What's Your Favorite Vintage Nikkor "BOKEH" Lens?

[BruceSD]

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I'm a confirmed bokeh fanatic (Bokeholic?).  I shoot mostly fast lenses at wide apertures.  Often I even use speed boosters to achieve even shallower DOF.

I have lots of vintage bokeh lenses from a variety of lens makers (Olympus Zuiko, MOG, Zeiss, Voigtlander, Leica, etc.).

As far as my favorite Nikkor bokeh lenses, my personal favorite is the 55 mm f/1.2 Oscilloscope-Nikkor (I own 2 copies).  I like it's incredible sharpness and artistic/painterly bokeh rendering (see photo). 

You might be surprised to hear that my second favorite Nikkor bokeh lens is the humble/inexpensive/light-weight 50mm f/2 non-Ai lens - it really shines on a Metabones Speed Booster.

Do you have a favorite old Nikkor bokeh lens? Care to share your tips for creating outstanding bokeh with it?

[Dogman]

Not really "vintage" but my favorite anyway--Nikkor 85mm ƒ/1.4D.  Gorgeous blur.

I also like the humble 50/1.4 from the early 70's.  Maybe because it was the only good lens I owned back then.

[Akira]

Another big fan of Nikkor-O 55/1.2.  Its field curvature adds some character to the unique overall rendition.

#1: One of my oldest images shot with the lens on D2H.
#2: The latest image shot with it on SIGMA fp.

[BruceSD]

Another big fan of Nikkor-O 55/1.2.  Its field curvature adds some character to the unique overall rendition.

#1: One of my oldest image shot with the lens on D2H.
#2: The latest image shot with it on SIGMA fp.

Lovely images!   Thank you for posting!  They inspired me to go out and shoot more with this lens.

[Akira]

Lovely images!   Thank you for posting!  They inspired me to go out and shoot more with this lens.

Glad you like them, Bruce!

[Bob Foster]

The Non-AI Nikkor 35/1.4 NC also has considerable curvature of field. Here it was (ab?)used wide open at near the minimum focal distance, the image is slightly cropped. This lens humbles me. I've had two copies of it over the course of almost 50 years; perhaps more than any other mainstream Nikkor that I've used the result obtained can, with few constraints, be deliberately varied by how the lens is used.

Bob

[Erik Lund]

You show probably one of the best Nikkor-O 55mm f/1.2 with a wonderful sample image!
The Noct-Nikkor is capable of something similar if you take care with the post processing

[Birna Rørslett]

Wonderful bokeh is the hallmark of the 55mm f/1.2 CRT-Nikkor ('oscillioscope')



Here a recent capture done with the Z6. The 55 CRT does focus to infinity on this camera system, but results are "special".

[Fons Baerken]

D850, 35mm f/1.4g

[BruceSD]

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I'm so glad that I started this blog.

Appreciate all of your excellent responses!  The photos that have been posted are all outstanding!

[Erik Lund]

First the Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 Ai CPU Modified
_EGL4003 by Erik Gunst Lund, on Flickr
Second is 300mm f/2.8 Af-S first version

_EGL2278 by Erik Gunst Lund, on Flickr

[golunvolo]

Love this page.

  Erik, that first image resonates extra with me.

  Thank you all for sharing!

[Michael Erlewine]

Here are a couple images made with the Nikon "O" CRT 55mm f/1.2 lens that I like.

I don't know why this post is limited to "vintage" bokeh. The Nikon Z 58mm f/0.95 has the best bokeh of all, IMO.

[Asle F]

105mm/4 for bellows in front of 105mm/4 micro-Nikkor


Løvetann by Asle Feten, on Flickr

[Toby]

Of all the lens makers of a certain era, I find the Nikkors rival the Takumars for lenses with uninteresting bokeh. I tend to like overcorrected spherical aberration, which typically creates etched "ni-sen" bokeh, and Nikkors don't do that. I do like the CRT Nikkor, but it is not actually one of my favorites among my industrial lenses. The Repro Nikkor 85mm f1.0, however, does have very interesting bokeh, and that would be the lens I would choose as my favorite in that respect. Sadly, it cannot be used for anything less than about 1:1 even on short flange mirrorless cameras