Dan Kerin

 Canon 28mm F/2.8

This is a lens that I have wanted to get my hands on and review for some time now. Both as it is a 28mm, and it was also the lens which my most admired photographer used early on in his career. Canon made some great M39 thread mount lenses during the late 50’s and early 60’s and this is one of them. Introduced in 1957 this was and still is one of the smallest 28mm’s and the smallest 28mm f2.8 you can get. It has a very simple design of 6 elements in 4 groups with full stop clicks from f2.8 to f22. The lens only has 6 aperture blades so don’t expect nice out of focus areas, though this is not what a 28mm is about.

As alluded to above this lens was used by Garry Winogrand early on in his career. Though in many articles and recordings, Winogrand can be seen using his M4 with a Leica 28mm however this wasn’t the case in his early career. Like many of us starting out Leica glass isn’t always the most affordable, Especially when you are shooting as much film as Winogrand did. It has been documented that Gary Winogrand used both the Canon 28mm f3.5 as well as the f2.8 before switching to the Leica glass later on during his career.

As soon as I put this lens on my camera it felt a little odd being so small. There is something appealing about having such a small compact lens. This makes for a very small and light setup, that lends itself perfectly for travelling or roaming the streets all day. Though some may find the full stop clicks between apertures limiting I didn’t find this to be an issue and personally rarely use half stops unless I am using slide film. Another big benefit of using such a short lens such as this is you can easily wear a coat zipped up over the camera and not have it protrude too much. This is great if the weather isn’t on your side.

Having shot a few rolls of film with this lens I can say it does have its pluses and minuses. We will start with the negatives. Sharpness at f2.8 is not great. When shooting this lens at f2.8 there is a large amount of sharpness fall of from the centre towards the edges. Being so small it can sometimes be quite hard to focus and change aperture, with lenses such as the Leica 28mm Elmarit having better ergonomics. On the plus side this lens is really small which makes it great for carrying around all day and sharpness above f4 is good so its worth having this in mind when selecting what film to shoot.

Overall, I found it very enjoyable using this lens. Though it does not compare to Leica lenses in sharpness it is around 1/3rd the size of a Leica 28mm Elmarit. If you are looking for a 28mm I would be sure to check this lens out and even its slower brother the f3.5 which can be had for much cheaper. Just keep in mind that this is an old lens so it will not have the sharpness or contrast of more modern lenses from Leica, Zeiss or Voigtlander. Prices of the 28mm f2.8 are creeping up however this is partly due to people becoming more knowledgeable about this lens, the small form factor and its links to Garry Winogrand. If price if of concern I would opt for the f3.5 version as they are very similar and I find myself shooting at f8 during the summer anyway so the slower speed would not be an issue.

NOTE – I was using this lens with the paired Canon 28mm viewfinder which while being very clear was not the most accurate when framing photos. A number of photos here are not framed as I imagined them so I would recommended using this lens on a camera with built in 28mm framelines or purchase the much superior Leica 28mm Brightline finder as I usually use with my 28mm Elmarit.