Hello everyone!
My name is Rui and I began checking this thread last month.
I was on the lookout for examples of shots taken with the Nikkor 55mm 1.2 non-AI and really liked the examples I managed to look at here.
So... I bought one! And it is quite challenging to use when we are trying to get a sharp shot at 1.2, but it is somewhat manageable, provided that I shoot on bursts while making small adjustments to the focus ring in tandem. So I was very pleased to have found this forum and thread on Nikkor glass to help me reach a decision
Hello everyone!
My name is Rui and I began checking this thread last month.
I was on the lookout for examples of shots taken with the Nikkor 55mm 1.2 non-AI and really liked the examples I managed to look at here.
So... I bought one! And it is quite challenging to use when we are trying to get a sharp shot at 1.2, but it is somewhat manageable, provided that I shoot on bursts while making small adjustments to the focus ring in tandem. So I was very pleased to have found this forum and thread on Nikkor glass to help me reach a decision
Hi Rui. You've come to the right place. Welcome. Please do tell if this is your firs MF Nikkor. If it is, I'm just here to tell you it's not going to be your last. Not if you hang around this thread, for sure.
Very nice picture. You captured the moment. If you'd asked them to pose, it might have lost the impact it has, to me. The photographer at the back made me smile.
Hello everyone!
My name is Rui and I began checking this thread last month.
I was on the lookout for examples of shots taken with the Nikkor 55mm 1.2 non-AI and really liked the examples I managed to look at here.
So... I bought one! And it is quite challenging to use when we are trying to get a sharp shot at 1.2, but it is somewhat manageable, provided that I shoot on bursts while making small adjustments to the focus ring in tandem. So I was very pleased to have found this forum and thread on Nikkor glass to help me reach a decision
Hello everyone!
My name is Rui and I began checking this thread last month.
I was on the lookout for examples of shots taken with the Nikkor 55mm 1.2 non-AI and really liked the examples I managed to look at here.
So... I bought one! And it is quite challenging to use when we are trying to get a sharp shot at 1.2, but it is somewhat manageable, provided that I shoot on bursts while making small adjustments to the focus ring in tandem. So I was very pleased to have found this forum and thread on Nikkor glass to help me reach a decision
Welcome to the thread with this fun photo Rui! looking forward to see your journey with this lens. The 55mm 1.2 may be the most iconic lens on this thread, not the sharpest fully open but with a pleasing character to its images.
Welcome to Rui, a great capture at 1.2 ! The 55 is a popular lens here, as others have said, not for it's sharpness wide open, more for it's character.
Ronnie, good to see you, like everyone I'm sure you'll pick up a pristine copy of the 180 in time. Regarding macro, I had the 105/2.8 ais which was good but annoyed me as it was if anything too well damped so was difficult to change the focus quickly. Pretty sure that was till 1:2 not 1:1 so required a tube.
Colin, Valletta looks interesting, not sure about all those hills though ! Looks worse than San Francisco !
I took a drive up to Port Douglas this arvo. This is 4 Mile Beach, a 4 shot pano with the 105/1.8 ais from the lookout on Flagstaff Hill looking south.
saph wrote:
Ronny, Jim said it best, there will be many opinions on the best macro and may depend on your shooting distance. The 55 3.5 is the most popular here but for longer distances there's also a 105 f4 and 105 2.8 macros that are excellent.
For me the most used is the older 5.5cm f3.5 preset lens. I am sure the coatings etc are much nicer on the newer lenses, but the feel of the preset lens and its scalloped focus ring is a delight. https://www.destoutz.ch/lens_5.5cm_f3.5_173225.html
For some unexplained psychological reason, the more we enjoy MF Nikkors, the more we want to use the oldest, most unique lenses. Partly because we realize all of them take great photos. Personally I respect and appreciate the use of a $50 50mm 2.0 K as much as a 5cm 1.1 Rangefinder lens - for the quality of the photo, the photographer is much more important than the lens.
I have gone a bit over the edge in buying unique old Nikkors but the last thing I want is to be a part of a collectors group worried over someone else having a more rare lens than mine. This place where all MF Nikkors are appreciated is where I want to share.
Speaking about sharing, took the 20mm 1:4 out for a beer at Karl Strauss, the brewery that started San Diego as a specialty beer mecca in the 80's. This is their location near to my home. At f/4.0.
cadman342001 wrote:
Regarding macro, I had the 105/2.8 ais which was good but annoyed me as it was if anything too well damped so was difficult to change the focus quickly. Pretty sure that was till 1:2 not 1:1 so required a tube.
As a cash-strapped amateur, I traded my Nikkor 105/2.5 AiS for the Micro-Nikkor 105/2.8 and eventually came to regret it, at least partly for the reasons you state: It only goes to 1:2, and needs the PN-11 to get to life-size. Rarely highlighted is that since this is a CRC lens, when you want something in the range of 1:1.9 to 1:1.5, you have the PN-11 on and the lens focused near infinity (CRC is thus not correcting for close-focus, rather the opposite) and the rendering is not great. I think the Micro-Nikkor 55/2.8 is a better choice (though working distance can be a bit tight at higher magnification), and cheaper to boot.
cadman342001 wrote:
Welcome to Rui, a great capture at 1.2 ! The 55 is a popular lens here, as others have said, not for it's sharpness wide open, more for it's character.
Ronnie, good to see you, like everyone I'm sure you'll pick up a pristine copy of the 180 in time. Regarding macro, I had the 105/2.8 ais which was good but annoyed me as it was if anything too well damped so was difficult to change the focus quickly. Pretty sure that was till 1:2 not 1:1 so required a tube.
Colin, Valletta looks interesting, not sure about all those hills though ! Looks worse than San Francisco !
I took a drive up to Port Douglas this arvo. This is 4 Mile Beach, a 4 shot pano with the 105/1.8 ais from the lookout on Flagstaff Hill looking south.
rafaelcasd wrote:
For some unexplained psychological reason, the more we enjoy MF Nikkors, the more we want to use the oldest, most unique lenses. Partly because we realize all of them take great photos. Personally I respect and appreciate the use of a $50 50mm 2.0 K as much as a 5cm 1.1 Rangefinder lens - for the quality of the photo, the photographer is much more important than the lens.
I have gone a bit over the edge in buying unique old Nikkors but the last thing I want is to be a part of a collectors group worried over someone else having a more rare lens than mine. This place where all MF Nikkors are appreciated is where I want to share.
Speaking about sharing, took the 20mm 1:4 out for a beer at Karl Strauss, the brewery that started San Diego as a specialty beer mecca in the 80's. This is their location near to my home. At f/4.0.
grantgoodes wrote:
As a cash-strapped amateur, I traded my Nikkor 105/2.5 AiS for the Micro-Nikkor 105/2.8 and eventually came to regret it, at least partly for the reasons you state: It only goes to 1:2, and needs the PN-11 to get to life-size. Rarely highlighted is that since this is a CRC lens, when you want something in the range of 1:1.9 to 1:1.5, you have the PN-11 on and the lens focused near infinity (CRC is thus not correcting for close-focus, rather the opposite) and the rendering is not great. I think the Micro-Nikkor 55/2.8 is a better choice (though working distance can be a bit tight at higher magnification), and cheaper to boot....Show more →
I love my 55/2.8. And I like it even better on my Fuji when it becomes an 82mm equivalent with the crop factor.
There is only two known R-Nikkors and we have one on this thread. Deep felt thanks to all the enablers in this thread that made this possible. Curtis started it but there are many more, you know who you are.
Mount Aperture First SN SN Range QTY Year started
S 5cm/3.5 R-NIKKOR·C 8 aperture blades 523001 - 523002 2EA 1956 -
S 5cm/3.5 Micro·C 7 aperture bladess 523014 - 523695 681EA -
S 5cm/3.5 Micro 523900 - 524406 506EA
Nikkor 55mm 1.2 AI'ed
Nikkor 135mm 2.8 AI'ed
Nikkor 50mm 1.4 G (to be sold eventually)
Really nike both the 55 and 135mm, except for the weight of the 135mm. The results are good but too heavy a combo with the D700, as I phisically lean towards the skinny side.
My wife and I stopped for dinner in the lovely little square opposite the St John's Co-cathedral in Valletta. Timed it with blue hour (more like 10 mins)
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