Speed kills and this lens has plenty of it for low light hand held shooting. It’s a superb performer rated better than the 105mm f2.5 and it balances well in the hand. The 105mm f1.8 is a uncommon lens and I prefer the 105mm as a better visual jump up from my 50mm than the 85mm and also provides shallower depth of field than the 85mm which really helps isolate your subject from a distracting background - perfect for portraits for example. Includes a built in sliding out lens hood, making it very compact in storage.
The lens is in beautiful Ex+++/Mint- condition. The focusing is buttery smooth, aperture click stops are nice and firm, body shows minimal paint wear, lens hood slides out firmly and smoothly, the hood has one small nick on it (see photo 2). Optics are ultra clear with minimal internal dust and no haze or fungus. There is only one pin-prick sized mark on the front coating near the edge. A beautiful and superb lens.
Price: $400 USD plus s/h (shipped from Toronto)
Payment is by paypal +3%
PM me if interested.
Edited by Qwerty64 on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:59 AM GMT
This is a fantastic lens, surprised it hasn't sold yet. If I didn't have two manual focus Nikkor lenses that overlapped this focal length I'd be on it as it is rare to find one in such great condition. Good luck with your sale.
Yes this is a manual focus lens with buttery smooth focusing and a solid feel that pretty much blows away the feel of todays plastic bodied af lenses. I've been using this lovely lens with Canon EOS cameras.
To answer your question Nikon cameras that will meter just fine with AI and AIS manual focus lenses like this 105mm f1.8 as well as provide focus assist indicators in the viewfinder include the D200, D300, D3 and D700 bodies. With other lower end Nikon digital bodies like the D40, D60 or D80, you get focus assist but no metering.
Here is a lens test that I did with 100% crops. You can see it's excellent performance even wide open and razor sharp thereafter. It should be significantly sharper at f2.8 than the 105mm f2.5 wide open.
