The Nikon Nikkor Ai 28mm f/3.5 lens, a legacy manual focus from Nikon that has been developed progressively since its first iteration as the Nikkor-H Auto 28mm f/3.5 was introduced in 1959, is one of the earliest pre-Ai Nikkor manual focus wide-angle lenses for the F mount. The lens carries the reputation of being the very best that Nikon (or Nippon Kogaku, as it was then known) had to offer. The lens evolved from the Nikkor-H to the Ai version produced from 1977 to 1981, and the Ai-S, produced from 1981 to 1985, with the Ai-S version being the last of the 28mm f/3.5 series from Nikon.
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The lens, with a 6-element in 6-group design with a 7-blade diaphragm, has an all-metal barrel and silky focus mechanism, an aperture range from f/3.5 to f/22, measures 65mm long, has a minimum focusing distance of 0.3 meters, a focus throw of about 180 degrees, takes 52mm filters with a non-rotating thread, and weighs 242 grams.
Although updated by later iterations of the lens and overshadowed by its sister f/2.8 and f/2 28mm models during its production run, the Ai copy of the 28mm f/3.5 lens preserves and retains its niche as an enthusiast's favorite for its balanced and compact performance. The lens is also known for its exceptional optical performance, distinctive rendering characteristics, and sharpness with subtle color nuances, which contribute to its legacy of adaptability to both film and modern digital cameras.
On 1.5x crop sensor digital SLR cameras, the lens equates to a 42mm prime on a 35mm full-frame camera, close enough to the 43.3mm diagonal dimension of the film frame, making it almost an automatic choice for a 'standard normal' lens, i.e., lenses with a focal length and field of view that mimic what the human eye sees.
At 42mm equivalent, the focal length sits between the wider-angled 35mm focal lengths and the tighter field of 50mm standard normal lenses, capturing more of the scene while keeping the main subjects isolated and in focus.
The focal length is often described as a 'sweet spot' for photography, especially in street photography, where the photographer can still shoot intimately from within the scene. The focal length is equally adaptable, just as well, for general photography, travel, documentary, portraits, or just everyday scenes.
On D200, D300, and D700 digital SLRs, which support matrix metering and EXIF data, the lens’s focal length and aperture can be manually entered into the camera's non-CPU lens data index. With lower-end Nikons like the D80 and D40, shots have to be taken manually, using the Sunny 16 Rule, external meters, or chimping via the LCD. Later mirrorless digital cameras, with peak focusing, are also excellent choices for adapting the lens to.
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