AF Nikkor 50mm f1.4 vintage lens review

-

The lens is made of plastic with a metal mount, it weights around 250g, it is 44 to 52mm long and it has an external diameter of 65mm, with a 52mm front thread.

The iris has 7 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f1.4 to f16 without half steps.

The focusing ring is textured, it turns 160 degrees and minimum focusing distance is 45cm. The autofocus uses the screw drive system.

The Nikon F mount has a flange distance of 46.5mm.

The plastic body doesn’t feel amazing, but it is well put together. The focusing ring is a bit narrow and smooth, while the aperture is big but only partially textured and not the most practical to use.

It is a small and light lens so it doesn’t throw off the balance of the camera, whether adapting on mirrorless or on Nikon srls.

Sharpness wide open is lacking all over the frame, but it improves stopping down and gets really sharp by f8.

Chromatic aberration is present at all apertures, but rarely distracting and highlights bloom at wider apertures.

Colors can be a bit cold and along contrast and saturation are a bit muted.

Specular highlights have hard edges and no artifacts. Stopping down they get visibly geometrical.

Backgrounds can occasionally feel busy, even wide open.

Flares are big and concentrical and images get really washed out when shooting towards a strong source of light.”

I am progressively more confused by Nikkor lenses. I thought this would be very close to the 85, although that was from the updated D series, but the difference is noticeable.

I get the impression that Nikkor made this lens just because they could, disregarding image quality wide open and that’s sad, ‘cause otherwise I would like this lens.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yashica 135mm f2.8 ML - Lens review

-
Image
  Last winter I bought three Yashica lenses and a camera body fo quite cheap, because they were not in the best conditions, especially the 135mm.  The optical elements were dirty, the aperture had been poorly de-clicked and, worst of all, the focusing helicoid was completely off and needed to be recalibrated and lubricated, so I gave it to a lab to be fixed and cleaned and now it works perfectly.  Yashica is one of those well know names in the industry, with a history dating back to the late '40s and in 1975 they introduced the Contax Yashica bayonet mount in collaboration with Carl Zeiss. They had three ranges of lenses: the basic one was the DSB, which had single coatings, above that was the ML, with multi coatings, and the top of the line was the Zeiss AE series.  Now, back to this lens.  The body is made of metal and weights 410 grams; it is 76mm long when focused to infinity and 90mm when fully extended, with a 52mm front thread and, my favorite feature, a built in sun hood.  
Read more

Soligor 28mm f2.8 C/D - vintage lens review

-
Image
Soligor was a supplier of photographic equipment based in the United States and Germany, active mostly between the ‘60s and the early ‘90s. They had a very comprehensive catalog of lenses, made in Japan by manufacturers like Tokina and Tamron, covering a wide array of focal lengths and they were available for all major camera brands. Soligor lenses were also sold under alternative brand names like Hanimar, Porst or Super Carener, in different geographical areas. From my research, the 28mm 2.8 alone has at least 21 different versions, so chances are that yours looks different than mine. Specifically, the one I own is part of the C/D line released in the mid-1970s as a premium line of lenses. The Soligor 28mm is made out of metal, it weights 200g, it is 33mm long when focused to infinity and 37mm when extended, with a 49mm front thread. The iris has six blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 The focusing ring is rubberized and it turns 180 degrees and mi
Read more

Canon FD 100mm f2.8 - Lens review

-
Image
 Canon FD lenses have grown in popularity in the last few years because they're cheap, easy to find, reliable and with cheap adapters you can mount them to modern digital cameras. Mirrorless like Sony's or Canon's EOS R and RF will work best and will be easier to adapt, but you can use Canon FD lenses on your DSLRs too, although you might need a different adapter with a focal reducer, due to the incompatible flange distance. Personally, I'm not a fan of focal reducers, as they cad degrade or alter the quality of the image produced by the lens.  Anyway, these Canon FD lenses are completely manual and have no electronic, and this one specifically is part of the so-called nFD, or new FD, series, introduced in 1979.  Everyone seems to love them so, back in 2017 when I was getting into vintage lenses, I was eager to try them. Luckily, a friend of mine owned two of them and he was kind enough to let me borrow them for a few weeks.  Right off the bat this lens sounds promising
Read more