There's some great older lenses out there...

Steve M said:
I'm after a Nikkor f1.8 50mm pancake lens. Think they stopped making them in the mid 80's. Anyone got or used one?

Think the AI is the one to go for (more expensive).

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/50f18E.htm
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There are quite a few scattered about. Try the london camera exchange, RS photographic, camtech or Grays. (though grays won't be even remotely cheap) I've got the normal sized AI-s 50mm f1.8 and also the f1.2 version. (which is much sharper at f2)
 
Richdog said:
Thoughts on the Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S?

Can get it for £589 used with no warranty, but in good condition with no marks on the lens.

It would replace my 24-120mm as my general walkabout lens and would be used in clubs etc. I lose 4mm over my 24-120, but the low light capability seems very tempting.

Whaddya think? :)
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It is fairly sharp, similar to the 24-120 but not quite the 24-70mm sharpness.

To em the 28mm is a deal breaker, I would rather have the 24-120mm, for club photography it is a better choice, 1 stop aperture wont eb anywhere near enough to allow photography without a flash and as suggested in ther other thread, you don't want to be shooting at wide apertures when capturing groups of people in a club.


TBH, I am thinking of selling my 24-70mm in exchange for the 24-120mm and some primes.
 
D.P. said:
It is fairly sharp, similar to the 24-120 but not quite the 24-70mm sharpness.

To em the 28mm is a deal breaker, I would rather have the 24-120mm, for club photography it is a better choice, 1 stop aperture wont eb anywhere near enough to allow photography without a flash and as suggested in ther other thread, you don't want to be shooting at wide apertures when capturing groups of people in a club.


TBH, I am thinking of selling my 24-70mm in exchange for the 24-120mm and some primes.
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28mm a deal breaker? It is not really significant vs 24mm... I always zoomed even to some small extent in when I did the club photography.

I found a good post on DP Review: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3369836#forum-post-50692450

I find it helpful to think of focal lengths in terms of stops -- a one stop change in focal length doubles or halves the area of the captured scene (on the focal plane).

So, let's set 0 stops to be the sensor diagonal. Then, for FF, we have:

-4 stops --> 11mm
-3 2/3 stops --> 12mm
-3 1/3 stops --> 14mm
-3 stops --> 15mm
-2 2/3 stops --> 17mm
-2 1/3 stops --> 19mm
-2 stops --> 22mm
-1 2/3 stops --> 24mm
-1 1/3 stops --> 27mm
-1 stop --> 31mm
-2/3 stops --> 34mm
-1/3 stops --> 39mm
0 stops --> 43mm
1/3 stops --> 49mm
2/3 stops --> 55mm
1 stops --> 61mm
1 1/3 stops --> 69mm
1 2/3 stops --> 77mm
2 stops --> 87mm
2 1/3 stops --> 97mm
2 2/3 stops --> 109mm
3 stops --> 122mm
3 1/3 stops --> 137mm
3 2/3 stops --> 154mm
4 stops --> 173mm
4 1/3 stops --> 194mm
4 2/3 stops --> 218mm
5 stops --> 245mm
5 1/3 stops --> 275mm
5 2/3 stops --> 308mm
6 stops --> 346mm
6 1/3 stops --> 389mm
6 2/3 stops --> 436mm
7 stops --> 490mm
7 1/3 stops --> 549mm
7 2/3 stops --> 617mm
8 stops --> 692mm
8 1/3 stops --> 777mm
8 2/3 stops --> 872mm
9 stops --> 979mm

This thinking leads to the following classifications:

Wider than -2 stops: UWA
Between -2 stops and 1 stop: WA
Between -1 stop and 1 stop: Normal
Between 1 stop and 2 stops: Short Telephoto
Between 2 stops and 3 stops: Telephoto
Between 3 stops and 4 stops: Long Telephoto
Longer than 4 stops: Super Telephoto
If we think in these terms, we see that 24mm and 28mm are basically 1/3 of a stop apart. The utility of thinking in this way is if 1/3 of a stop in FOV has the same value as 1/3 of a stop in f-ratio (DOF / noise) and/or 1/3 of a stop in shutter speed (motion blur / camera shake).

Yeah, way nerdy, but I was bored. :-)
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Of course it's not exactly the same, but I would certainly agree with him that 28mm is by no means a deal breaker.
 
That is just confusing, it is always best to convert the focal length to field of view.
28mm has a horizontal FoV of 65.5*, while 24mm is 73.7 - the difference in the diagonal FoV is larger still.

That has a dramatic impact on photos. That is the equivalent of going from 140mm to 400mm.

The difference between 18mm and 16mm on 1.5x crop was incredibly noticible to me and the deciding factor in me buying the 16-85mm over other contended, and that is 24-27mm so not even as big a difference.


No, 24 vs 28mm is a deal breaker for me, it would necessitate carrying a second lens far more often while 24mm is just wide enough not to.that is why Nikon sells both 28mm and 24mm primes, there is a big visual difference.


Look at the differences the extra field of view provides, the 24mm is capture much more of the scene. You would have to walk back a long way to get the same edge boundaries and that might not always be possible, and it certainly changes the perspective.
http://canonlensblog.com/wp-content...vs-35mm-lenses-viewing-angles-difference1.jpg

It might be useful to consider the difference between such focal lengths. 24-28mm is the same as going from 35mm to 50mm. These are 2 commonly possessed primes.
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikon_Nikkor_AF-S_28mm_f1-8G/
 
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Hmm looking at those comparisons it is wider than I thought, but still probably not a deal breaker for me as I maybe only tok a few shots at 24mm when I did the shoot.

To be honest my priority now is getting a decent 70-200 f2.8 anyway, so the 24-120 will stay for now even though I do find the bokeh most unpleasing to look at (in fact one of the worst I have ever personally seen on a lens). :)
 
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No. Only the AF, AF-D and AF-s versions will autofocus. The AI and AI-s are manual focus, though the camera will have a focus guide in the viewfinder. Looks like this >o< in the bottom left. The arrows denote the direction to turn the focus ring and the circle in the middle confirms focus.
 
I got my 50mm f1.8 AI-s for ~ £40 about 6 years back. I wasn't too concerned with AF back then, an AF version which is optically identical should be around £70-80. You loose the metal build and gain AF.
 
I'll keep a look out then :)

Before moving to a Nikon DSLR system last year, I previously had a Panasonic G3 (micro 4/3 camera) and some old skool M42 screw fit lenses, which i connected via an adapter to the camera. I loved using this old glass manually :)

That's all gone now, so as i'm on the Nikon system i want to build up a collection of vintage lenses again, but will just get Nikon/Nikkor F mount ones which will attach straight to the camera.

Ebay prices are a bit higher than the scew fit lenses i had previously though..
 
Yeah nikon's short register distance stopped me from using my old contax zeiss glass and olympus OM glass. I use a medium format mamiya 80mm f1.9 with the nikon now as it has saved me from having to buy a new 85mm f1.4 to replace the contax. Any medium format lens will work, which gives you a few options, like bronica, mamiya, hasselblad and contax(645). (the latter 2 are probably way too expensive though)
 
Just bought a (described as) mint Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-s 'pancake' lens (not the E series one) from ebay.

Should be here tomorrow. Can't wait to have a play with it. Everything i've read on this states this is one of the sharpest Nikon lenses around, and built much better and is optically supierior to the modern offering of 50mm DX lenses :)
 
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It certainly is sharp, though the f1.2 is sharper at f2 and all others are equal by f4. The sharpest of the bunch is supposed to be the 55mm f2.8 macro. (though i doubt it is by much)
 
The f1.2 is ££££ though :) Mine was £50.

Well i'll be pairing mine with my D7100 tomorrow so will report back here with the results
:)
 
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Steve M said:
Just bought a (described as) mint Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-s 'pancake' lens (not the E series one) from ebay.

Should be here tomorrow. Can't wait to have a play with it. Everything i've read on this states this is one of the sharpest Nikon lenses around, and built much better and is optically supierior to the modern offering of 50mm DX lenses :)
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...and here it is :)

Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-s 'pancake' lens by Steve Millward, on Flickr

Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-s 'pancake' lens by Steve Millward, on Flickr

Will get out and take some shots with it when it eventually stops raining..
 
Nice. Certainly is dinky. Is it multicoated or single? (My 50 f1.8 is green and purple coatings)
 
Some quick test shots with it in the garden. All shot handheld and manual focus on this lens of course.

Seems a great little lens. Bit soft (as expected) at f1.8 but still very useable and bokeh much more pleasing to the eye than my 35mm f1.8 DX lens that I usually shoot with on my D7100.

Wide open @ f1.8:
Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-s test shot @ f1.8 by Steve Millward, on Flickr

@ f4:
Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-s test shot @ f4 by Steve Millward, on Flickr

@ f5.6:
Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-s test shot @ f5.6 by Steve Millward, on Flickr

...and another:
Spring Daisy by Steve Millward, on Flickr
 
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