55mm f/3.5

[Fons Baerken]

A song of praise for the micro-nikkor 55mm f/3.5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnXXYvdY90

[Birna Rørslett]

He touted it as a "2:1 macro" lens..... So the reviewer knows a thing or two about optics?

[Fons Baerken]

That's a verbal misspelling for 1:2 afaik he is not  the only one making that error.

[Birna Rørslett]

Slip of the tongue if done once, a misunderstanding if repeated over and over again.

While the 55/3.5 is a good lens and excels for close-ups, it also has drawbacks used as a generalist optic. The bokeh is on the harsh side partly due to the 6-bladed iris, partly due to the optical compromises built-in. Chromatic aberrations can be visible too. Whether the lower image contrast is a drawback or not, is up to the end user. I never liked the 55 for general photography, but opinions differ.

Not mentioned in the video is the favourable IR capability of the 55/3.5.

[pluton]

My experience with the 55/3.5 on D800 era cameras: Absolute sharpness at 1:10, falls off closer and farther.  Infinity needs f/8 to cure various blurry tendencies across the frame.  Beautiful  pleasant bokeh wide open.  EDIT: Mine have all been K/Ai vintage, NIC coated.

[Birna Rørslett]

Agree that the bokeh of the 55/3.5 is smooth when the lens is wide open. On the other hand, sharpness improves if the lens is stopped down a few clicks. One "pays" for the increase in sharpness by harsher bokeh. For close-ups and near distances, the balance point might be around f/5.6 nominal.

[Øivind Tøien]

I think there is need to state which version of the 55mm f/3.5 is being evaluated. My own experience is that the late AI version works really well both up to its 1:2 range and used as landscape lens, then typically stopped down to optimal aperture.

Most of my experience has been on DX sensors, so when I got the Z8 I decided to use the summer to get familiar with the 55mm f/3.5 AI and my other favorite the 105mm f/2.5 AIS, both chipped, on this sensor, skipping acquisition of any Z system zoom in this range. Both lenses have showed their strengths as landscape lenses - the example below with the 55mm (extra 100% crop included) even captured from a moving bus on approach over the bridge to Sortland in Northern Norway worked really well except for a dirty spot on the window (open in new tab for larger version). I am also including a close range UVIVF example. But then may be I have not seen the best of the Z-system prime performance yet and not knowing what I am missing? (Black Friday deals lingering in the background...).
 

[Bernard Delley]

I have posted measured MTF at imaging ratio ~ 1:32 for the two 55mm f/3.5 and the AF-S 60mm f/2.8 I got at dpreview: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67563933
the two 55mm are very similar one is an AI verion the other compensating. The 60mm has a better correction, higher micro contrast, across the image field. The 60mm remains at least ash sharp as the older lenses at the same aperture setting across the image field and also at the optical axis. The old lenses have mostly caught up by f/8, still lagging in corner micro contrast. f/8 . A practical advantage of the 60mm lens is that AF remains operational at imaging ratio 1:1, while precise focus for the 55mm f/3.5 at 1:1 (with 27.5mm extension ring) must be obtained by adjusting the focus distance (not by the focus ring). I find this convenient for 35mm slide digitization.