Any opinions here on the 135 f/3.5 AIS?

CGrindahl wrote:
So yesterday was laundry day... Two shots taken with the 135 f/2 AI-s wide open... bokeh play for the fun of it.

The sun is shining so it is a perfect day for a drive to west Marin where temperatures will be in the mid-sixties. A great day for taking a few photos and I'll definitely have my camera with me.


Very nice Curtis. Great color and contrast.

georgms wrote:
Thanks for the comments on the B&W-bokeh-shot! It started quite innocently as a pretty clean and smooth color-image.
It was too smooth for my taste and the treatment in SilverEfex was kinda fun:

image as shot - D3s, late Ai 55/1.2 wide-open - SilverEfex can do wild things to a smooth background ;-)



I really like what you have done with this image Georg.
Scott

asiostygius wrote:
jhinkey wrote:
Thanks for all the kudos from today's shots. I'm about to fall asleep after getting up so early and gaining 1,500 ft or so of elevation on skis.

Here's a couple more. Not all from Nikki - I also took the 16/3.5 AI of course. The 50/1.8G was also in the backpack, but it was never used.

Blue hole in the stormy sky + late afternoon sunlight.


Blue hole in the stormy sky + late afternoon sunlight by labecoaves, on Flickr

D7000 + Nikkor-O 35mm f/2 F ai'd hand held, ISO 100, f/8 at 1/125s.
I suppose this old lens performs well for cityscapes too.

My last photo for the next 10-12 days, since I am leaving to Herculaneum and Pompeii tomorrow afternoon. I hope Vesuvius does not wake up in the coming days
Up to now I am struggling about which lenses to put in the bag with my D7000. I need to stay light since will be walking all day at the archeological sites:
perhaps the 16/3.5 + 35/2 + 75-150/3.5 ?
or 20/2.8 + 50/1.8 + 75-150/3.5?
or 16/3.5 + 24/2 + 50/1.8 + 85/1.8 (+ TC16A for reach)??
Decisions, decisions...

asiostygius wrote:
Blue hole in the stormy sky + late afternoon sunlight.


Blue hole in the stormy sky + late afternoon sunlight by labecoaves, on Flickr

D7000 + Nikkor-O 35mm f/2 F ai'd hand held, ISO 100, f/8 at 1/125s.
I suppose this old lens performs well for cityscapes too.

My last photo for the next 10-12 days, since I am leaving to Herculaneum and Pompeii tomorrow afternoon. I hope Vesuvius does not wake up in the coming days
Up to now I am struggling about which lenses to put in the bag with my D7000. I need to stay light since will be walking all day at the archeological sites:
perhaps the 16/3.5 + 35/2 + 75-150/3.5 ?
or 20/2.8 + 50/1.8 + 75-150/3.5?
or 16/3.5 + 24/2 + 50/1.8 + 85/1.8 (+ TC16A for reach)??
Decisions, decisions...

Nice image Jose. If you want my opinion, I would take the 20, 50, 75-150 combo. Sounds like a great trip.
Scott

JRT64 wrote:
Any opinions here on the 135 f/3.5 AIS?

John can tell you better than me, since he has compared the f/3.5 with the f/2.8 and the f/2 (?) versions. He uses a D800.
Anyway, my experiences and of others are very good
See some sample shots here:
http://flic.kr/g/jeVj3

And this book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/tests-dobjectifs-French-Edition-ebook/dp/B006C3M7QY)
testing several lenses with D3 sensor (~D700), evaluated the 135/3.5 ai as excellent (*****):

Chapitre 6 Les longues focales fixes 83
100 mm f/2,8 E ☻☻☻☻ 84
105 mm f/2,5 F ☻☻☻☻ 85
105 mm f/2,5 AI ☻☻☻☻☻ 86
105 mm f/2 AFD ☻☻☻ 87
105 mm f/1,8 AIS ☻☻☻☻ 88
135 mm f/3,5 AI ☻☻☻☻☻ 89
135 mm f/2,8 F ☻☻☻☻☻ 90
135 mm f/2,8 AIS ☻☻☻☻ 91
135 mm f/2 AI ☻☻☻☻☻ 92
135 mm f/2 AFD ☻☻☻ 93
180 mm f/2,8 F ☻☻☻ 94
180 mm f/2,8 AIS ED ☻☻☻☻☻ 95
180 mm f/2,8 AFD ☻☻☻☻ 96
200 mm f/4 AI ☻☻☻☻ 97
200 mm f/2 AI ☻☻☻☻ 98
200 mm f/2 AFS VR ☻☻☻☻☻ 99
300 mm f/4,5 F ☻☻☻ 100
300 mm f/4,5 AI IFED ☻☻ 101
300 mm f/4 AF ☻☻☻ 102
300 mm f/4 AFS ☻☻☻☻ 103
300 mm f/2,8 AFI ☻☻☻☻☻ 104
300 mm f/2,8 AFS ☻☻☻☻ 105
300 mm f/2,8 AFS VR ☻☻☻☻☻ 106

See that the 135s f/2.8 and f/2 are well regarded too.
AI and AIS are supposed to be the same optics.

Georg, great idea with the newspaper photo
Jose,always nice view from your home

Reagan

JRT64 wrote:
Any opinions here on the 135 f/3.5 AIS?

So far, pretty impress with it. As Jose indicated I have the f/2, f/2.8, and f/3.5, but have not had a chance to directly compare the three. It seems to be very good wide open over the entire frame - an attribute that always impresses me.

Right now I'm trying to focus on getting images out of Nikki (the 85/1.8 AI that is going around the world) and will return to my 135mm fest when the sun comes out and my work calms down a bit.

- John

I was going to say that the 135 3.5 and 2.8 were about the same except for price
The 135 3.5 was my first MF lens
and you never forget your first

Reagan

asiostygius wrote:
JRT64 wrote:
Any opinions here on the 135 f/3.5 AIS?

John can tell you better than me, since he has compared the f/3.5 with the f/2.8 and the f/2 (?) versions. He uses a D800.
Anyway, my experiences and of others are very good
See some sample shots here:
http://flic.kr/g/jeVj3

And this book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/tests-dobjectifs-French-Edition-ebook/dp/B006C3M7QY)
testing several lenses with D3 sensor (~D700), evaluated the 135/3.5 ai as excellent (*****):

Chapitre 6 Les longues focales fixes 83
100 mm f/2,8 E ☻☻☻☻ 84
105 mm f/2,5 F ☻☻☻☻ 85
105 mm f/2,5 AI ☻☻☻☻☻ 86
105 mm f/2 AFD ☻☻☻ 87
105 mm f/1,8 AIS ☻☻☻☻ 88
135 mm f/3,5 AI ☻☻☻☻☻ 89
135 mm f/2,8 F ☻☻☻☻☻ 90
135 mm f/2,8 AIS ☻☻☻☻ 91
135 mm f/2 AI ☻☻☻☻☻ 92
135 mm f/2 AFD ☻☻☻ 93
180 mm f/2,8 F ☻☻☻ 94
180 mm f/2,8 AIS ED ☻☻☻☻☻ 95
180 mm f/2,8 AFD ☻☻☻☻ 96
200 mm f/4 AI ☻☻☻☻ 97
200 mm f/2 AI ☻☻☻☻ 98
200 mm f/2 AFS VR ☻☻☻☻☻ 99
300 mm f/4,5 F ☻☻☻ 100
300 mm f/4,5 AI IFED ☻☻ 101
300 mm f/4 AF ☻☻☻ 102
300 mm f/4 AFS ☻☻☻☻ 103
300 mm f/2,8 AFI ☻☻☻☻☻ 104
300 mm f/2,8 AFS ☻☻☻☻ 105
300 mm f/2,8 AFS VR ☻☻☻☻☻ 106

See that the 135s f/2.8 and f/2 are well regarded too.
AI and AIS are supposed to be the same optics.


Thanks, asiostygius. There are certainly some fine images posted in that Flickr group.

Thank you Ray, Ben Leighton, Georg, and Reagan for your comments. We ended up with about 12" of snow from the storm. Not as much as to the east of us. I managed to get out the next two days to take some additional images. Here are a couple from the next day.
Scott

Very nice Scott!

mp356 wrote:
asiostygius wrote:
jhinkey wrote:
Thanks for all the kudos from today's shots. I'm about to fall asleep after getting up so early and gaining 1,500 ft or so of elevation on skis.

Here's a couple more. Not all from Nikki - I also took the 16/3.5 AI of course. The 50/1.8G was also in the backpack, but it was never used.

Jaw dropping!
What is your metering technique for this scene??


+1 John. Wonderful capture.

Thanks Scott!

jhinkey wrote:
Very nice Scott!


Thank you John. It was a nice day to be out shooting.

JRT64 wrote:
Any opinions here on the 135 f/3.5 AIS?

And here's some shots - not the greatest since they were hand held, not shot at base iso and underexposed by about 1.75 stops. Default sharpening of 2 in Capture NX with no noise reduction.

f/5.6

If you look real close you can see that the sharpness drops off a tad away from the center, but it's still very very good. The weather has not cooperated lately so this is the best I have for now . ..

Thanks for posting those 135/3.5 samples, John. As you admit, conditions were not ideal for revealing the true performance of a lens, but it appears that the lens resolves quite a bit of detail. I'll be using it on a D600 which shouldn't be quite as demanding as your D800.

JRT64 wrote:
Thanks for posting those 135/3.5 samples, John. As you admit, conditions were not ideal for revealing the true performance of a lens, but it appears that the lens resolves quite a bit of detail. I'll be using it on a D600 which shouldn't be quite as demanding as your D800.

On thing I don't know is how it does with flare and ghosting or high contrast images.

It does appear to be very very sharp up close and wide open though.

John

asiostygius wrote:
Blue hole in the stormy sky + late afternoon sunlight.



D7000 + Nikkor-O 35mm f/2 F ai'd hand held, ISO 100, f/8 at 1/125s.
I suppose this old lens performs well for cityscapes too.

My last photo for the next 10-12 days, since I am leaving to Herculaneum and Pompeii tomorrow afternoon. I hope Vesuvius does not wake up in the coming days
Up to now I am struggling about which lenses to put in the bag with my D7000. I need to stay light since will be walking all day at the archeological sites:
perhaps the 16/3.5 + 35/2 + 75-150/3.5 ?
or 20/2.8 + 50/1.8 + 75-150/3.5?
or 16/3.5 + 24/2 + 50/1.8 + 85/1.8 (+ TC16A for reach)??
Decisions, decisions...

Fair winds and following seas my friend.

Full set of images from Sunday - most images taken with Nikki and the others with the 16/3.5 AI.

http://hinkey.zenfolio.com/p334790774

John