Lens review

Canon EF 28 mm f/1.8 USM

8. Vignetting

If we decide to use the Canon 1.8/28 as a relatively fast standard lens, cooperating with an APS-C class sensor, we shouldn’t have almost any reason to complain about its vignetting level. It can be clearly seen in the pictures below.

At the maximum relative aperture the brightness loss in the frame corners reaches 22% (-0.73 EV). Although this value is noticeable, it shouldn’t disturb us in the case of most applications. On stopping down to f/2.0 the vignetting decreases to 15% and by f/2.8 it becomes completely imperceptible (9%).

Of course the full frame sensor will raise standards quite significantly in this category. The photos below show it very well.

If we decide to take photos at the maximum relative aperture we must take into account the fact that we will lose 52% of light in the frame corners (-2.14 EV). On stopping down to f/2.0 the brightness loss decreases slightly because then its value amounts to 45%. By f/2.8 the light fall-off in the corners reaches still noticeable level of 28%. We will be able to perceive this aberration also by f/4.0 where it is 22%. On further stopping down the aperture we don’t see any measurable vignetting decrease.

What’s interesting, the Canon 1.8/28, although distinctly smaller than the Sigma 1.8/28, copes with the vignetting better.