Recommendations for a Portrait Lens, M42 or Nikon F Mount

[narsuitus]

Do not exclude the 100mm and 75-150mm Nikon Series E lenses from your search. They may do not have the prongs (also called “rabbit ears’) that allow the Nikkormat’s built-in light meter to work; however, if you are using a hand-held light meter, you do not need the built-in light meter. Also, if you are shooting portraits using flash under studio conditions, you do not need the built-in light meter.

 

[lxdude]

Hard to beat the 105/2.5. And as mentioned, pre-AI are pretty cheap.

 

[ColdEye]

Actually I use a Series E 50mm in my nikkormat, I use the DOF button for stop down metering. Plus, Since I started with film a few months almost a year ago all my cameras do not have a meter (busted). The Nikkormat I have now tho has a working one, a nice bonus. I'll look into the zoom, I've always stayed away from zooms (made me very lazy), but I'll consider it.

 

[zk-cessnaguy]

Another thought. How about the Tamron Adaptall-2 135mm f/2.5? I have one and although I haven't had the opportunity to use it in anger yet, the test shots I did were very encouraging. Nice colours and bokeh, and the added bonus that it is cross-platform with the correct adapters.

 

[narsuitus]

Here are some test shots. Three of the lenses are available on the used market for $100 or less.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11336821@N00/6012452194/

 

[Rol_Lei Nut]

Here are some test shots. Three of the lenses are available on the used market for $100 or less.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11336821@N00/6012452194/

Though keep in mind that results on film can sometimes be quite different from those on the camera used for the "test".

I've also tried many classic lenses on a very similar camera, finding that especially fast lenses at wider apertures often perform much worse than they would with film.

Many tests made using "electronic film" only really measure how well a certain lens performs with that particular type of electronic film...

 

[Pumalite]

The portrait lens I would recommend is the 85mm f1.8 Nikkor.

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