Some pix I shot today with the good ol' Nikkor 200/4 AI. Small, light, cheap and sharp. Don't get fooled by the exterior look of it! The only downside with this lens is longitudinal CA and red fringing, of which both are eliminated at f/8 or so. Bokeh is very good and sharpness is fine even at f/4.
Here are some examples wide open, with 100% crops.
....best thread I've read in days...I have a handful of MF Nikkors, and 98% of them shine on the D700. ( my 20 f/4 is not quite as on it as say, my 55 3.5 micro
I picked up a 55 3.5 for my macro work. It is awesome on my D3! Love the sharpness and the feel of the real lens. I'll try to get up a couple examples soon.
If you are answering me, thanks for the tip! But i kind of need a 100mm - 150mm something :P
As of now my nikon gear consists of:
Sigma 20 1.8
Nikon 50 1.4
nikon 85 1.4
I'm thinking about getting the nikon 35 2.0 and a sigma 70-200 2.8
But i also want a carry-around prime for longer-portraits etc. I have looked at the mf 135 2.0 and similar items, any personal thoughts? recommodations?
nikt wrote:
Wonderful images and examples on this page. I would still think it's more to do with the photographer than the lens or camera though.
Of course, but if the photographer is happy with his or her gear, the pictures definitely get better. I personally don't like "gearoholism" and people that try to tell us that you need expensive gear to get good pictures. Often, cheap gear is just fine. But for me, photography is my biggest hobby and I use my camera every day. I don't own a car and I live in a small one-room apartment, so I have decided to spend the little money I have on stuff I like. Like the D700. Non the less, I know that I would have been just fine with a D90 or whatever, most of the time.
To buy, sell and trade old lenses is something I do just for fun. They are cheap and often give spectacular results when used properly, so I see it as a good way to get "optical experience". To this day I've owned +25 lenses since I started photographing in 2005, and each of them have learned me a lesson and given me interesting pictoral results, in different ways. None of them have been expensive.
ulrikft wrote:
Hey guys! What kind of lens would you recommend for the 100-150 range? Prime, preferably 2.0-2.8!
The Nikkor 105/2.5 seems to be a gem according to many. I had one, but unfortunately the rear element had lots of scratches, so contrast was a bit too low. I believe it is as sharp as the 105/1.8 if you stop down to f/4. A circular iris at f/2.5 isn't bad either! The 105/1.8 "needs" to be stopped down to f/2.8 to get good contrast, but then the iris has a non-circular opening that could give less attractive bokeh in certain sitations. The f/1.8 is very much bigger and heavier too.
