Nikon 1.2/50mm Manual Lens

I am looking for Nikon 1.2/50mm manual lens to buy. If I do find one

in excellent condition, what would be the right price to pay? Any

ideas please. Thank you.

I just saw one on eBay currently at $170. You could watch to see what it finally sells for. However, people do get carried away .... I frequently see used lenses sell for more than you could buy them new.

Don't know about price, but remember there are two of these. The regular one is really sort of a so-so lens, with a lot of flare and not nearly as good performance as the f/1.4, but not too expensive. The other one is the "Noct" with, I think, aspherical element(s), better performance, and a high price tag to match. IMO, I've seen some really nice work done with the regular lens. It has a nice atmospheric quality, and very narrow DOF, if that's the effect you're looking for. Remember as well that the difference between f/1.2 and f/1.4 is very small in terms of a real low light speed increase.

Afzal, Current prices for a 50/1.2 AIS in excellent shape would be not less than $300.

 

Conrad, you are confused and are trying to confuse others. The 50/1.2 AIS is not prone to flair and there is no 50mm f/1.2 Noct Nikkor.

The Noct is a 58/1.2 lens.

Search this forum, there is plenty discussions on performance of this lens.

 

I have 1.8, 1.4(had), 1.2ais, and f2. The 1.2ais outperforms every other nikkor 50mm at equal f-stops, and shines at 1.2 IF used properly. It's not a lens for novice.

 

koorus

$300 and up tends to be the typical closing price on eBay, unless the lens is a beater.

I paid ﾀ 175 for mine, which is as good as new.. but I'm always lucky to find good deals. I agree that $300 or up is more common.

I paid $300 for mine in excellent condition from KEH. It is a very fine lens. Sharp enough wide open and very sharp by 2.8. I also have a 55 f1.2 that is nowhere near as sharp wide open and is much more prone to flare. But the 50 1.2 AI-S is sweet.

 

Check out what the DOF is like wide open. My cat does not like to have his picture taken. I think the look on his face says it all.

 

Michael<div></div>

You can save arround $80 getting the Ai and not AIs version.

I have one of these, paid $300 for it like new (but without the box or anything like that) and from what I was told from the guy I bought it from it was the best of the 3 he had tried (he was selling it since he was going Leica). Wide open it's not so good, but just stopping it down to f/1.4 helps though it's still not great. The nice thing about this lens is that the sharpness is similar throughout the entire frame, even at 1.4. I'm debating replacing it with a zeiss zf 50 1.4. I haven't noticed a tendency to flare, though I do use a hood. Here are some samples I took with my canon 20D, shot in RAW and processed using the default settings in RawShooter Premium. Click the link at the bottom that says O to view at the original size.

http://davidson.smugmug.com/gallery/1432619

"Brand new, USA, I recently saw the 50mm f1.2 Ais priced around $760."

 

B&H has USA models on backorder for $559. I don't know how long it will take them to get more, but they also have grey market for $429.

There are probably dozens of pockets of new old stock 50mm F1.2 AIS lens in dealers around the world. Last fall I bough new 85mm F1.4, 105mm F1.8, and 180mm F2.8 all AIS from mostly smaller dealers. Just because B&H is out doesnt mean some midwest dealer, east or west coast dealer is out of them too. Its like tickets for a hockey or football game, the game can be sold out but there are still small fry folks who have them for sale.

If you notice, B&H has had quite a few (if not all) manual focus nikon lenses on backorder for some time now...it's because Nikon has stopped making manual focus lenses...that was part of the reason zeiss was encouraged by nikon to come out with their own line of manual focus nikon mounts.

Richard S: Nikon certainly has not stopped making manual focus lenses, however they did discontinue much of the AI-S line in January, leaving only a dozen or so lenses from 20mm to 105mm left in the line. I don't recall offhand if the 50mm f1.2 was one of the lenses to remain, but it's likely, as the 35mm f1.4 certainly did remain in the current lineup.

Nikon USA has a listing of <a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=5" >current lenses here.</a> <p>I count 13 survivors. Among them are the 28 PC 3.5, 35 1.4, 45 2.8 P, 50 1.2 AIS.<p>Among the dearly departed are the 24 2.8, 28 2.8, and the 50 1.4 + 50 1.8 lenses.<p>Most distressing to me is that the 70-180 Micro Nikkor zoom is no longer listed. Does anyone know the link for Nikon's updated list of discontinued products? I've seen <a href="http://www.nikon-image.com/eng/Lineup/discon.htm" >this list which has a 2004 copyright date.</a> I'd like to get official confirmation as to what's still being produced, and what's not.

Alot of non normal Nikon lenses have always been low volume/production lenses, and have always been made in batches. I doubt the design and tooling is scraped like American makers do for tax reasons. In some of the low volume lenses like super telephotos, a batch might only be made once a year. IF folks were actually buying enough manual focus lenses, then another batch can be run. When the pipeline is full and bloaded, halting or delaying making batches should be done.

Adam<p>A small correction - looking at the list, it seems that the 20mm f/2.8 AIS and 105mm f/2.5 AIS are also history.

Robert; there are pockets of unsold new lenses all around the world. I bought new 105mm F1.8, 180mm F2.8 and 85mm F1.4 AIS last fall, and most all are tagged as no longer made. They were new in the box, with Nikon papers and warranty. A friend bought a brand new Nikon FTn a few years back from a smaller store in LA. Enlarging lenses are also still available as new lenses too. At KEH in the mid 1990's I bought a new Nikon case and Nikon flash for a friends Nikon FG, plus another new Nikon slide copy attachment for my Nikon PB4 bellows, all brand new in the boxes and sealed. There is a glut of manual focus Nikkors on the used market. Many dont command many dollars to purchase. If I can buy a decent working Nikkormat FT2 with working meter on Ebay for 65 dollars, that has a spotless mint normal lens that happens to be a 105mm F2.5 AIS, why would I want to buy one from B&H that cost 6x times more? Many folks have just dumped their old Nikon lenses and bodies and moved on to P&S digitals, and are happy to get some cash for their old gear. I bought a 16, 28, 35, 50 and 105mm on ebay as a kit for less than 199 bucks. In 1976 I paid 150 for a new 105mm Nikkor, when a local business was going bankrupt.

One more thing: the 50/1.2 has a 7 blade and 9 blade aperture version. Most prefer the newer 9 blade. If you're ebay shopping, pay attention to this, as they sell at different price points. If you can't see the aperture in the pictures listed, you can also tell by the serial number.

I don't want anyone to think I'm shilling, but I just noticed that Cameta is selling a "factory demo" 50mm f/1.2 through the famous auction site for $330.