You don't like it? It is one of Nikon's best IMO.
What are the Nikon lens legends?
-
A
- Thread starter ChristopherCoy
- Start date
Recent Classifieds
-
For Sale Nicca Type 5 (m3 loading barnack!) and Nicca type 33 with nicca 50mm 2.8
- Started by Gram Nylén
-
Want to Buy 4x5 sheet film boxes (US-Texas)
- Started by Franswa
-
For Sale NIKON F100
- Started by Acere
-
Sold SOLD!
- Started by B.S.Kumar
Forum statistics
Too close together? Pffft. Consider the tele-zoom options:
70-210mm/f4
70-210mm/f4.0-5.6D
75-240mm/f4.5-5.6D
70-300mm/f4.5-5.6D ED
75-300mm/f4.5-5.6 AF
80-200mm/f4.5-5.6D
80-200mm/f2.8D ED (P-P)
80-200mm/f2.8D ED New (2-R)
80-400mm/f4.5-5.6D ED VR
70-180mm/f4.5-5.6D-Micro
A GS-1 with 65mm and 100mm; and an ETRS with 50mm and 75mm. I am loving B&W 6x7 film and printing these days.
The 35mm was my first 35mm SLR wide-angle lens and my first 35mm rangefinder wide-angle lens..
Later, the 20mm became my widest. However, I traded the 20 for a wider 18.
Today, the 14mm f/2.8 is my widest. Hopefully, it will become a legendary lens.
Nikon Wide-Angles by Narsuitus, on Flickr
I haver found the 135DC to be one of the sharpest Nikkors. There is no compromise that I can tell, only that it is relatively heavy and expensive.
Very nice lens combo for sure. Curious which you use, when & why?The 35mm was my first 35mm SLR wide-angle lens and my first 35mm rangefinder wide-angle lens..
Later, the 20mm became my widest. However, I traded the 20 for a wider 18.
Today, the 14mm f/2.8 is my widest. Hopefully, it will become a legendary lens.
I need wide angle-of-views for shooting vehicle interiors, architectural interiors, scenics, and cropped panoromics.
In my film only days, I was primarily a manual focus prime lens shooter. When auto focus and digital became popular, instead of replacing my manual focus primes, I decided to start using auto focus zoom lenses with my primes. At the time, 18mm was my widest prime. My 18mm gave me a 90 degree horizontal angle-of-view on a 35mm cameras.
I purchased the 20-35mm f/2.8, 35-70mm f/2.8, and 80-200mm f/2.8 auto focus Nikkor zoom lenses.
The 20mm focal length was wide enough on my full-frame bodies; however, it was not wide enough on my APS-C digital bodies. Therefore, I purchased the 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor zoom. The 14mm focal length gave me a slight wider angle-of-view on my APS-C digital bodies than the 20mm focal length.
However, the 14-24 was a G lens with no aperture ring and therefore did not work well on my Nikon F2 film bodies which needed lenses with an aperture ring. Therefore, I purchased the Nikon 14mm f/2.8 D lens which has an aperture ring.
My 14mm focal length gives me a 104 degree horizontal angle-of-view on a 35mm cameras. Therefore, I tend to use the 14mm f/2.8 prime lens more on my Nikon F2 bodies and on my Leica rangefinder bodies (with a Nikon F to Leica M adapter).
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2015
- Messages
- 38
- Format
- ULarge Format
24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF Nikkor: In probably the mid 190s, I bought a copy of this lens in mint condition for a trip to Ireland. Reviews of the lens at the time were not the greatest, so my expectations for the optic were not all that high. To my surprise, the resulting chromes were exceptional. Since then I have had the chance to compare my copy to other 24-120mm AF Nikkors, some even newer ones. In every case my copy beat the other copies hands down.
20-35mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor: For general use this lens was excellent. Around 2005 I was hired to shoot some vintage very rare drawings of the Farmington Canal in Connecticut. Drawings could not leave the State building and I had a very limited time to photograph them. Only copy setup at the State building was a copy stand which did not raise the camera high enough to use my 55mm or 60mm Micro Nikkors. For the heck of it mounted the 20-35mm Nikkon on a copy stand at home to test it out. At 20mm I was able to photograph an area the same size as the vintage drawings. To my surprise at f/5.6 the digital images were exceptionally sharp. Lens was definitely an unexpected flat field copy lens. Option to shoot several images of each of the drawings and merge them in Photoshop would have been hard to do since I was not permitted to touch or handle the drawings. Initially a staff member was there to handle the drawings along with a security guard. Half way into the shooting the Security Guard was called away, and the staff person told me that he had too many things to do that morning, so could I just shoot the drawings by myself and call him when I was done. Ironically because we had to park in back of the building and I was carrying a lot of equipment, we were told to use a rear entrance that didn't have a security checkpoint to go through.
35-70mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor: For some reason this optic was never all that popular. I used a version of this lens to shoot artwork for years. Really limited distortion, exceptionally sharp, and the zoom feature allowed me to not have to continuously move the tripod back and forth.
180mm f/2.8 MF Nikkor: Wish to this day that I had not sold my copy.
200mm f/4 MF Micro Nikkor and the 200mm f/4 AF Micro Nikkor: Earlier MF was a dog in my opinion for close up work. At infinity it was astoundingly sharp. The later AF version with its ED glass was superb at all distances.
20-35mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor: For general use this lens was excellent. Around 2005 I was hired to shoot some vintage very rare drawings of the Farmington Canal in Connecticut. Drawings could not leave the State building and I had a very limited time to photograph them. Only copy setup at the State building was a copy stand which did not raise the camera high enough to use my 55mm or 60mm Micro Nikkors. For the heck of it mounted the 20-35mm Nikkon on a copy stand at home to test it out. At 20mm I was able to photograph an area the same size as the vintage drawings. To my surprise at f/5.6 the digital images were exceptionally sharp. Lens was definitely an unexpected flat field copy lens. Option to shoot several images of each of the drawings and merge them in Photoshop would have been hard to do since I was not permitted to touch or handle the drawings. Initially a staff member was there to handle the drawings along with a security guard. Half way into the shooting the Security Guard was called away, and the staff person told me that he had too many things to do that morning, so could I just shoot the drawings by myself and call him when I was done. Ironically because we had to park in back of the building and I was carrying a lot of equipment, we were told to use a rear entrance that didn't have a security checkpoint to go through.
35-70mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor: For some reason this optic was never all that popular. I used a version of this lens to shoot artwork for years. Really limited distortion, exceptionally sharp, and the zoom feature allowed me to not have to continuously move the tripod back and forth.
180mm f/2.8 MF Nikkor: Wish to this day that I had not sold my copy.
200mm f/4 MF Micro Nikkor and the 200mm f/4 AF Micro Nikkor: Earlier MF was a dog in my opinion for close up work. At infinity it was astoundingly sharp. The later AF version with its ED glass was superb at all distances.
Thanks for some valuable information on the 20-35m f/2.8 Nikkor. Having a bias against zooms, until I read your message, I would never have even considered using this zoom for close-up work. I will have to try it.
The 35-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor was very popular among wedding photographers.
Ok - I'll jump on this hand grenade too...
I believe the105mm f/2 DC was only mentioned in passing thus far (the shorter sister of the 135mm f/2 DC). It's a great lens - sharp and versatile. I bought it instead of the 135mm version as I planned to use it on a (warning: digital reference) crop sensor camera originally before I returned to the analog fold and wanted the shorter focal length due to the crop factor. Now I'm using it nearly exclusively on my F6 and it renders great images as an all-around 105mm lens. I've found that my work tends to favor short telephoto or wider so I haven't missed the 135mm option.
I don't use the DC function often but I have been known to dial in some correction when I'm shooting some subjects (e.g. flowers, portraits, etc.) and it provides a subtle background enhancement. I've done some comparisons (not scientific but subjective) using varying degrees of DC. The effect is quite subtle and complementary if done well but certainly too DC much will make for an awkward image. Also, improperly using the DC function will result in sub-optimal images that might give one the impression the lens isn't sharp when in fact it is quite sharp. I won't get into my technique here but will say keeping it set to zero makes it behave like any other 105mm.
I also don't shoot wide-open all the time but those occasional shots I've taken at f/2 indicate that this lens performs well at this setting. I love this lens. Legendary? - you decide.
Like many others in this thread, I've avoided the G-series lenses and exclusively use D-series AF or manual focus Ai-S lenses on my modern Nikons. I've got a few favorites - legendary in my own scrapbook but quite likely mundane to the rest of the world so I won't elaborate on those.
I believe the105mm f/2 DC was only mentioned in passing thus far (the shorter sister of the 135mm f/2 DC). It's a great lens - sharp and versatile. I bought it instead of the 135mm version as I planned to use it on a (warning: digital reference) crop sensor camera originally before I returned to the analog fold and wanted the shorter focal length due to the crop factor. Now I'm using it nearly exclusively on my F6 and it renders great images as an all-around 105mm lens. I've found that my work tends to favor short telephoto or wider so I haven't missed the 135mm option.
I don't use the DC function often but I have been known to dial in some correction when I'm shooting some subjects (e.g. flowers, portraits, etc.) and it provides a subtle background enhancement. I've done some comparisons (not scientific but subjective) using varying degrees of DC. The effect is quite subtle and complementary if done well but certainly too DC much will make for an awkward image. Also, improperly using the DC function will result in sub-optimal images that might give one the impression the lens isn't sharp when in fact it is quite sharp. I won't get into my technique here but will say keeping it set to zero makes it behave like any other 105mm.
I also don't shoot wide-open all the time but those occasional shots I've taken at f/2 indicate that this lens performs well at this setting. I love this lens. Legendary? - you decide.
Like many others in this thread, I've avoided the G-series lenses and exclusively use D-series AF or manual focus Ai-S lenses on my modern Nikons. I've got a few favorites - legendary in my own scrapbook but quite likely mundane to the rest of the world so I won't elaborate on those.
28mm f/2.8 Ai-S
200mm f/4 AF-D Micro/macro
for me
200mm f/4 AF-D Micro/macro
for me
| Photrio.com contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. To read our full affiliate disclosure statement please click Here. |
PHOTRIO PARTNERS EQUALLY FUNDING OUR COMMUNITY:  |