p.1 #1 · Sold: Noct-NIKKOR 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S (with box and dated service papers)
Noct-NIKKOR 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S
Sold
Price: $3,000.00 Payment method: PayPal Item condition: 8+ Shows moderate wear or finish marks Shipping instructions: $20 anywhere in the CUSA.
Selling a professionally serviced copy (80s/90s era) of the famous NIKKOR 58mm f/1.2 Noct Ai-S. I picked this up in Japan last year, from a camera fair in Tokyo.
The Noct is justly famous for being unique in its era. The front element is a large, hand-ground aspheric, which keeps contrast high and coma low at wide apertures. The conventional, much more common NIKKOR 50mm f/1.2 is a higher-resolution lens, but suffers (as all lenses of that era did) from significant "glow" and very ugly coma wide open which limits its usefulness.
Images shot on the Noct are characterised by very high central sharpness at all apertures, high contrast and low coma, with well-controlled longitudinal CA (for its time). Don't expect stellar edge-to-edge sharpness from this lens. It's not what it was designed for. This is a low-light portraiture and environmental lens.
This copy was overhauled by the renowned Nikon repair shop Kiitos of Tokyo (https://richardhaw.com/2017/11/14/report-nikon-repair-gods-kiitos/) in April 2025. The exterior shows normal usage marks for a 40 year-old lens, with one tiny spot on the coating of the front element which doesn't affect images—shown in the photos. This is an old lens, so there may be a spot or two of dust inside the elements—normal, nothing concerning. No haze, no fungus, no scratches.
Comes with Kiitos service paperwork, original box, and both caps.
These lenses are getting increasingly hard to find, and often sell for more than $3500 even in bargain condition. Selling for what I paid because I found an older, more beaten-up Ai copy which I feel more comfortable using as an everyday lens. Optically, they're identical. I can't justify keeping both.
You cover PP fees I'll ship insured inside the CUSA for $20.
Noct-NIKKOR 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S
