Schneider Wide Angle 28mm f/2.8 PC Super-Angulon Manual Focus SLR Lens for Nikon USA

Comments about Schneider 28mm f/2.8 PC Super-Angulon Manual Focus Lens for Nikon:

As an impoverished architectural student in the mid '70's my only lens was the 35mm shift Nikkor. The shift is useful in lots of areas outside of architectural photography; the pre set diaphragm was never an issue. This served me well until I was able to afford the 28mm shift some years later. Whilst the quality of the 28mm was 'ok', it never really matched the 35 or the primes. I came across the Schneider secondhand a couple of years ago. The immediate impression was that the image quality is very definitely superior. A crispness and sparkle that the Nikkor couldn't match, together with a finer resolution of details. The aperture ring has half stop detents (yearned for on the Nikkor); the stop down lever is preferable to the ring, although one needs to hunt to find it sometimes.

The shift mechanism however, needs more deliberate consideration in use. The Nikkor lens body rotated through 360 degrees, and the shift knob could be operated with a single finger. This made preparing for a shot instinctively instantaneous. By contrast the Schneider body rotates through only 135 degrees, and that means that instead of shifting the lens up from below, one sometimes has to pull it up from above. Further, the knob needs to be gripped by two fingers to rotate, and to overcome a strange springy feeling of resistance. At the end of the day it is the optical quality that matters and I kind of accept the trade off, and err towards 5 rather than 4 stars. It is disappointing also that the markings are not engraved – the 'printed' scales and figures are not very resistant to being scraped off by accidental contact.

A couple of amplifications to the other reviews here – firstly the lens is shift only and does NOT tilt. Secondly I purchased a B+W dedicated 67-72 stepping ring, which allows the use of regular filters, with no discernible vignetting (a77 is also available also). It was still a special order, but perhaps easier than getting specialised filters.

Finally the new Schneider TS lenses look fantastic – hoping they do a 24 very very soon.

Comments about Schneider 28mm f/2.8 PC Super-Angulon Manual Focus Lens for Nikon:

A great lens from Schneider that can take advantage of today's DSLR chips. The tilt/shift is smooth and flawless, offering a great image diameter. I highly recommend this lens if you want to get the best out of your camera's sensor.

Comments about Schneider 28mm f/2.8 PC Super-Angulon Manual Focus Lens for Nikon:

I bought this lens to upgrade my optics in my currentline-up of canon pc lenses. Quite frankly, this is anastounding lens if one compares it to the canon pcofferings. Across the board better. Sharpness (edge to edgesharpness is much better than the canon 24), color, clarityyou name it - I'm thrilled to shoot with this lens.Watch out for the filters you will need for this lens.Regular ones won't fit, and the ones that do are quite a bitmore expensive. I couldn't find anyone who stocked the cirpol in NYC, so I had to order it... from the manufacturer.Overall, this lens is just fantastic.

Expertise: Pro

Problems Encountered: I sometimes forget to close the diaphragm when shooting,leaving the camera wide open and thus overexposing a frame.So keep in mind that you have an extra step with this lens.Compose,meter, close diaphragm, shoot. This would be a much greaterhazard if one was shooting a film camera - with digital oneshould easily be able to see the histogram before moving on.

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Canon pc lenses

Comments about Schneider 28mm f/2.8 PC Super-Angulon Manual Focus Lens for Nikon:

As an impoverished architectural student in the mid '70's my only lens was the 35mm shift Nikkor. The shift is useful in lots of areas outside of architectural photography; the pre set diaphragm was never an issue. This served me well until I was able to afford the 28mm shift some years later. Whilst the quality of the 28mm was 'ok', it never really matched the 35 or the primes. I came across the Schneider secondhand a couple of years ago. The immediate impression was that the image quality is very definitely superior. A crispness and sparkle that the Nikkor couldn't match, together with a finer resolution of details. The aperture ring has half stop detents (yearned for on the Nikkor); the stop down lever is preferable to the ring, although one needs to hunt to find it sometimes.

The shift mechanism however, needs more deliberate consideration in use. The Nikkor lens body rotated through 360 degrees, and the shift knob could be operated with a single finger. This made preparing for a shot instinctively instantaneous. By contrast the Schneider body rotates through only 135 degrees, and that means that instead of shifting the lens up from below, one sometimes has to pull it up from above. Further, the knob needs to be gripped by two fingers to rotate, and to overcome a strange springy feeling of resistance. At the end of the day it is the optical quality that matters and I kind of accept the trade off, and err towards 5 rather than 4 stars. It is disappointing also that the markings are not engraved – the 'printed' scales and figures are not very resistant to being scraped off by accidental contact.

A couple of amplifications to the other reviews here – firstly the lens is shift only and does NOT tilt. Secondly I purchased a B+W dedicated 67-72 stepping ring, which allows the use of regular filters, with no discernible vignetting (a77 is also available also). It was still a special order, but perhaps easier than getting specialised filters.

Finally the new Schneider TS lenses look fantastic – hoping they do a 24 very very soon.

Comments about Schneider 28mm f/2.8 PC Super-Angulon Manual Focus Lens for Nikon:

A great lens from Schneider that can take advantage of today's DSLR chips. The tilt/shift is smooth and flawless, offering a great image diameter. I highly recommend this lens if you want to get the best out of your camera's sensor.

Comments about Schneider 28mm f/2.8 PC Super-Angulon Manual Focus Lens for Nikon:

I bought this lens to upgrade my optics in my currentline-up of canon pc lenses. Quite frankly, this is anastounding lens if one compares it to the canon pcofferings. Across the board better. Sharpness (edge to edgesharpness is much better than the canon 24), color, clarityyou name it - I'm thrilled to shoot with this lens.Watch out for the filters you will need for this lens.Regular ones won't fit, and the ones that do are quite a bitmore expensive. I couldn't find anyone who stocked the cirpol in NYC, so I had to order it... from the manufacturer.Overall, this lens is just fantastic.

Expertise: Pro

Problems Encountered: I sometimes forget to close the diaphragm when shooting,leaving the camera wide open and thus overexposing a frame.So keep in mind that you have an extra step with this lens.Compose,meter, close diaphragm, shoot. This would be a much greaterhazard if one was shooting a film camera - with digital oneshould easily be able to see the histogram before moving on.

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Canon pc lenses