Medical Nikkor 120mm f4

[Ashlandish]

Really happy the manual arrived safely, and hope it helps. Maybe with the manual and NG contributors it'll all come together. Looking forward to seeing the fruit of your labor 

[Hugh_3170]

I notice that the "unfried" components are all colour coded (thus easy to read their values) and that any colour coding on the the "fried" components are now unreadable.

Do you have any way of getting photos of intact circuit boards so the values of the resistors and capacitors etc can be read?  These values plus your circuit diagram should get you "over the line".

[mxbianco]

Another problem with tantalum capacitors is that each producer had its own color coding, plus there are also numerical codings, such as "125" which means 12 followed by 5 zeroes, that is 1200000 picofarads, or 1.2 μF, So even if you can get your hands on a clean PCB's images, you still have to figure out what color coding was used. One step at a time work will get done, the Net is full of tables with tantalum capacitors' color codes...

Ciao from Massimo

[Patrick Blancheton]

Do you have any way of getting photos of intact circuit boards so the values of the resistors and capacitors etc can be read?  These values plus your circuit diagram should get you "over the line".

That's also my idea, maybe someone willing to open his:her own lens, or find another lens and take a close look at it.

Patrick

[Wannabebetter]

I should be receiving my own 120mm in a day, or so. I'll see then, if anyone is still interested or in need, what I can offer in the way of posting clean images of circuits etc.

[Wannabebetter]

First sample image taken with Medical Nikkor 120mm f/4.

Lens setting: f/32 @ 0.35 (1:1 ?)

Camera: Nikon D610

Software: Nikon Nx Studio; Corel AfterShot™ Pro 3

Tech notes: The on-camera, pop-up flash was deployed as I currently lack a proper AC or DC power source suited to this lens. A paper surgical mask was used as a diffuser -- and to great effect -- cutting down significantly the flash output.

In every sense, I was wading through unfamiliar waters, experimenting with a newly acquired lens and software I'd hardly ever put to use before. Moreover, I finally learned how to properly post an image to this site. (Thank you Birna and Andrea!)

[Erik Lund]

Very nice layering and soft color transitions

[Birna Rørslett]

f/32? Then you are stuck with the interconnected aperture and focusing collar. The 120 does much better at f/11.

I recommend getting the battery power pack LD-2. It does double duty by powering the SB-21/AS-14 ring flash system as well.

[Birna Rørslett]

A couple of examples what the 120/4 Medical can deliver, once the aperture is decoupled from the focusing collar. For example, balancing fore- and background is much easier.

I shot a lot of the Medical Nikkor images combined with D300 or D500.

First image is Myosoton aquaticum, the second is Agrostis gigantea.

[Erik Lund]

Yes, good advice to decouple the lens, then you have control over diffraction as shown

[Wannabebetter]

I took many more test photos, only this time of a cultivated flowerbed in a public park near to a considerably more uncultivated -- and favorite place -- meadow and wetland. The results were somewhat mixed, as might be expected owing to the f/32 and focal length coupling situation, however I was generally pleased overall. Deploying any combination of natural light, onboard flash, even a handheld LED light, I managed a few "keepers" and not to get stung by several very accommodating bees. (You might even say, these were my "bee keepers".  ) Most exposures were made with camera mounted on a very-sturdy Bogen-Manfrotto rig and some were handheld. What I neglected to do was keep a record of which were which as that might have proven helpful to my evaluations. Furthermore, not all shots were at f/32 and therefore right on top of the subjects -- the ever increasingly more curious bees and moths. (I swear, I was attracting them! No, seriously!)

At some point -- when I get the nerve or lose my senses, whichever comes first -- I may attempt to undertake (ominous word choice) the necessary decoupling of the aperture from the focusing collar myself. Barring that, finding a qualified person to do it for me that wouldn't necessitate my taking out a mortgage on my immortal soul in the bargain might be the better tact. In any event, I will not see this lens ruined or rendered in any way inoperable by my own, or any others, machinations or vain ambitions.

The LD-2 power pack, and for all those reasons Birna spelled out, appears the way to go. And I have been keeping my eye open for any used deals that aren't prohibitively (re: ridiculously) expensive.  When first considering this lens for purchase, I was woefully ignorant of its electronic package. In other words, how much actual "flash" was incorporated into its design. (Was it just a xenon tube and a pin-out?) Later coming to realize that all it need was an external power source, I wondered -- still do, in fact -- if I couldn't design and build, under expert tutelage, my own generic "LD-2".

[Wannabebetter]

I shot a lot of the Medical Nikkor images combined with D300 or D500.

Ironically enough, as I rarely go about with more then one body or two lenses, I had packed along my D300 -- and a medium-long zoom just in case I spotted an interesting  bird or distant terrapin sunning on a rock --  but hadn't considered mounting the Medical 120, whether for "reach" or mere curiosity. Honestly, I believe I was over-thinking what 24 mega-pixels might resolve rather then being mindful of what purpose I might be putting the final image to. It might be interesting to see what differences, if any, become apparent when shooting the D610 in DX format vs the D300, with this lens. (And a D500? Birna, in my dreams. Incidentally, love those photos!)

[Wannabebetter]

More trial shots with the Med 120.
I came in tight, I think, at 1:1 @ f/32 for the first two images and it's anyone's guess about the latter -- which I posted for dof comparison etc. None of these photos were cropped. Furthermore, I selected these images randomly,  from among scores of very similar takes, for the soul purpose of providing the viewer with representative samples of what this lens is capable of resolving and all that. Clearly I have some way to go before I can confidently say this is my good stuff given my hit-or-miss efforts at post-processing just now. But, I'm working on it!

[Wannabebetter]

Very nice layering and soft color transitions

I got lucky. (I guess... ) But I'm not terribly thrilled, however, with the other examples I provided, which probably has more to do with my technique then the lens itself. That in mind, the first flower image and the photo of the bee are currently the most requested desktop backgrounds among my less discriminating, and understandably biased, friends.

[Wannabebetter]

Yes, good advice to decouple the lens, then you have control over diffraction as shown

Don't know if I'm up to the task myself, just yet. I don't want to risk ruining an otherwise, perfectly good -- and useful -- lens in an ill-planned or improperly executed DIY experiment. It's probably best I hold-off indefinitely until I can source and afford someone adept at modifying this lens.