Which PC-Nikkor should I buy?

[Frank Fremerey]

Hi you Experts!

The D600 + 4/200 Micro Ai-S is a great combination when it comes to "Frank's kitchen" ( http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,2162.0.html ) and other table tops. For the D500 it is too long.

Sooo. I think about getting one of the PC-Nikors, an 85mm preferrably.

What are the differences of the several generations of PC-Nikors of several focal lengths?

My tendecy is to keep a certain distance from the food that tends to be hot or fatty or greasy or wet or other things I do not want on my equipment.

MF-Work is the name of the business so a great 30 year old lens could do more or less the same for me as a current one?

It was not true when I found the 200 Micro with your help.

Thank you

Frank

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Either version of the 85 mm f/2.8 PC Nikkor would work well. Except for a slight convenience regarding metering for the 'E' version, there is not much to differentiate them.

I guess you could keep the stock configuration, ie. axis of movement 90 degrees to each other, instead of aligning them in parallel as suits landscapes best.

They both accept a TC 1.4X and outcome still is quite good.

[richardHaw]

To save you some money,get a bellows instead

I have the original 35mm PC and for your modern nikon you would want to buy the newer PC lenses so it wont hit things here and there. 85mm might be fine for detail food shots but i can tell you that you would want something closer to 55mm or less so your food will not look tiny due to compression. Just my opinion

[Thomas Stellwag]

agreeing 100% with the answers 1 and 2, I come with a third proposal

as you probably do not need shift in your kitchen, but tilt with different focal lenghts, my way would be:

P6 to Nikon adaptor with built in tilt
Zeiss Jena P6 mount lenses  (2.8  50mm),  2.8  80mm,   2.8  120mm) 
you will get the whole bunch for the price of a used 85PCE

alternatively the same with Zeiss West lenses ( Hasselblad or Kiev 66(?)  to Nikon adaptor
more expensive but not necessarily better, except the famous Zeiss Macro Planar 4.0  120mm

[Michael Erlewine]

Of the three PC-Nikkors, my favorite is the 45mm PC. It is also a Micro Nikkor, which I find useful.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The 85 mm f/2.8 PC lenses are also Micro-Nikkors.

The 24/3.5 PC isn't labelled 'Micro' as it does not reach 1:2. However, it is quite well corrected for the near range.

[Frank Fremerey]

Thank you.

The 45mm is very tempting and the 85mm is as well.

The 24, 28, 35 seem too short for my taste.

If I want bellows I haul my Sinar P2 into the kitchen but that will significantly slow down the cooking process.

Sooo. My idea is to create a well lit space in my cooking area and predefine the "stage" by tilting and choice of aperture (f=11?) in advance on the BG setup.

While cooking I will then present the elements within that stage and take a second camera for the "side shots"

[Akira]

You cannot tilt the old PC Nikkors (28mm or 35mm), unless modified.  So neither would suit your needs anyway.

[Roland Vink]

Tilts are useful for better placing the focus plane over the subject, and you need some working distance for convenience so the 85 PC lenses (either one) would be suitable. The working distance of the 45 PC is too short for this sort of work. If you can live without tilts, any 90-105mm macro lens will serve perfectly well, and if you prefer MF, the AI or AIS 105/4 is an excellent option, the AIS 105/2.8 is good too, and much cheaper than the PC lenses...

[Akira]

I don't want to stray, but I found the contrast of Ais Micro 105/2.8 a bit low.  The sample I used was the current version with Super Integrated Coating.

[Frank Fremerey]

Thank you Roland. Seems to narrow down to an 85 PC. I see what I can find.

[PedroS]

Not for the same work, but between the 3 PCs I prefer the 45mm.

[MFloyd]

The PC-solution is probably the best on, but not the cheapest.  One might also think about focus stacking, provided the food shape remains quite unchanged in time (1-2 minutes).