Choice of Nikon lenses between 55mm-60mm

darkosaric said:

For me it's the look, Nikkor H and HC are prettier, with this old pre-AI design, not totally black.
I had nikkor f2 Ai, and nikkor f2 H version, they are both equally good, but I kept nikkor H.

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I would say the looks depend on the body it's fitted to. H lens would indeed look stellar on F or F2, but I have FE.

So no flaws performance-wise?

M-88 said:

I would say the looks depend on the body it's fitted to. H lens would indeed look stellar on F or F2, but I have FE.

So no flaws performance-wise?

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I use is on silver F, sometimes on F3.
But in performance I never noticed any difference in f2 Ais and H version. Both are top.

I'm very fond of the 55mm f/2.8 AIs Micro-Nikkor. If you like the old chrome and black lenses, then it would be the 55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor. I own both. The 2.8 is a recent acquisition. The 3.5 I've owned for almost 30 years.

Joseph Bell said:

I am looking for a lens for my Nikon SLR and can't decide between these lenses:
55mm 2.8 micro
55mm 3.5 micro
60mm 2.8 micro
Voigtlander 58mm 1.4 Noktor
I am looking for a lens that will be rich with character and beauty and that will look great at Infinity as well as close up.
If anyone has any experience with these lenses, I would be most grateful for your thoughts. Of course I'd also welcome any other suggestions for lenses in the 50-60mm range.

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I own the Voigtländer and the 60mm f/2.8D Nikkor. The Voigtländer is a very "old school" lens in a lot of ways. It feels wonderful in the hand with great manual focus feel. For an f/1.4 lens, chromatic aberration is reasonably well controlled. At f/1.4, the corners are a bit soft, but by f/2.8, it's at least as sharp as the other options. I have two objections to the lens. The first is that the lens hood is optional and sells for $59 new. The second is the background rendition is less than optimal, exhibiting overly corrected spherical aberrations. Since one of the main reasons to buy an f/1.4 lens is for subject isolation, I found it a bit disappointing. Close up, the field of focus is reasonably flat, but if youwant close up performance go with one of the micro lenses.

I bought the 60mm f/2.8D for a slide duplication project. When that project was complete I stuck it in the camera bag for a visit to my in-laws, only to find myself having to photograph a collection of cut glass for appraisal. Since then, I've also used it for food photography. Manual focus feel is just okay, as is often the case with autofocus lenses. As far as I can tell, though, I've only used it for three shots at distance -- here's one of them at f/4.5:
Both the 55mm Micro-Nikkors and the 60mm f/2.8D have a "rep" of not being as good at distance as close-up. The newer 60mm f/2.8G is supposed to be better in this regard, but since it doesn't have an aperture ring, it's not useful on manual focus film cameras at all, and on some autofocus film cameras is only usable in P and S exposure modes. Like the Voigtländer, the lens hood for the 60mm f/2.8D is optional, but it's half the price.

I've used the 55mm 2.8 Micro on numerous bodies since the early 80s, never let me down. If I was looking for something with more light I'd get any 50mm 1.4.

Hello again, fine people! Thank you truly for your considerate contributions. I found good deals on a 55mm f3.5 and a 50mm f2 AI. I have put one roll through each - both lenses are lovely, but I particularly enjoy the rendering of the 50mm f2. Again, thank you!