FS: Nikon AF Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 ED IF $385

This AF-Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 ED (non-D) lens is in really sweet condition. The glass is outstanding—not a scratch or a mark on either of the exposed elements, and no fungus, marks, haze, or separation inside.

 

There is virtually no visible wear on the barrel. The only exceptions are a couple of very subtle scuffs on the retractable hood. These scuffs are hard to see and hard photograph; see the 15th photo below for my best picture of the largest scuff.

 

Autofocus works well, although it does require AF Fine Tune on my particular body. There are two things about the AF I have to disclose. First, the gear train emits a quiet clicking sound when the camera is pulling focus over a long distance. This clicking has no discernible impact on AF performance. Second, AF will occasionally fail to engage the first time you try to use it after mounting the lens. When this happens, there is a 100% reliable, simple method to make it engage. If you're interested, message me and I'll teach you the steps.

 

The focus ring, when focusing manually, is very smooth and perfectly damped. It just feels great, far better than any AF-S lens, or any screw-drive AF lens that lacks an A/M switch.

 

Optical performance is outstanding. The lens is impressively sharp wide open. There is no decentering or asymmetry that I've noticed. Image quality is excellent.

 

The lens will come with the following items:

• Hoya Skylight (1B) filter in excellent condition
  
• Nikon hardcase in "user" condition
  
• Nikon front cap
  
• generic rear cap
  
• no box or anything else
  

Price includes shipping and PayPal fee.

I am having problems adding images to this thread. Please see the photos of (and by) this lens in this Flickr album.

Autofocus Update

 

This is interesting. I performed several tests today of AF on this lens, in order to get a better handle on the frequency of the engagement issue mentioned above. The test consisted of mounting the lens on my D810 with AF enabled on both the lens and the body, taking several photographs, and then dismounting the lens. This test was repeated several times, alternating with a different lens in order to reset conditions between trials.

 

AF engaged perfectly every time. There was never any failure to engage AF, either right after mounting the lens, or at any other time.

 

I now think that the AF engagement issue was actually the fault of my previous camera, not the lens itself. I acquired the D810 just days ago, and the issue has not re-appeared since then. In light of this, I am fairly confident there is actually no AF engagement issue with this lens.

 

D810, f/4

SOLD