The lens from H... you know...

[Pete]

Ok, this is an old story but I still have the lens in my collection but not the D200...

Over the summer (2007) I came across a clean 55 1.2 lens. It was not AI but was multicoated and the price was right even with the added cost to AI. Good shape, everything seems to work and I always wanted a 1.2 lens. I had a few choices for the AI conversion and I chose a small repair shop about 75 miles from me. The guy had done a few repairs for me in the past and I get out that way often enough. I dropped the lens off and after a little longer than I expected I picked it back up. The repairman was not the one I dealt with in the past and he explained that the original owner had sold the shop. No big deal... I thought. I was busy and did not test the lens for a few days and when I did, it mounted on my D200 and worked at F1.2 but when I turned the aperture ring, it would jam. Obviously a little more material needed to be removed from the ring. Like I said, the shop was 75 miles away and I am handy with things. Very carefully using hand tools and protecting the glass, I removed a small amout of metal from the lens ring. Great! now it mounts and the aperture ring turns all the way with out jamming.

Well, not so great. Seems the guy made the original cut in the wrong place and the first four F stops did not indicate. In fact it was about 1/2 inch too far west. I can't send it back now, I have touched it and I cannot send it to someone else for the conversion. Fortunately my junk box has a few old lens parts and I was able to find a small metal piece with the correct curve and I cut it to length. I looked at the indexing on my other lenses and interpolated the new location for the 1.2. A little JB Weld and now it works. The aperture reads out properly and the meter works perfect. Now I am happy, at least for a little while.

The next day I took some passport photos for my GFs family. Of course I wanted to use the 55 1.2 and even remembered how to manual focus. Stopped down to F2.8 and F4, I was able to get some great photos using window light. They are sharp, exposed well and contrast is good but I don't know if they are better than any other of my lenses. Afterwards I was outside and it seemed to over expose at the higher apertures. At F16 it was totally washed out. I looked inside and found that the aperture blades were dragging and did not close all the way. I thought I checked that when I bought it but... When I removed the lens and checked, the aperture moved freely but not when mounted on my D200. I tried it on my FM2 and it worked flawlessly. Long story short, I found that when focused on infinity, the rear glass protrudes and fouls the actuation lever on my D200. Now what, I can't send it back. I can modify my D200 (NOT!), I can continue to mess with the lens or I can dig a hole and bury it (this probably would have been the wisest). Ok, so protecting the glass, I was able to remove a small amount of metal from the brass ring around it. This was time consuming but I was able to get it to operate freely.

Now I have a 55 1.2 lens that works well on my D200. I know it is the least desirable of the 1.2s but I think I will have fun with it.

[Pete]

Here are some photos (also old) from the 55 1.2. It is working well now and exposue seems right on. Here are some pics from (2007) most are at F 8 because I did not have much luck focusing at F 1.2, will have to work on that. I did no PP sharpening just auto levels.









Ok, this one is at 1.2

[Cistron]

Which one is it? I have the S-auto, with the ridged chrome ring, which I believe is not mulit-coated. I got it for ~£150 off the bay and it turned out to be Ai-converted.

[Pete]

Mine is the SC version and has a yellowish multi-coating. I got it for $150 USD in 2007.
Pete