Good to have you back, Regina. Slightly different signature to your shots than before or it might be just the weather? I like being able to guess whose picture I'm looking at as I scroll up. Didn't catch this one.
Hi, my Name is Ralf and I’m lurking in this forum since ages. The fantastic pictures in this thread brought me to manual focus lenses a few years ago. I own a Nikon Df and I’m using it 90% of the time with old Nikkor lenses.
A few tips for Rusty:
My most used lens is the 28 f2,0 AIS, followed by the 50 f1,2 AIS and the 55 f1,2-S AIS. For portraiture I really like the 105 f2,5 AIS and the 135 f2,8 AIS lenses. These lenses are all fantastic in my opinion and you can’t go wrong with either of them.
But beware: Last year I bought a Nikon Zf with the FTZ-II adapter. If you want to use the old AIS lenses on a Z body, then you have to cope with magnifying the viewfinder for focusing, because you won’t get the green confirmation box (my AIS lenses are not chipped). This is manageable, but not really elegant. On the Zf it is far more fun to use (heresy!) manual Voigtlaender lenses for the Z mount – then you get the green confirmation box and the focus is always dead-on.
Looking forward to share a few pictures from time to time with you all.
SiMuMe wrote:
Good to have you back, Regina. Slightly different signature to your shots than before or it might be just the weather? I like being able to guess whose picture I'm looking at as I scroll up. Didn't catch this one.
Thanks, Siphiwe. I prefer sunny days! But I love going to Rockport, does not matter the weather.
*Rabbit hole warning*
Been very distracted looking into a camera I never knew about - that was the successor to my dad's Retina IIIC. Which I borrowed for my first photography experience at age 11. He took every removable piece off that camera, cleaned, and lubricated it (even the shutter), then put it back together. I could see how much he admired the engineering - yet he never trusted it's light meter. He ended up trading it in on a Voightlander. I picked up a broken Retina S, and even broken it is a work of art. That led to a retired Retina repair technician on the South island of New Zealand in Dunedin, Chris Sherlock. His "Retina Rescue" web site is amazing. I'm neck deep into it now, but when a little further along - I'll share some of it here (if anyone is interested) - of course documented with a MF Nikkor. Meanwhile
A 2013 visit to Pike Street Market in Seattle - the vendors I talked to, and a beautiful veg display
lirain wrote:
Hi, my Name is Ralf and I’m lurking in this forum since ages. The fantastic pictures in this thread brought me to manual focus lenses a few years ago. I own a Nikon Df and I’m using it 90% of the time with old Nikkor lenses.
A few tips for Rusty:
My most used lens is the 28 f2,0 AIS, followed by the 50 f1,2 AIS and the 55 f1,2-S AIS. For portraiture I really like the 105 f2,5 AIS and the 135 f2,8 AIS lenses. These lenses are all fantastic in my opinion and you can’t go wrong with either of them.
But beware: Last year I bought a Nikon Zf with the FTZ-II adapter. If you want to use the old AIS lenses on a Z body, then you have to cope with magnifying the viewfinder for focusing, because you won’t get the green confirmation box (my AIS lenses are not chipped). This is manageable, but not really elegant. On the Zf it is far more fun to use (heresy!) manual Voigtlaender lenses for the Z mount – then you get the green confirmation box and the focus is always dead-on.
Looking forward to share a few pictures from time to time with you all. ...Show more →
Welcome. I'll be looking forward to seeing your images.
Nice 135mm captures of the hummingbirds Leighton. They must be comfortable with human presence around the feeder at 5'.
Congrats on the 35mm "O" Matt. I like the way mine renders most of the time, but I can't really describe it.
Welcome RustyRus. I've not compared alternatives directly, and can only comment on the lenses I selected for myself in the 35/50 range based on reading other's descriptions. I can recommend the 35mm "O", the 50mm f1.4 AI, and the 55mm f2.8 or f3.5 Micro. The 35mm and 50mm are classic old school Nikkors with the wide open "glow" while being reasonably sharp, and clean up nicely stopped down beyond f5.6, but not quite getting edge to edge sharpness of more modern lenses. The 55 micros are different, really sharp over most of the aperture range, except perhaps at the very extreme corners.
Ralf, welcome, and please do share some pictures.
The quality of light you're capturing in the NZ mountains continue to amaze Andy. Keep them coming!
Everything is soft in this 75-150 shot (not the lens' fault though). Slow shutter speed to try to get some water motion, windy day on the leaves, the fishermen never stood still long enough. Even the static tree trunks are soft since I stopped down quite a bit to get a lower shutter speed.
Well, maybe I should add a second conventional shot of the fishermen moments after the shot above.
Couple Jurassic Park shots with the 28-50mm f/3.5 to move things along. Was trying to frame the “friend” in the first but either missed or they were blurry, but still liked the light.
lirain wrote:
Hi, my Name is Ralf and I’m lurking in this forum since ages. The fantastic pictures in this thread brought me to manual focus lenses a few years ago. I own a Nikon Df and I’m using it 90% of the time with old Nikkor lenses.
A few tips for Rusty:
My most used lens is the 28 f2,0 AIS, followed by the 50 f1,2 AIS and the 55 f1,2-S AIS. For portraiture I really like the 105 f2,5 AIS and the 135 f2,8 AIS lenses. These lenses are all fantastic in my opinion and you can’t go wrong with either of them.
But beware: Last year I bought a Nikon Zf with the FTZ-II adapter. If you want to use the old AIS lenses on a Z body, then you have to cope with magnifying the viewfinder for focusing, because you won’t get the green confirmation box (my AIS lenses are not chipped). This is manageable, but not really elegant. On the Zf it is far more fun to use (heresy!) manual Voigtlaender lenses for the Z mount – then you get the green confirmation box and the focus is always dead-on.
Looking forward to share a few pictures from time to time with you all. ...Show more →
RustyRus wrote:
I love Vintage Glass- New to the Nikon world for MF-
I love old school Leica lenses (50/35) and would like to venture into some older Nikon glass.
Anything this group could mention to look at? Would pair with a Z8/Z6iii. Love looking through these images
A bit of a sacrilege in this thread but the Voigtländer 55mm 1.2 is basically a recreation of the Nikkor 55mm 1.2. The advantage is that it has electronic contacts so you get the focus confirmation on Z cameras.
In terms of true Nikkors:
105mm f2.5 is a must-own imo
50mm f2 H or HC is very nice and an interesting optical design- almost perfectly symmetrical double-gauss
50mm f1.4 Ai-S is often underestimated, pretty amazing lens from f2 (bit dreamy wide-open due to spherical aberration)
James Markus wrote:
*Rabbit hole warning*
Been very distracted looking into a camera I never knew about - that was the successor to my dad's Retina IIIC. Which I borrowed for my first photography experience at age 11. He took every removable piece off that camera, cleaned, and lubricated it (even the shutter), then put it back together. I could see how much he admired the engineering - yet he never trusted it's light meter. He ended up trading it in on a Voightlander. I picked up a broken Retina S, and even broken it is a work of art. That led to a retired Retina repair technician on the South island of New Zealand in Dunedin, Chris Sherlock. His "Retina Rescue" web site is amazing. I'm neck deep into it now, but when a little further along - I'll share some of it here (if anyone is interested) - of course documented with a MF Nikkor. Meanwhile
A 2013 visit to Pike Street Market in Seattle - the vendors I talked to, and a beautiful veg display
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