These lenses are still great! This is from my 17-35 f/2.8D AFS with the Df. When I returned home from this trip I had to send the lens into APS to fix hitching in the zooming range and miscommunication of the zoom focal length to metadata. I love this lens and it cost just under $400 to fix. A good used one is still in the $700-1000 range so it was worth it to me. I haven't seen any reason to replace this lens or my 28-70 f/2.8D AFS.
BTW, this image has had no post processing yet. It is straight from the RAW file. I will do PP but still liked it enough to share.
I don't care much for the latest lenses. My only two Af lenses are AF-D.
85mmf1,4 AF-D and 80-200 f2,8 AF-D. Thinking of replacing the latter though, but certainly not the 85mm
the solitaire wrote:
I don't care much for the latest lenses. My only two Af lenses are AF-D.
85mmf1,4 AF-D and 80-200 f2,8 AF-D. Thinking of replacing the latter though, but certainly not the 85mm
I have the AF 85mm 1.4D and wouldn't replace it either, even though I have the AFS 70-200 f4 and the manual focus 85mm PC-E lenses in that focal length. Though the PC-E is very cool there is something about the f/1.4. Just not the same.
OldDogKen wrote:
I have the AF 85mm 1.4D and wouldn't replace it either, even though I have the AFS 70-200 f4 and the manual focus 85mm PC-E lenses in that focal length. Though the PC-E is very cool there is something about the f/1.4. Just not the same.
Ken
Nothing really is quite the same as the 85mm f1,4 AFD. I have to admit, to get the most out of that lens, I have to give it to my girlfriend who knows better how to use it then I do, but still, it's a formidable lens, even in my hands.
I do envy you for the 85mm f2,8 PC lens though. Would really love to get my hands on one, because it offers some vreative possibilities other lenses do not offer. It is another very unique tool, and personally, I never thought manual focus was a disadvantage
The tale was written by Haruo Sato, who was in charge of the design of the lens. I suspect that it would have been culturally impossible for the designer to praise himself for his work so the humble attitude he adopted could be interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm for this lens.
I bought one recently for manual use on a Sony A7II and almost ruined it. The lens suffered from a kind of haze in middle elements. While I successfully disassembled the rear group and cleaned as much as I could the outgassing at the rear of the last element of the first group I realised there was still a bit of haze on the other side of said element.
I did not manage to disassemble the front group but succeeded in messing with the accuracy of the focus scale of the lens and lost perhaps 10 cm of minimum focus distance.
I decided I have done enough damage, assembled the lens back and went out for shooting and I liked the result.
I have three main reasons why I still enjoy using those AF-D lenses:
- I can use them on all my Nikon cameras, incl. the film bodies like my F2 and F65
- They are very compact esp. the primes, but also the 28-70mm (52mm filters, 350g)
- While dirt-cheap most are quite solid optically when stopped down + nice sunstars and flare
So in that spirit, here are some film shots from Venice. First two with the AF-D 20mm f2.8, the rest with the 28-70mm f3.5-4.5.
