Portrait of my wife with a new/old Nikkor 85mm

[Gil Aegerter]

I took a chance on an auction and bought a D80 and an AF Nikkor 85mm f1.4 D that had fungus issues that were obvious even with a superficial photo. But the set was cheap and I bit. It arrived this afternoon. The D80 looks like a serious shutter problem, so that's headed to the parts bin. And the 85mm had fungus throughout its elements. I had never taken one of these apart, but with the help of a couple of YouTube videos I dove in and in an hour or so had it pretty well cleaned out and back together. The filter ring was badly dented, and despite my best tricks I haven't been able to straighten enough to get a filter on it, so this lens may have to live without one. But I'm pretty pleased with the result. This shot is on a D850 with the lens at f1.4, ISO100.

[ColinM]

Nice portrait Gil and you seem to have breathed life back into the 85mm too

[Frank Fremerey]

I took a chance on an auction and bought a D80 and an AF Nikkor 85mm f1.4 D that had fungus issues that were obvious even with a superficial photo. But the set was cheap and I bit. It arrived this afternoon. The D80 looks like a serious shutter problem, so that's headed to the parts bin. And the 85mm had fungus throughout its elements. I had never taken one of these apart, but with the help of a couple of YouTube videos I dove in and in an hour or so had it pretty well cleaned out and back together. The filter ring was badly dented, and despite my best tricks I haven't been able to straighten enough to get a filter on it, so this lens may have to live without one. But I'm pretty pleased with the result. This shot is on a D850 with the lens at f1.4, ISO100.

This is a great lens optically! Super catch and I kudo your cleaning effort. I hate the sound the lens emits when focussing, So I sold mine after "a few rolls of film" ... The AF-S 1.4/85 is significantly less noisy and optically superb as well... Both of them are very heavy and bulky so I finally settled for the magical AF-S 1.8/85...


Please show more pictures!!!

[Gil Aegerter]

Here are my 85mm Nikkors (with year of purchase). f1.8 K version, AF-S f1.8 G, f1.8 K AI-ed, f1.4 AF D (1979, 2016, 2018, 2025). I have also had the 85mm f1.4 AIS and the 85mm f1.8 AF in the past. I'll keep the K versions for nostalgia's sake, but not sure about the autofocus versions.