George, I take it your Df arrived? The extra shine on that gear made me first think Rafael. Congrats!
Yep was delivered yesterday afternoon. Just putting it through the tests to make sure everything is working properly. Will do some shooting this weekend.
Love the eye candy George. It is easy to understand your pre-AI Nikkors would breath a sigh of relief. Very sweet.
Between the perturbations with the Df and a brief bout of what might have simply been dehydration I was able to take a walk around the neighborhood with my friend Sue who delivered the most recent load of laundry she'd done for me. Talk about feeling spoiled...
I put a prime lens on the camera drawn from the camera bag in the trunk of my car where its been sitting for a week... the 135 f/3.5 Q AI. It took me a long while to pick up one of these, in large measure because I was so smitten by the 135 f/2.8 Q.C. AI. I've mentioned this before, that it was buying the silver Df that motivated me to buy the f/3.5 Q, It is probably the best looking lens available for that camera. What I found, of course, is that it is an excellent performer as well. When I was shopping on E-Bay for the lens, I somehow ended up buying two mint condition lenses, each with the AI conversion kit installed. I think I'd been sipping MORE than a wee dram at the moment...
So a few from the ramble today. I really want to get out on a trail, so perhaps tomorrow or the next day I can visit places I haven't seen for months...
There are fantastic Nikkors that do not get much attention:
135mm 2.0 at 2.0 is nearly perfect for portrait and any other use needing the 2.0 aperture and great bokeh. Great for night use, handles any light quite well.
gbohannon wrote:
Yep was delivered yesterday afternoon. Just putting it through the tests to make sure everything is working properly. Will do some shooting this weekend.
For the fortunates having Z series cameras, Steve Perry has put out a new ebook which you may find useful. i have a number of his other books and think they're great.
CGrindahl wrote:
Love the eye candy George. It is easy to understand your pre-AI Nikkors would breath a sigh of relief. Very sweet.
Between the perturbations with the Df and a brief bout of what might have simply been dehydration I was able to take a walk around the neighborhood with my friend Sue who delivered the most recent load of laundry she'd done for me. Talk about feeling spoiled...
I put a prime lens on the camera drawn from the camera bag in the trunk of my car where its been sitting for a week... the 135 f/3.5 Q AI. It took me a long while to pick up one of these, in large measure because I was so smitten by the 135 f/2.8 Q.C. AI. I've mentioned this before, that it was buying the silver Df that motivated me to buy the f/3.5 Q, It is probably the best looking lens available for that camera. What I found, of course, is that it is an excellent performer as well. When I was shopping on E-Bay for the lens, I somehow ended up buying two mint condition lenses, each with the AI conversion kit installed. I think I'd been sipping MORE than a wee dram at the moment...
So a few from the ramble today. I really want to get out on a trail, so perhaps tomorrow or the next day I can visit places I haven't seen for months...
Oosty wrote:
For the fortunates having Z series cameras, Steve Perry has put out a new ebook which you may find useful. i have a number of his other books and think they're great.
George - eye candy indeed. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous. Congrats.
Rafael - beautiful light in your 135mm pics. Why didn't my 135mm f2 ever perform that well.....never mind, I know the answer.
I just bought a more "humble" lens.....just arrived from the UK..... the pancake is perfect for the Z......I'm thinking of getting a smaller adapter as I don't have any nikon AF lenses so don't need the FTZ.
Rafael - beautiful light in your 135mm pics. Why didn't my 135mm f2 ever perform that well.....never mind, I know the answer.
I just bought a more "humble" lens.....just arrived from the UK..... the pancake is perfect for the Z......I'm thinking of getting a smaller adapter as I haven't got any nikon AF lenses so don't need the FTZ.
ben
Thanks Ben. Love that shot of the pancake. Definitely a sleeper lens. The 45p is also a perfect match for the Z and actually the FTZ. With the CPU you actually get functionality of shooting all modes, focus confirmation and EXIF data
Of course not trying to tempt you to spend more money
No, Rafael, that's not the reason my 135mm f2 never looked so good, but it's kind of you to put it on the light. It's the same with the 105s, I think I must have had almost 10 copies, P, AI, AIS, pre-ai, LTM.......and I could never get any of them to look really sharp wide open, especially at distance - so congrats - another beauty, and wonderfully deployed.
leighton w wrote:
I was just about to say that we haven't seen your 135mm f2 for some time, when the very next post, from Rafael, was with the 135/2.
I enjoyed seeing those as well. I paid a premium for that lens shortly after I'd dumped the last five Canon lenses and it is an exquisite lens. The photos taken by the seller were absolutely spot on.
I love the lens but it is a monster. I believe when I did my comparison shot some time later, I was making the case for the 135 f/2.8 Q.C. AI both because it was such a fine performer, but also because it was lighter without losing enough size as to be comfortable handling.
And that was BEFORE I bought the Df and the 135 f/3.5 Q AI. I've made my own version of the choice you made Leighton... opting for a lighter kit. Both the Df and the slower pre-AI lenses offer relief for an aging shoulder. But I'll likely be motivated by what Rafael offers to take the f/2 for a spin. It doesn't have the stellar reputation as some other lenses but I was always happy with what it gave me.
Nice to read your fancy is a bit tickled by George's new Df. I certainly love mine.
Nothing of real significance here but I'm contemplating my walk in the woods and thought it might be an occasion to break out the 28 f/2 N.C. I picked up some time ago. I'd recently stumbled on a pristine 85 f/2.8 H.C. that didn't have the conversion ring. I guess by that time I'd concluded that since I own a Df, I might avail myself of pre-AI lenses. I'd looked for a converted H.C. for a long time after we sent Nikki around the world but without success. So when I stumbled on that one, I grabbed. Then I discovered the pristine 28.
But it seemed to me the lens was a bit soft and so when I turned toward a 28mm lens I opted for the f/2 AI-s which has always produced fine results. None of this is important to anyone but I decided to do a comparison of the lens at a couple of apertures. What a silly adventure that became when first I failed to recognize it was a pre-AI lens in the non-CPU register and as I stopped down the lens the darker the images became...
Fortunately, I spotted the problem and reset the camera before taking another set of images. Of course, then I was reminded of what a pain in the ass it is to both adjust aperture on the lens AND on the camera. Hmmm... no wonder the converted lenses always find their way to my camera.
The second silliness in this adventure was the fact it is a windy day... imagine chasing after moving flowers to get a sharp image relying on the green dot which is calibrated to no wider than f/2.8. But I tried nonetheless. These were shot at minimum focusing distance. I decided to make it easy on myself by doing just two apertures... wide open and f/8. I'm happy enough with the results that I'll definitely take this lens with me when I hit the trail... but I'll probably keep the aperture at f/2.8 simply to make my life easier... thanks for indulging me.
CGrindahl wrote:
I enjoyed seeing those as well. I paid a premium for that lens shortly after I'd dumped the last five Canon lenses and it is an exquisite lens. The photos taken by the seller were absolutely spot on.
I love the lens but it is a monster. I believe when I did my comparison shot some time later, I was making the case for the 135 f/2.8 Q.C. AI both because it was such a fine performer, but also because it was lighter without losing enough size as to be comfortable handling.
And that was BEFORE I bought the Df and the 135 f/3.5 Q AI. I've made my own version of the choice you made Leighton... opting for a lighter kit. Both the Df and the slower pre-AI lenses offer relief for an aging shoulder. But I'll likely be motivated by what Rafael offers to take the f/2 for a spin. It doesn't have the stellar reputation as some other lenses but I was always happy with what it gave me.
Nice to read your fancy is a bit tickled by George's new Df. I certainly love mine.
