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your favorite manual focus lenses!


kevin_peng1

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<p>Not that there aren't already hundreds of these threads here on PN. Plus the fact that after a while almost every Nikon lens in existence will be mentioned at least once. Anyway, I kept three: 20/4 AI, 28/2.8 AI-S, 105/2.5. Should have kept the 200/4. If you want to step outside the Nikkor system and can live with stop-down metering, get Leica-R glass and the F-mount from leitax.com. Unfortunately, the word cheap and Leica still don't go together even now that the R-system has been discontinued.</p>
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<p>You might enjoy reading <a href="http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/technology/nikkor/index.htm">"The Thousand and One Nights"</a> series of anecdotes on the Nikon Japan site, anecdotes written in a very accessible, non-technical style by Nikon engineers about some of their favorite lenses. These tales include interesting background information about how these lenses were developed and their significance in the photography scene of those respective eras. Be sure to start at the beginning, which is counter-intuitively at the bottom of the page.</p>

<p>I've owned or tried some of those lenses and usually find my own impressions are very similar to those of the Nikon engineers who wrote those articles.</p>

<p>A few of my favorites that have performed well on both film and digital SLRs include the 50/2 AI, 85/2 AIS, 105/2.5 AI, 180/2.8 and 300/4.5 AI ED.</p>

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<p>I'll second Lex's recommendation on the Nikon site. I had forgot about it, but it's really interesting.</p>

<p>Heck, my favorite Nikkor is still the one that got me into Nikon in the first place: the PC-Nikkor 35mm f/2.8.<br>

Use it all the time on two different camera systems.</p>

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<p>I picked up a 135mm 2.8 E lens on the cheap, which had suffered many abuses and misfortunes, and I keep finding myself putting it in my camera bag. The 135 is tiny, plus the focus is quick and smooth, and, despite the many, many flaws in my particular copy (scratching, etching, haze, sticky aperture ring, you name it), I still find something special about the images it produces. I've got other telephoto options, but none have the impact the little 135 does for so little weight and space in the bag.</p>
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