I don't know if there is such a thread already, but I found nothing upon searching. Admin or moderator; feel free to merge with any existing thread.
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This is what some might refer to as complete madness. I recently bought the not-so-cheap D700, and guess what? 4 out of my 5 lenses are manual focus old crap Nikkors. According to some. According to others, they are great, but not nearly as good as the 24-70, 14-24, 17-35, 70-200, blablablablabla. I don't give a damn! This thread is for us that likes the 24x36 mm format and manual focus lenses. And Nikon.
If you want to go Nikon, there is only two modern digital SLR:s that can bring you to nirvana. The D3 and the D700. Of course there are the Kodak cameras too, but that's another story.
Why buy a $3000 camera and use old crappy lenses? Well, because you love a large viewfinder, short depth of field, the mechanical feel of good ol' lenses. And for the heck of it. And, are these lenses crappy? Not at all, not at all.
So, I'd like this thread to be the Mekka for all of us that want to show pics, discuss sharpnesses, wheights, sizes, fastnesses, and every other aspect of using MF Nikkors on the flagships of the Nikon line.
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I'll begin with some pix with the D700 and my darlings. Crops might come later. Just ask if I forget it.
Nikkor 105/1.8 AIS @ f/11, ISO 5000. The horizontal lines are from the background, so it's not banding.
Indeed! But it has many flaws, and it takes some patience to get the best out of it. Wide open, it vignettes heavily and gives an awful amount of spherical aberration. None the less, detail sharpness is pretty good even wide open. It works best when used at really low light. In daylight; flare, ghosting and low contrast are really issues. At low light, coma is the worst thing you see. Here's an example @ f/1.2.
I love the look you get from your 55 1.2. I'm in the process of trying to find out what to do with the normal fast-lens question. Some people say that I should forget trying to convert my rokkor 58 1.2 to nikon, and if that is the end result, I have to get a 50 1.2 AI(S?) or 55 1.2. I'm not quite sure which though
90 5.0 wrote:
Why alienate all of us dx users who have ai-s glass
Aaah, sorry man! I just thought that the confusion with examples from different formats would ruin the thread (seen that before). Why not start a similar thread for DX? I have quite alot of things to contribute with.
Well actually you never said digital fx so I suppose we could put up our film shots lolz....
Sure, why not? Probably digital FX behaves different than analogue, but it would still be interesting to see FF/FX shots with film.
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ulrikft wrote:
I love the look you get from your 55 1.2. I'm in the process of trying to find out what to do with the normal fast-lens question. Some people say that I should forget trying to convert my rokkor 58 1.2 to nikon, and if that is the end result, I have to get a 50 1.2 AI(S?) or 55 1.2. I'm not quite sure which though
If you want good sharpness and contrast at full aperture, I suggest you get the AIS 50/1.2. The 55 is lovely, but don't pay those Ebay prices! It is not worth it. F/1.4 gives almost as short DOF, and probably a common 50/1.4 (AF or MF) does the job better in most cases. I bought my 55 veeeeeery cheap, and I actually plan to get it replaced. Either with the 50/1.2 AIS or the new Nikkor 50/1.4 AF-S. Ooops, that's off topic.
Makten wrote:
If you want good sharpness and contrast at full aperture, I suggest you get the AIS 50/1.2. The 55 is lovely, but don't pay those Ebay prices! It is not worth it. F/1.4 gives almost as short DOF, and probably a common 50/1.4 (AF or MF) does the job better in most cases. I bought my 55 veeeeeery cheap, and I actually plan to get it replaced. Either with the 50/1.2 AIS or the new Nikkor 50/1.4 AF-S. Ooops, that's off topic.
Do you think that it is best to get the AIS 50 1.2 new from bh or adorama? Or try to find one used? And what kind of prices should one pay for this beauty?
ulrikft wrote:
Do you think that it is best to get the AIS 50 1.2 new from bh or adorama? Or try to find one used? And what kind of prices should one pay for this beauty?
Buy it from here. You'll get a better deal. But if you must buy from either of the two, B+H is the way to go. I didn't have the best experience with Adorama and the used lens I purchased.
BenV wrote:
I like the bike shot, the others dont really do anything for me except have some nice colors
Thanks BenV, I really appreciate honest comments.
ulrikft wrote:
Do you think that it is best to get the AIS 50 1.2 new from bh or adorama? Or try to find one used? And what kind of prices should one pay for this beauty?
I have no idea. Let the prices guide you! I know it can be bought for reasonable prices (~$450?) brand new. It may seem expensive for a MF lens, but heck, it is supposed to be among the best normal lenses @ f/2. The build quality and mechanics of AIS lenses is very nice, so in my opinion they're worth their prices.
Makten wrote:
Thanks BenV, I really appreciate honest comments.
I have no idea. Let the prices guide you! I know it can be bought for reasonable prices (~$450?) brand new. It may seem expensive for a MF lens, but heck, it is supposed to be among the best normal lenses @ f/2. The build quality and mechanics of AIS lenses is very nice, so in my opinion they're worth their prices.
I just love old metal built, good mechanical manual focus lenses.. I paid about 300 usd for both my rokkors and after converting them and CLA-ing them, I suspect that I can get far more from them, I consider it an investment AND a joy to use
Thanks for your help so far! As a new nikonian, I'll be bugging you guys a lot the next weeks.. :P
(for instance, how do i get the d700 to fire away as fast as it should? i went into the menu and changed the shooting speed menu item, but it is slower than my 5fps 30d still, anything I should be aware of?)
And getting to know the advanced AF-system of the d700 is... a big task
i just picked up a 75-150mm f/3.5 series E, amazing zoom for under $100. bjorn and thom hogan rated it pretty highly too. taking it on vacation next week, should come back with pics for this thread.
This thread is for us that likes the 24x36 mm format and manual focus lenses. And Nikon. 
