Nikon D3 compatibility: Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/2.0 Macro Nikon F (ZF.2)

[kasperbergholt]

Clever people,


I'm considering buying a Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/2.0 Macro Nikon F (ZF.2) lens. A short while back, I was close to buying a lens that wouldn't work in full-frame mode.

For safety's sake: The 50mm Milvus is fully full-frame compatible, right?


Thanks in advance,

Kasper

[Eric Borgström]

Full frame. Google is your friend.


https://www.zeiss.com/consumer-products/int/photography/milvus/milvus-2815.html


/Eric

[pluton]

The 50mm f/2 Milvus Makro Planar ZF.2 is a full frame-capable lens, as are the previously issued 50/2 Makro Planars in ZF and ZF.2 flavors. A Nikon PN-11 extension tube will take it to approximately 1:1 reproduction ratio.  I haven't shot much with mine plus the PN-11, but it has been an excellent general purpose 50mm lens from infinity to it's close focus at 1:2. I have the first ZF version for sale locally right now; I switched to the Milvus in order to get the slightly lower amount of flare that the Milvus revision brings.

[Roland Vink]

There is also the Voigtlander 40/2 Ultron SL IIs, the one styled like a 1960s Nikkor. It's not a macro lens but it does focus a lot closer than most normal lenses -  down to 0.25m, giving 1:4 magnification. It has a CPU so is fully compatible with modern cameras. It's a very nice little lens.

And if you don't need the fast aperture and can live without the CPU, the Nikon AIS 55/2.8 or AI 55/3.5 are also optically superb. Both get to 1:2 without accessories.

[richardHaw]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3fRx7Caf90
 

[kasperbergholt]

There is also the Voigtlander 40/2 Ultron SL IIs, the one styled like a 1960s Nikkor. It's not a macro lens but it does focus a lot closer than most normal lenses -  down to 0.25m, giving 1:4 magnification. It has a CPU so is fully compatible with modern cameras. It's a very nice little lens.

And if you don't need the fast aperture and can live without the CPU, the Nikon AIS 55/2.8 or AI 55/3.5 are also optically superb. Both get to 1:2 without accessories.

Thank you for the reply - the Voigtlander is a great suggestion. Beautiful work! Regardring the two last ones - the 2.8 will work 'out of the box' as a manual focus lens, right? Whereas the 3.5 needs setting up a profile for it in the shooting menu?

[kasperbergholt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3fRx7Caf90
 

Beautiful lenses! I think the minimum focusing distances of 0.4 and 0.5 meters render them suboptimal compared to the shorter ones for the other lenses (at least for the vacuum tube project).

[Roland Vink]

Thank you for the reply - the Voigtlander is a great suggestion. Beautiful work! Regardring the two last ones - the 2.8 will work 'out of the box' as a manual focus lens, right? Whereas the 3.5 needs setting up a profile for it in the shooting menu?

If you are shooting with your D3, the setup is the same with either 55mm micro.
just enter the CPU data for the lenses: focal length = 55mm, max aperture = f/2.8 or f/3.5

The Voigtlander has a built-in CPU - it is an AI-P lens - so it will automatically transmit the focal length and aperture to the camera, so no need to set up a profile in the shooting menu.

[pluton]

The Voigtlander has a built-in CPU - it is an AI-P lens - so it will automatically transmit the focal length and aperture to the camera, so no need to set up a profile in the shooting menu.

The same can said of the Zeiss ZF.2 lenses, Classic 50/2M  ZF.2 and Milvus 50/2M ZF.2. The older ZF units don't communicate with the camera bodies.
If your budget is on the low side, the Micro-Nikkor 55/2.8 is the best choice IMO.

[kasperbergholt]

The Voigtlander has a built-in CPU - it is an AI-P lens - so it will automatically transmit the focal length and aperture to the camera, so no need to set up a profile in the shooting menu.

But the Voigtlander lenses (in the YouTube video) are Z mount, right? Will these fit on a D3 without an adaptor?

[Birna Rørslett]

No. In fact, they cannot be used on the F cameras at all no matter what adapter you try.