Old School Nikon Primes

[Akira]

Jacques, this is a fantastic capture!  Love the cat's expression of the eyes. 

[Jacques Pochoy]

Jacques, this is a fantastic capture!  Love the cat's expression of the eyes. 

Ah, yes... I just hope that after I was gone he did get a bit of fish (the fishermen in Istanbul usually like the cats) !

[chambeshi]

Thanks for yet again so much expert knowledge shared so generously by so many. There are many interesting insights into the legacy of the Noct (and some other Nikon Classics) in the book 'Eyes of Nikon. Art meets Technology makes History'
Published 2014 ISBN 978 4 904959 12 1  Every Nikonphile should own this book  I bought mine in Pimlico, London

In particular, the 35 1.4G N revives the Noct Nikkor design philosophy, "A point is photographed as a point." At least some of the remarkable innovations in R&D persist in current Nikkors, but it is deeply satisfying for some of us to keep these classic manual instruments delivering marvels on digital bodies. Long Live the Nikon Df :-)
 

Canon made an FD mount 50mm F1.2 "L" aspheric lens very similar to the Noct-Nikkor 58/1.2.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Near-Mint-Canon-New-FD-NFD-50mm-F-1-2-1-1-2-L-From-Japan-142-/222062625808?hash=item33b3f6c410:g:ER8AAOSwPc9Wzcev

The Noct-Nikkor could be bought for $800 used when still in production, prices have soared after it was discontinued. The Canon lens is cheap as the FD mount was discontinued.

The Noct-Nikkor was designed to eliminate Coma, and was optimized to provide maximum contrast at 10lp/mm, as per the 1976 announcement of it. I have that article somewhere in a stack of magazines.

[the solitaire]

Maybe it's due to the fact that some of the Ai-S Nikkors are still sold new today or maybe it is in part due to hanging out with some crowds who deal with older Nikon lenses but I think of the pre-Ai lenses when I think of old school Nikon primes.

I started out my photography using Ai and Ai-S lenses but since a few years now I have been experimenting with various pre-Ai lenses, all converted to Ai standard by one means or another so I can use them on my dSLR's.

This is my current lens lineup:

DSC_5777-Edit-Edit by b j, on Flickr

And with lineup I mean that these are the lenses I use when I go out to take photos.

(As you can see there is a problem here. 10 lenses, 9 slots in the non-CPU register.)

[David H. Hartman]

(As you can see there is a problem here. 10 lenses, 9 slots in the non-CPU register.)

Right! Nine, not even ten. I'd like twenty or more as I have more than twenty AI and Ai-s Nikkors. I only started buying semi-modern AF-S Nikkors just recently.

Dave

[Tristin]

Nice collection Buddy, I'd love to get a 16/3.5 someday!

[pluton]

The nine slot thing is a major irritation from Nikon.  Didn't the D200 have more slots for non-cpu lenses, and a wider range of enterable focal lengths than the current cameras?

[Hugh_3170]

A nice selection indeed.

I can see that you and David have a great need to "Chip" / add metering CPUs to at least some of these lenses.  Perhaps start with a few of those lenses that you use a lot and which also are easier to chip due to their available internal space & layouts.  That will free up some space on your camera for those lenses that are unchipped.

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(As you can see there is a problem here. 10 lenses, 9 slots in the non-CPU register.)

[Airy]

Buy a Df and forget about chips

[Hugh_3170]

The D200 was certainly much easier IMHO to setup for non-CPU lenses than current cameras, especially where one could pre-program the FUNC button to allow for the rapid entry of the maximum lens aperture & its focal length.  When setup by the menu, you simply entered max aperture and focal length - slots were not numbered as such.

The nine slot thing is a major irritation form Nikon.  Didn't the D200 have more slots for non-cpu lenses, and a wider range of enterable focal lengths than the current cameras?

[the solitaire]

With the D200 I did indeed use the Fn button to set the focal length and aperture for the lens when mounting it rather then use the non-CPU register. I used some zoom lenses like the 80-200 and 200-600 combined with a bunch of primes. Uisng the Fn button was easy and quick and I really missed that in the D300 and now in the D3. Wonder why it was changed.

As for the DF, the camera is too small for my hands. I tried it a few times and even though I go out and shoot film with a Nikon F or F3 a lot I just can not get used to the gripless but digital thick Df ergonomics. So unfortunately it's not an option to swap my D3 for a Df.

Tristin, the 16mm f3,5 is the best full-frame fish eye lens I used to date. It is incredibly sharp all across the frame.

[John Geerts]

Well I see actually little difference. In all my Nikons I have programmed the My-Button with on top the Non-CPU-lens data. I adapt the data, hit OK  and ready.  It works more cumbersome on the D200.

[John Geerts]

Tristin, the 16mm f3,5 is the best full-frame fish eye lens I used to date. It is incredibly sharp all across the frame.

It's difficult to obtain one, with prices exceeding 700 euro...

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I normally prefer the 16/3.5 myself, as it indubitably is the sharpest and thereby the "best" of the Fisheye-Nikkors all aspects considered. However, the AF 16/2.8 is better in the near range and if you need the optimal combination of handling and near-range capability, the 16/2.8 Fisheye-Nikkor (after a quick fix to shorten its near limit) ranks #1. It is also the better choice (together with the AF successor) for use on the FT-1 with my 1 Nikons. Thus for the upcoming trip to The Hebrides and Killin I'm taking the 16/2.8. CPU-modified of course, like 99% of all my Nikkors. So for me,  no worries about non-CPU slots available on a camera.

Despite the above, the D200 approach to selecting non-CPU lens specifications was the best yet implemented by Nikon. Why they abandoned this solution in favour of the limited slot number feature is beyond my imagination.

[the solitaire]

It's difficult to obtain one, with prices exceeding 700 euro...

Unfortunately this is true. In it's 6 year production run about 8000 of these lenses were manufactured. Unfortunately a number of these were lost due to damaged front glass and other defects. I have even seen a few copies with perfect front glass but damaged internal lens elements too and I have seen a few copies with broken hood petals which with this lens are part of the lens barrel.

I bought mine for EUR 200 last year, so if you search long enough you can find them. I know someone who bought one for US$235 earlier this year from ebay. So with a little patience it is possible to find one. I got lucky and was informed by a friend that the copy I eventually bought was on ebay. A few people I know searched for months or little over a year to find a good copy of the lens and as mentioned before, quite a few people I know bought damaged copies that were beyond simple repair.

Whether it is worth it to search for this particular lens rather then the later 16mm f2,8 fish eye? In my opinion it is. This version seems to be a little sharper across the frame compared to the 16mm f2,8 fish eye Nikkor. It is a lot sharper then the Zenitar 16mm f2,8 which can be bought for EUR 150 new. At least one person I know prefers the 16mm f3,5 Ai Nikkor fish eye which has improved internal baffling reducing ghosting and flare a bit. This person owns 3 out of 1500 copies made of the Ai version.

I own a pre-Ai version and cut the aperture ring to allow metering and use on my digital cameras. I never had problems with flare when the sun was in the frame so I am not sure how much of a benefit the changes made for the Ai version would have for my particular use.

Below are some examples made with this lens. The Fisheye Nikkor Auto 1:3,5 f=16mm

DSC_7274 by b j, on Flickr

(btw, a nice feature for black and white photography is that the lens has internal yellow, red, orange, green and N filters where N is a clear glass filter. The filter is part fo the optical system so a filter must be in place to use it. Many of the 16mm f2,8 fisheye Nikkors are sold on ebay unfortunately come without the originally included filters because they were screw-on accessories that come in front of the rear element)

At f5,6

DSC_6517 by b j, on Flickr

At f5,6 and near minimum focus distance (the glare/glow you can see in this image was added in post because it better resembled my state of mind at the time I took the photograph. The original image was too sharp for my liking, at least for this particular scene)

DSC_6456-Edit by b j, on Flickr

At f3,5

Cherryblossom 1 by b j, on Flickr

Cropped some

DSC_5028 by b j, on Flickr

Sun in the frame

DSC_4757 by b j, on Flickr

Shooting stars with the D800 at f5,6

DSC_9499 by b j, on Flickr

Wrong EXIF here, but at f8 or smaller this lens can make very nice sunstars

DSC_2861 by b j, on Flickr

(you can download all of these in full res by following the Flickr link, as well as find some more examples made with this lens)