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Nikkor 200mm f/2 ED-IF AiS
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:51 am    Post subject: Nikkor 200mm f/2 ED-IF AiS Reply with quote
I know it's probably a cliché and everyone says that about their lens (same as with dogs and kids), but I honestly think I've hit the jackpot with this lens! Got it for almost half the price it sells on eBay. Can't tell the price for sure because the exchange rates in our country are going mental these days, but I'd say around $1250 / 900€.

I fell in love with it instantly. It delivers outstanding results, optical flaws are almost non-existent, the bokeh is out of this world (and I'm not exactly someone who switched from 18-55 kit lens, I've had quite a few fast primes in my hands before). Being a lens from the film era, it lacks the contrast of modern AF-S lenses, which gives me more free will in post process (sometimes I fancy a vintage look and it's way more natural this way).

What it doesn't lack is sharpness! I guess the 4 times more expensive (well, 8 times in my case Smile ) AF-S VRII version does get a little bit sharper, but I can't imagine it can get much sharper than this. I actually sold my Nikkor 135/2 AF DC, because it was ridiculously soft compared to this one.

I've sweeped the internet before buying the lens and there's so little info from actual users I really had no idea if it's worth it. The small amount of people who have tried the lens before only said it's "too heavy to be focused manually", but besides that it seemed excellent. So I thought "What the heck! I'd pulled off several weddings with manual focus only and I'm a young stud, 2.5kg lens is nothing for me" Smile

Let's get to the point! Here are some actual photos from the lens, all wide open, hand-held, taken with a Nikon D600. They're obviously edited, since I used them for my portfolio, but I have dozens of unprocessed stuff I can upload if anyone's interested:

















































































By the way I'd like to thank Matthew Osborne from matthewosbornephotography.co.uk. He won't remember me, but about six months ago he was the one who finally influenced me to buy the lens. Thanks for taking the time to answer my message, Matt! The lens eventually moved both my life and my carreer to a better place!

Last edited by brody on Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:06 pm; edited 15 times in total


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
A very special lens and you got one at a great price. I have the Ai version of the lens and I love it as well even if it is very big on a mirrorless camera. Your pictures are excellent! May I ask which camera you are using, seems to be a FF camera to me, I never really got results like this on my Sony Nex.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Pontus wrote:
A very special lens and you got one at a great price. I have the Ai version of the lens and I love it as well even if it is very big on a mirrorless camera. Your pictures are excellent! May I ask which camera you are using, seems to be a FF camera to me, I never really got results like this on my Sony Nex.


Oh, I forgot to mention it - it's the Nikon D600 (full frame). I'll add it somewhere in the text. Thanks for the compliments and for reminding me! Wink


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Edited

Last edited by bernhardas on Mon May 09, 2016 9:27 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fantastic images! Beautiful color, brokeh and composition. Everything just screams perfection!


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Amazingly beautiful pictures, I aspire one day to be able to take pictures like those.

They are truly professional. I love to take pictures of animals as well.

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Gavin


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Awesome! nice to see you here, thank you!


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wonderful results from an impressive lens, I would be interested to see an on-camera picture for scale!


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
wow.
never try one of these monster lens. very nice.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Excellent pictures.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
You are getting some great results with that lens. I have been on the search for some fast manual primes for my Nikon D600, but this one is probably a bit too specialised/expensive for me.
How do you find manual focus at these apertures? Do you just rely on the rangefinder dot? When shooting at f1.2 on my 50mm AI lens, I find that using liveview with a viewfinder loupe gives me better feedback, as well as correct DOF preview. (I set picture style sharpening to maximum, which does't affect Raw, and the focused edges just buzz on the screen)


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Even the best lens would be worthless without a good photographer and you are one. Great usage of an, obviously, great lens.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Really great photos! And the lens look like an excellent performer, there is really a lot of microcontrast present.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for all the kind replies! I'll try to answer the questions, hopefully I won't miss anything.

Attila wrote:
Awesome! nice to see you here, thank you!

The pleasure is all mine! I've spent countless hours in the past browsing this forum. Every time I've heard about a manual lens, I went here to see pictures from it and dreamt about having it one day. I remember trying very hard to find anything about this lens, so hopefully I'll make it easier for other people interested in the lens Smile

Basilisk wrote:
How do you find manual focus at these apertures? Do you just rely on the rangefinder dot? When shooting at f1.2 on my 50mm AI lens, I find that using liveview with a viewfinder loupe gives me better feedback, as well as correct DOF preview.

That's what I prefer as well. I accidentally damaged the mirror on my D600 last year and it wouldn't take pictures using viewfinder. Luckily the mirror would stay up, so I could use Live View with no limitations. That's when I started using LCD loupe/viewfinder and found to have great results with it. I went through a few cheap eBay LCD viewfinders, but I grew tired of them falling down all the time. I recently purchased an amazing viewfinder from www.mogopod.com . It's really sturdy, amazing material and optics, it has a shutter blind, it's really comfortable, adjustable to any camera with battery grip on, doesn't let any light in and the loupe can even be pulled up and serve as a shade for the LCD (for example if you wanna show the pictures to someone).

Also I've heard great things about alternative focusing screens and I plan to try them one day.

cyrano wrote:
Wonderful results from an impressive lens, I would be interested to see an on-camera picture for scale!

I asked fellow photographers for a few BTS snapshots. This is what the lens looks like:




It's much heavier than it looks (all metal with tons of glass). Oh and please - EXCUSE MY GRIMACING Smile


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
brody wrote:
Thanks for all the kind replies! I'll try to answer the questions, hopefully I won't miss anything.

Basilisk wrote:
How do you find manual focus at these apertures? Do you just rely on the rangefinder dot? When shooting at f1.2 on my 50mm AI lens, I find that using liveview with a viewfinder loupe gives me better feedback, as well as correct DOF preview.

That's what I prefer as well. I accidentally damaged the mirror on my D600 last year and it wouldn't take pictures using viewfinder. Luckily the mirror would stay up, so I could use Live View with no limitations. That's when I started using LCD loupe/viewfinder and found to have great results with it. I went through a few cheap eBay LCD viewfinders, but I grew tired of them falling down all the time. I recently purchased an amazing viewfinder from www.mogopod.com . It's really sturdy, amazing material and optics, it has a shutter blind, it's really comfortable, adjustable to any camera with battery grip on, doesn't let any light in and the loupe can even be pulled up and serve as a shade for the LCD (for example if you wanna show the pictures to someone).

Also I've heard great things about alternative focusing screens and I plan to try them one day.


Good to find someone else using this technique - though I have to say a Sony A7 would be a more compact way of getting very similar results, with probably better liveview options. OVF purists sneer at this approach, but I have to say the current OVF really does a poor job of representing the image at f1.2.
That mogopod loupe looks pretty smart; I bought the cheapest one I could find - and glued it on to a spare screen protector so it is not attached to the actual body - certainly adequate, but a flip up one might be nice.
Battery life on liveview is the real limiting factor - if I was doing long shoots I would certainly want a couple of spares in my pocket.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
congrats to these great pictures
your 2nd picture to hold the camera might be interesting to do in water Smile as most dogs like it
you seem to know the behavior of your models and your equipment very well
let us see more of your pictures, please


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I do not believe you. I know it's the photographer, not the lens. Keep it coming. Very Happy


PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lovely images! Great work!


PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Perfect images made with very good lens from a very good photographer!
One more lens on my wish list!


PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's a monster. Laughing


PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've added a few flowers in the top post (I'm on a spring flower-hunting spree Smile ). I'll also add some snapshots in a separate comment.

Thanks again for all the kind words!


PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Here are some of the "second-rate" photos I promised Smile Just bear in mind these were not meant for my portfolio, either because they're just testshots / walk-around shots or I simply didn't think they have the required potential.























Last edited by brody on Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:12 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Were do you find all those four-legged models? Very Happy
Some funny shots in the second series Very Happy
That lens is dream and you know how to handle it! You should keep it forever!


PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ForenSeil wrote:
Were do you find all those four-legged models? Very Happy
Some funny shots in the second series Very Happy
That lens is dream and you know how to handle it! You should keep it forever!


Thanks Smile The cute spotty Catahoula boy is mine, as well as the funny looking chocolate Doberman girl. The rest are from people I found over Facebook. I'll definitely shoot more dog portraits soon, as it really pays off (people like dog photos the most, I find a great artistic value in it and I have a great time around dogs).

And I agree with you, I doubt I'll ever sell that lens. I mean WHY WOULD I? Smile Unless I get arthritis through both my arms, there's no reason not to keep it for the rest of my life!


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
56 DIN wrote:
congrats to these great pictures
your 2nd picture to hold the camera might be interesting to do in water Smile as most dogs like it
you seem to know the behavior of your models and your equipment very well
let us see more of your pictures, please


not in the rain, I think it make the rain effect by Photoshop, just like motion blur...
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