Zoom-Nikkor 28-50mm f/3.5 AI-S!

[richardHaw]

https://richardhaw.com/2020/02/28/repair-zoom-nikkor-28-50mm-f-3-5-ai-s/

surprisingly good 

quite easy to repair, too

[Roland Vink]

Cute little lens
It looks like a short version of the AI 43-86/3.5.

It has some interesting mechanics, when the zoom ring is pushed forwards, the front element moves backwards.

The hood is an HK type with a thumb-screw which slips on over the focus/zoom ring. A very clever design, when the zoom ring is pushed forwards to the 50mm setting, the hood gets deeper, pull the zoom ring back to 28mm, the hood is less deep, so it is always optimally shading the lens regardless of the focal length.

As Ric said, sharpness is good, bokeh is on the harsh side. Shooting into strong light produces ghost images although at certain focal lengths and with careful framing this can be minimized. The older 28-45 also suffers from this like many other early zooms.

The zoom range is small by modern standards but it still covers a useful 28-35-50mm range and the macro mode is handy. It is interesting to compare with the Nikkor-H 28/3.5, the zoom is a little larger but has the same focal length and speed, plus it zooms and focuses closer. Amazing how optical design improved over 20 years.

[richardHaw]

great observations

This lens doesnt feel like it was made by nikon (internally). the mechanisms look familiar but they operate in-reverse

i dont know why this lens was only made for 2 years...

[John Geerts]

Thanks again for the write up.  It's a lovely lens, nice colours too.

Posted earlier in May 2017   (https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=5836.msg94801#msg94801)

[Roland Vink]

This lens doesnt feel like it was made by nikon (internally). the mechanisms look familiar but they operate in-reverse

i dont know why this lens was only made for 2 years...

The first AI-S zooms such as the 25-50/4, 35-70/3.5 and 80-200/4 are proper "AI-S" lenses with pro build quality and finish which sets them apart from the Series-E zooms made at the same time. By the time the 28-50/3.5 came along in 1984 the Series-E line was starting to be phased out, or in reality, merged with the AI-S line. The zooms introduced from 1984 are fully multicoated like AI-S lenses, but the build is more like a Series-E lens - the finish is black anodised not black enamel paint, some have plastic aperture and zoom rings, and I guess the internal build uses techniques that first appeared in E lenses.

As for why it was made for such a short time, I guess zoom technology was improving quickly and it was superseded by the 28-85/3.5-4.5. The 28-50/3.5 was already a big step up from the original 28-45/4.5, having greater zoom range, 2/3 stop faster aperture, and macro mode in a much more compact package. But less than 2 years later the 28-85 was introduced with a much more attractive zoom range. For the first time you could buy a lens which covered a true wideangle range (wider than 35mm) and a short telephoto in one lens, the beginning of the modern universal zooms...