film! It would be wonderful if we could all afford to own professional grade glass for our cameras, but in the real world, a photog with shallow pockets has to be careful about which lenses will offer the greatest advantages for the investment.

This model has a very easy to use manual focusing ring, a real distance scale window with a depth-of-field scale and an infrared compensation indicator. Auto-Focus is reasonably fast and accurate, using the Arc Form Drive (AFD) mechanism. It is threaded for the very common and inexpensive 52mm filters and accessories. It sports the HEAVY DUTY STAINLESS STEEL LENS MOUNT, which are much more durable and desirable than the cheap plastic mounts found on many of Canon's more recent consumer grade lenses.

This is an excellent quality prime lens, it has even been compared to "L" series professional zoom lenses and was found to be closer in optical performance than expected, especially for such a tiny fraction of the price. You can also get wonderful depth-of-field with this lens! You will be amazed by how much of your subject can be kept in focus within the shot.

Zoom lenses are very convenient, but they tend to be slower, often with a widest aperture of 3.5 or higher. The EF 28mm f/2.8 has a respectably fast aperture of 1:2.8, it "drinks in" plenty of light to allow you to get nice sharp pictures in less-than-ideal lighting situations, without activating your camera's built-in flash! Avoiding the pop-up flash is well worth the trade-off of the fixed focal length. You might have to compose your shots by using your feet as the "zoom mechanism" (by stepping closer or farther away from your subject), but this is a very small price to pay for the superior picture quality that you will get in return.

On non-full frame Digital SLRs, the 1.6 "crop factor" magnification makes this lens equal to a 45mm focal length. It is well-suited for all of your "normal" lens photography. It becomes the closest thing to a standard 50mm and it is just as indispensable.

All wide angle lenses have some degree of "pincushion" distortion, but this model allows straight lines to remain very close to true when used on a "small-frame" Digital SLR. It really does capture images that look like they were shot with a good 50mm on a film body. That is why I use this little lens so often. More people need to be aware of this fact as they are deciding which lenses they should get to use with their SLR camera.

On EOS film cameras, you will find this to be a very nice indoor lens. It does a great job of including all of the relatives (even your embarrassing uncle in the corner) in those "group shots". It is very fast, compact and lightweight. On both types of cameras, Digital and 35mm film, you will appreciate the ability to shoot sharp photos in limited natural light. This lens also has a very useful "close focus" distance of only 12". That allows it to capture incredibly detailed close-up shots!

Key Points:

1. A FAST PRIME LENS IS THE BEST SOLUTION FOR "AVAILABLE LIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHY!

2. A 28mm LENS IS VERY CLOSE TO A 50mm LENS, ON A SEMI-PRO "Small Frame" DIGITAL SLR.

By-the way, this is a SUPER lens for capturing truly "eye-catching" pictures of items that you really want to stand out on your eBay auctions too!

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