85mm f/1.8 Nikkor-H Auto

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

i just dont seem to be winning at getting the right 80mm

i used to have a beat-up old fluted-metal 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor-H back in the day -- i loved that lens

despite chips in the front glass, it had great sharp wide open

not really light, but maybe not too heavy neither

actually my Technica-Heliar has a step-ring araldited to its rim-thread with a HN-7 hood on it -- the correct hood for the 85mm f/1.8

i'm currently watching a couple of nice clean copies, mostly in Japan, much cleaner than the one i had

i have strong urge to get one again

8 aperture blades -- bokeh schmokeh, me i want the fast single-coat

mind you, i just spotted a scratched-front-glass 105mm 2.5 going cheap -- but thats gonna be far too weighty for m43 -- stiil -- i do

have a black Sharpie and ive never owned a copy of the 105mm 2.5 Nikkor-P ... http://i.imgur.com/ILEJS3o.jpg?2

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

won auction for this
http://i.imgur.com/ToG7Tkm.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/dRRcnFB.jpg?1

number puts it from 1972
http://i.imgur.com/BTLIX5i.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/ilzjjiW.jpg?1

looks clean to me,

its actually one of my grail lenses, bin wanting one for a longtime

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

NIce lens congrats!!

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

1972: NIKKOR H, so its single- as opposed to multi- coated, and in 1972 they changed to -H.C [multi-coated] .. so this is one of the last made

its a bit heavy for my declared goal of lightweight quality lenses for M43

i might have been better to buy the 85mm 2 for that, but i never fancied one

its still a lens i desired greatly, at a not bad price, i was expecting sniping but none occurred

they seem plentiful atm, tho the best ones are from Japan, this comes from the UK .. no long wait, no ransom to pay

AND i have the correct metal lenshood, had it for ages

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Had one for a while, very worthy lens and a very good value these days.
As for size/weight, 85/1.8 is going to be large no matter what.

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

it went in the post already, i might get this tomorrow, cool

also i have adapters to try it immediately on my n00 G3 ...

i guess what i really want for the G3 is Nikkor P.C 8.5cm f/2 in LTM

since my adapter currently no workee on the G3

tho i'm watching a 105/2.5 which doesnt need focussing helicoid

araucaria · Joined: 16 Jan 2014 Posts: 63

This lens is actually very good. I have a very beaten up copy that cost me 50� on ebay. The front element dances and you have to pull it out to get infinite focus. But when I compare it to the nikkor afd 85 1.4 and to the bokeh champion the nikkor vr1 70-200 2.8 it holds up pretty well. On the d800 you can see it has some tiny ugly aberrations, but on the D3 the 3 lenses look almost the same (the zoom lens has no CA and the smoothest bokeh there is but it's only 2.8 ).
I think this lens is a winner if you can get it for cheap, once you get over 200� the ai-s 85 1.4 starts to look more attractive.

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

well, i paid about 109 euro, and i was a bit surprised how little contention i faced later in the bidding

i thought it might go for a good bit more .. or did i miss something in the description?

i think possibly because this lens was one of the last of the metal single-coated ones made [which is actually exactly what i was after]

later in 72 they introduced the multicoated version, otherwise identical except the -H.C, but more desirable for some

i owned a tatty, very worn one, back in the day, that i really liked

btw i do actually also have a 85mm 1.4, but i'm 'resting' it

i just hope this one works close to how i'd like it to

gonna find out tomorrow, eh

araucaria · Joined: 16 Jan 2014 Posts: 63

I think the mistatements on the web that non-ai lenses will kill your nikon dslr help a lot on non-ai lens prices. The worse 85 2 ai-s goes for a lot more.
The ai-s lenses don't look so primitive and that also makes the non-ai lenses less desirable.
Also the non-ai 50 1.4 is sooo bad it might turn people off from old glass, but the 85 and the 105 2.5 (sonnar and gauss) can compete even with modern glass.

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

as it goes, i never owned a 105mm2.5, i really want to try one

i'm watching a 10.5cm S mount now

and possibly a little oddly, a Nikkor 105mm f2.5, non-metallic focussing-ring, from about 1977

littleearth · Joined: 21 Dec 2011 Posts: 77 Location: PT

That's an amazing lens for B&W portraits !
Sharp wide open, with just the right amount of coma/swirly bokeh (unlike the later AI/AI-S versions).

araucaria · Joined: 16 Jan 2014 Posts: 63

I think the range finder 10.5cm is the same as the silver nose nikkor-p 10.5 2.5 (sonnar) , so it will be a nice complement to the other 105 2.5 which is supposed to be sharper. (I only have the sonnar but a friend owns the newer one)

Here are some samples. All wide open except the long street shot which should be f5.6 (I don't remember).
I turned off all the sharpening and CA/lens corrections so you can evaluate the quality. The compression makes the noise look ugly. D800 focused with standart ground glass (it's doable Wink

) I always have to laugh when people say that the 36mp need expensive glass, the smoothness you can get out of the 36mp with vintage glass is nice, the aberrations make the images look more natural (some of them)

nikkor-p 105 2.5 silver nose on d800 (not the 9 bladed version)
creamy close up bokeh
http://s8.postimg.org/wvx00kqgz/sonnar3.jpg
http://s8.postimg.org/ftzkkqm83/sonnar6.jpg
slightly swilrly
http://s8.postimg.org/s672byzgj/sonnar4.jpg
contrast/sharpness medium-long distance
http://s8.postimg.org/5nmdo0cg3/sonnar7.jpg

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

araucaria · Joined: 16 Jan 2014 Posts: 63

That street is in lisbon.
It's the same size although a tad thinner and weights less than than the 85 1.8. Actually it looks kinda funny on the d800 because it's so small. It makes the 135 DC look like something totally overengineered (that lens is twice as big and heavy)

The 105 2.8 macro seems to be as big as the 135 2 dc

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

wicked curve them lenses make ...

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

gah .. package just arrived with AF NIKKOR 28-85mm 3.5-4.5, he sent the wrong thing

schwitters

more stupid waiting

EDIT: hes noticed his mistake

wotta plonker

RnR · Expire: 2019-08-29

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

great sharp

i dont get a turn in this game yet tho

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

85mm 1.8 now allegedly arriving Thursday

believe it when i see it

he wants his AF-Nikkor zoom back too

which he's welcome to, after this 85mm passes a closer inspection ..

if he had provided a return address ..

mfkita · Joined: 29 Jul 2007 Posts: 222

I don't know what body you'd use the 85 on...but you should know that the 28-85 is a VERY good lens...a bit soft at the edges wide open on the 35mm sensor, but stopped down to 5.6 it's uniformly sharp corner to corner...one might think that that's not so hot, but consider the higher ISO quality of the current generation of sensors, like that in D610 where 3200 is yesterdays ISO 800, F5.6 is a fine general purpose walk-about lens, whether AF or MF (as I had used on my Canon dSLRs)...a bargain at under $50

As for the 85s....the 1.8 is larger/heavier than the later F2 version....just as the 135/2.8 AIS Nikkor is larger than the earlier 135/2.8Q, the larger versions of both are very well balanced on the larger dSLR bodies...

Two of my 85 Nikkors....I kept the "K" version as it was "Ai'd" and I can now use it on my new D610...(note the 3 holes in the focusing barrel of the "H" version...screw holes used to attach a post for "pulling" focus during a tracking shot in video mode).

85x2BAR by kitaflix, on Flickr

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

heh, i have no modern Nikon bodies to use that AF zoom on, its not what i paid for anyway, its not mine, its going back [after i get the 85]

nor do i know much about zooms .. i'm not really interested tbh

as i said above this copy of the 85mm1.8 was made at an interesting time

i will be using it on Panasonic Lumix G3 initially, then G1

probably on Canon 650d later

mfkita · Joined: 29 Jul 2007 Posts: 222

Let me/us know how it works on the G3....I have a cuzin with the G3 and we are going on a trip together and she may like using a Nikkor on it...

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

mfkita · Joined: 29 Jul 2007 Posts: 222

Glad you got a minty...!

As for my cuz, I think you're right about the weight/balance...I'll bring a vivitar 28/2 and 50/1.8 series e for low light night shooting that she might like....

Enjoy your 85!

etorix · Joined: 05 Oct 2014 Posts: 209 Location: London, England

good choice

heh, me i cant quite believe this lens, its so nice, and its here, and its actually mine

i have to keep picking it up to look at it again, to reassure myself like

it arrived with the correct vintage front cap, but a very modern AF-stylee rear

so has it been on a minty F2 or F all this time, in a showcase or so

its definitely had little or no use, hardly ANY dust even

i havent even found cleaning-marks yet either