Nikkor 135 AF DC f/2 D

[BW]

A couple of days ago I picked up this lens to use for portrait work. I knew some of the issues with this lens beforehand, but I went ahead and bought it anyway. CA end front focus are known issues. The first one is relatively easy to deal with, but the latter can be more problematic, especially if the front focus falls outside the range of AF-microadjust in the camera. Overall I am satisfied with color, sharpness and the other features of this lens, but this is a lens who beg to be used wide open, thus the AF need to be spot on. Which it was on my Df. The D750 gave me a slightly front focused image so I had to give it +5 micro adjustment, but the D4s was way off. Even after +20 the image was slightly off at f2. When focusing on the eye I barely reach focus when using f2,4 and up. I know this seems like a problem that is not relevant for the majority of people on this planet, but I´m asking for advice anyway. Should this lens be sent to nikon for adjustment or should I try to adjust for this when picking the point of focus? In normal portrait range this is possible, but at infinity it might possess a bigger problem. What would you do? The first picture is taken at f5,6 the last at f2,2. Minimal PP.

[Fons Baerken]

I have both DC lenses of which i prefer the 105,
its not a walkabout lens, good portrait and landscape if you like the look, i do
needs good light i find



 i snapped this portrait, to reply to your post, dont tell her i did

Df @f/2.2

[simsurace]

Congratulations on the new lens. Personally, I would send camera+lens in to avoid any more frustration. Properly adjusted, you will have a more positive relationship with the lens.

[Peter Forsell]

Congrats, you'll enjoy the lens. I like the 135 DC very much. Here's my daughter today with the ancient D1X. The soft focus effect achieved by shooting at f/2 with DC at R2.8.

[BW]

Congratulations on the new lens. Personally, I would send camera+lens in to avoid any more frustration. Properly adjusted, you will have a more positive relationship with the lens.

Good point! It's like fishing. Never use a bait in which you dont have 100% faith.
Nice picture Fons! Peter, thanks for showing me the effect of soft focus. I have just played with it a few times so I havent tested all the features yet.

[Jakov Minić]

Peter, thanks to you, I definitely want the lens now!

[Akira]

Børge, I would strongly recommend you to send the camera and lens to the NIkon service.  I had my D7000 I used and my current D750 calibrated along with the lens at the Nikon service.  Since then, there have been no need for any micro adjustment.  And the "green dot" is reliable when I use my Nikkor-Q C 200/4.0 and Ai Nikkor 20/4.0 at any distance.

The problem of the uncalibrated body is that the micro adjustment value is not universal at all focusing distances.

[Tom Gresham]

I bought a used 135mm DC several years ago.  Love the images.

[Jakov Minić]

That's a beautiful dog Thomas and it shows off all the qualities of my next purchase

[Bjørn Rørslett]

A general note on these DC lenses: they really ought not to have AF capability built-in, as the AF circuits get fooled all the time by the behaviour of the spherical aberration resulting from the DC feature. You can easily observe, by using LiveView, how the sagittal and meridional planes come into focus differently for the same point in the frame. This is accompanied by some differential colour fringing of the longitudinal kind as well.

Actually it is better to focus manually, as our eyes are accommodating these optical aberrations much better than the camera.

(I only own the 105 DC, but have used both DC lenses extensively)

[Peter Forsell]

A general note on these DC lenses: they really ought not to have AF capability built-in, as the AF circuits get fooled all the time by the behaviour of the spherical aberration resulting from the DC feature. You can easily observe, by using LiveView, how the sagittal and meridional planes come into focus differently for the same point in the frame. This is accompanied by some differential colour fringing of the longitudinal kind as well.

Actually it is better to focus manually, as our eyes are accommodating these optical aberrations much better than the camera.

(I only own the 105 DC, but have used both DC lenses extensively)

That's a good reminder, Bjorn. Even the lens manual tells that AF should not be used when going for soft focus effect. The wording (or sentence syntax) in the manual is a bit ambiguous whether MF should be used always when DC is set off-neutral.

I prefer the lens to have AF though. It is a compact tele lens when DC is set to neutral, and it focuses quite quickly. At least for me the lens sees a lot of use besides portraiture. For my use it is a versatile lens, since the size/weight/reach  sits nicely between 85/1.4D and 200/2VR2.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

By all means, if you can achieve reliable AF focus, then the arguments set forth above are moot. For my own 105 DC I don't bother with AF any more as I cannot trust it focuses where I want, and making a fine-tune for every occasion simply isn't worth the efforts.

Understand how DC works is a major challenge on both lenses. My advice is to find a long fence with fine pattern to it, set the camera on a tripod and focus the lens with DC set to 0 and an angle of incidence of 45 degrees. The make test sequences in which DC is systematically moved to the front or rear, and in step with the aperture or not. You'll find the front and rear influence is dramatically different.

[richardHaw]

crazy. just look at the details on the kid's brow 

and the peach fuzz on the nose as well.

[Jakov Minić]

I would like to show my appreciation to all those who posted here and made me purchase this lens 
The only reason why I didn't go for the 105mm is because it's rather near my beloved 85/1.4 and I do posses the 105/2.5 and 105/4 micro. I know, I know, the 105DC is a different beast but my thoughts were that the 135DC would offer me the same qualities but of a focal length that I don't have at all

I will play with the DC feature a bit and will come back here with my blurry findings

[Erik Lund]

Congratulations Jakov! You will make it shine with or without DC 
On my list as well,,,