The Nikkor AM-ED 120mm f/5.6 on the Cambo Actus

[Michael Erlewine]

The Nikkor AM-ED APO 120mm f/5.6 is especially useful on the Cambo Actus view camera. In this case, the Nikon D810 camera acts as a digital back. The particular value of the AM-ED APO 120mm lens is that it goes to infinity or very close to it. Also, on the Actus this lens acts almost like a wide-angle lens, in that it takes in a large enough image that any surrounding context is very visible. And secondly, the Cambo Actus has shift with detents at the zero and 10mm positions (on each side) of the rear-standard. This makes it very simple to take three images and stitch them together.

The AM-ED 120mm APO Nikkor is very sharp and very well corrected. After all, the “AM” stands for “APO” and “Macro,” while the “ED” stands for “Extra-Lo Dispersion” glass.

A combination of the AM-ED APO 120mm (for wider shots), and the El Nikkor APO 105mm offer me everything I need for very interesting field work. Here are a couple of images taken with the 120mm APO, with the Nikon D810, on the Cambo Actus.

[Frank Fremerey]

Yes that is an amazing lens. I got mine in 2009 together with my Sinar F2 and sold a lot of shots to cutomers. I love that lens.

AND: I love yiou shots!!!

These are really wow!

[Akira]

The first image is amazing.  Some mixture of "Alice in Wonderland" and Henri Rousseau.

[Michael Erlewine]

I understand that there are two AM-ED Nikkors, the 120mm APO that I have and the 210mm APO.... I have been told that the quality is the same, and Bjørn Rørslett suggested that the 120mm is enough and the the 210mm is too large for the D810, but what does "too large" mean. What kind of view would have with the 210mm APO mounted on the PB-4 or the Cambo Actus?

[Akira]

According to the Nikon LF lens catalog, the image circle of AMED 120/5.6 is 210mm@f5.6 and 250mm@f22, wheas that of 210/5.6 is 310mm@f5.6 and 400mm@f22 (all at the magnification of 1:1).  Apparently the 120/5.6 is designed for 4x5" camera and the 210/5.6, for 8x10 camera.

The image circle of the latter lens is way too huge and overkill for an FX camera, even if the tilt/shift function is fully used.

[Akira]

FWIW, the two inner-most elements of both AMED Nikkors are of the ED glass which are fully exposed when the lenses are disassembled to mount on the lens board (or these odd rings to use them as F-mount lenses).  The ED glasses are said to be softer and less scratch resistant than the normal optical glasses.  So, you should be careful to handle them.