Nikkor 200m f/4 Ai

[Tristin]

Got my hands on a Nikkor 200mm f/4 Ai for $60, as it's focus ring is extremely tight.  I am waiting on some grease I ordered that I want to try on this one, but took it out today still to see how it's optics are.  The tight focusing wasn't fun but the lens seems good so far.  Sharpness in closer ranges is good, but not excellent, and on distant subjects it is ok.  CA is a very visible issue with this lens.  Primarily because the aberrations have quite a wide color range they exhibit, making it more tedious to remove it without effecting other colors in the image.  Contrast is excellent though, even in very bright and glaring scenes.  The bokeh is fine.  I would have enjoyed having f/2.8 available for better separation, but then again, it's compact size was a joy to handle.  I remember not always feeling comfortable using my Sigma 180mm f/3.5 macro in public, but this lens feels very unassuming. Such are my initial thoughts after shooting with it on a bright day.  In the coming week I will be testing it's macro capabilities and night shooting.


f/4


f/11
This scene was almost directly under a very bright sun across a couple hundred yards of water.

[pluton]

Pictures look good.
If the CA is the lateral kind, software blessedly automates the removal.  The 180/2.8 ED Ais is a nice lens in this range also, though they tend to run in the $300 neighborhood, so no competition on price.

[John Geerts]

Looks fine indeed.

Some discussion about the different options and versions can be found here. http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,1215.msg12142.html#msg12142
I have the Ais version. I am not stunned about it's macro-capabilities, the 135/2.8 Q, 80-200/4.5  and 70-210/4 E perform much better in that regard.

The closer focus ability of the 180/2.8 AF makes it more suitable for macro than the AIS version.

Looking forward to the results.

[richardHaw]

I overhauled mine. i got it for parts because it is ruined beyond repair.
I am going to write a teardown guide of it one of these days.
the Ai-S version handles better.

[rosko]

I had this piece of glass/metal. A very good one ! Sold It. But after a while, I bought a pristine Q-Auto sample.

BTW, there is already a thread about this lense :http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,1215.0.html 

[Akira]

I have the Nikkor-Q C version (multi-coated) and love it.  The CA as well as LoCA can be largely removed in ACR, which doesn't seem to affect any color rendition in the negative way.