35/2 Nikkor OC. Makes a great pair with the 85.I have a Nikon F3 that I love and use a lot with a 85mm lens. Love the lens and use it for a lot of concert photography and portraits but currently don’t have anything with a shorter focal length. Any recoendations for a 50mm lens or even smaller? Open to any suggestions. Not to sure where to look. Just looking for something that would be great for everyday, landscapes, more portable. Wide angle lenses suggestions would be nice too. Thanks!
The 2.8/28mm NIKKOR you're looking for is the one with the .2m minimum focus. #635001-837751 & 900001-906097. Nikon's best wide angle.
Well, quite obviously the first suggestions that come to mind are the Nikkor lenses. The 50mm basically came in two versions: f:1,4 and f:1,8 (there was also an f:2, but let's forget about it for a while). The f:1,8 is significantly cheaper and lighter than the f:1,4 and it's a superb lens, almost unbelievably sharp and contrasty, I'd say among the best lenses ever made for 35mm cameras regardless of price. However, since you do concert photographs, where light is usually not overabundant, you may prefer the f:1,4 which at least on paper is optimised to work at larger apertures (however, if you think about it, the difference in maximum aperture between f:1,8 and f:1,4 is absolutely negligible). From this point of view, it could even make sense for you to buy a Noct-Nikkor, but these lenses are big, heavy, rare and unreasonably pricey. And again, the difference in maximum aperture is not really relevant.
Concerning the wideangle, Nikkor produced a 28mm f:2,8 with a floating element which is very "fast" for a lens of that focal lenght, very bright and easy to focus in the viewfinder, it has excellent contrast, and thanks to the floating element its sharpness is almost constant from infinity to very narrow close-ups. This lens is also quite compact, light enough, easy to find and not expensive. Some of the best pictures I've ever taken, I've taken with this lens.
In both cases, I suggest you to search for the AI or AIs versions of these lenses. Later (post-autofocus etc.) lenses look horrible (OK, this is a matter of taste) are made with cheap horrible materials (and this is not a matter of taste) and are also horrible to the touch (and this is also a fact); plus, they would degrade the look of your nice F3, the last camera of the F series which is tolerable to the eyes.
Carl Zeiss used to make a series of lenses with (among others) Nikon F mount: the "ZF" series. To be picky, these lenses were manufactured in Japan by Cosina under Zeiss' quality control and design. However, the point is that you could directly mount on your F3 the legendary Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f:1,4 ZF. Of course these lenses are over the top, possibly the best of all, but they are also quite hard to find and demand high prices.
For the sake of curiosity, which 85mm are you using?
Is there a big difference between the 50mm f/1.4 and the E Series lenses? I know the E Series seems to be more compact. Still a sharp lens?
I've got the 28 3.5 version and it is razor sharp. Sure I'm a stop short of what would be useful but it was cheap and it just as good wide open as it is stopped down.
Get a 50. I have an E series 50 1.8 and it's excellent. I have a pre AI 50 1.4 and it is not as nice, although it has very nice character and makes for nostalgic looking photos when used with color.
Another vote for the f:3.5 Nikkor, I bought one for $40, pre-ai with a factory ai conversion and it's become one of my favorites. The 50/2, 35/2.8( I wasn't too imrpessed with mine, could have been just me or just that lens but the 35/2 I now have has more even illumination and is sharper) and 28/3.5 pre-ai lenses are all roughly the same size and weight and balance perfectly on Nikkormats, F & F2, and FM.
Ai would be post 1977. Mine is from 1971, so is single coated, yours of course is multicoated.Mine is an AI version but it has rabbit ears, not sure when it is from.
You can get all three for less than $150 with a little patience.Your obvious choices are 28mm, 35mm or 50mm. Which one is right for you is anybody's guess. You'll just need to try them all to see which one best fits your vision.
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