low light Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I have just purchased a mint Nikon F3HP with 35mm F2 nikkor lens and i was thinking of getting a short telephoto lens to go with it, my budget does not go very far at the moment (? 150). I was thinking of either the 85mm F2 or the 105mm F2.5 AIS lenses, does anyone know which is better? This will be my last purchase for a while! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_laepple Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Both are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loreneidahl Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Both are excellant. Basically comes down to what focal length you like. Since you already have the 35 the 85 might be a good complement. Both are sharp both are contrastry. You;ll get people telling you all kinds of gloriuos things about both. Personally, if I only had two lenses and one was a 35mm I would want a smaller gap between it and the 105. So my choice would be the 85. Both are excellnat for portratis. The 85 has the advandtage of being faster. Having both lense I personally prefer the 85 on the F3HP as my "main" lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay_miao1 Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 just in case you haven't read this thread couple days ago about the 105/2.5 and its related ... http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00B4vU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael R Freeman Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Anthony, Both are great IMHO. The 105/2.5 enjoys a lot more "status" (it has been around much longer, and is still available new) than the 85/2. The 85/2 is under-rated and (unfairly I think) accused of being less than the lens it replaced (the 85/1.8 non-AI). I have both, and tend to use the 85/2 more than the 105/2.5. For most it's a matter of personal preference. You can't go wrong with either. If the 35/2 is your only other lens for the F3 (no 50mm?) I would tend to go for the 85mm as it is less of a jump than the 105mm. But that's just my preference. YMMV. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwcombs Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Get the 85, and if you have a little money left over, find a nice 100mm f/2.8 E Series. It's not the 105, but still a nice lens in that length, and affordable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_smith Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I have both the 85mm f/2.0 and 105mm f/2.5, and find both to be very fine lenses. My choice of which one would be with me (I'd almost never have both in the bag at the same time) would be based on the "other" lens. When I have my 35mm Nikkor with me, then it is the 105mm as a second lens. The 85mm is with me when I have my 24mm Nikkor as the wide-angle. I did play for a while with the 35mm / 85mm combo, but found the slightly extra gap with the 105mm lens a bit more useful.<P> This is all personal of course., but it was arrived at after much trial and error.<P> All of that said, I have a post showing the variation possible with a 35mm and 85mm pair, based on perspective change <I>from moving</I> to keep the forground subject a constant size. You can see that even with this pair, the rendering of a scene can indeed be quite different. Take a look at: <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation.tcl?"> LINK </a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_smith Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Sorry, I don't know what happened with that link. Here it is: <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation.tcl?presentation_id=201091"> Correct link </a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gman Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Hi Anthony, I would reccomend the 105 2.5 lens. I have three of them! The only 85 I have is the 85 1.8...another great lens that I love to use for portraits and a walk around lens. It is a bit more expensive than the newer f2 version. There are some good deals out there on the 105's. KEH has an AI Bargain grade for 75!!!! AIS in Excellent for 159! Do you need AIS? If you get the Bgn for 75...gives you some more money to spend! Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low light Posted February 11, 2005 Author Share Posted February 11, 2005 I'll probably go for the 85/2 as my local jessops ( I live in ireland ) has one in very good condition for ?130. Thanks a lot guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Read anything I've written during the past month or so about these two lenses. Haven't changed my mind. In short: there's not a nickel's worth of difference between 'em. The 105/2.5 is the classic. It's got that reputation everyone automatically respects. The 85/2 is shorter, lighter without sacrificing build quality. Nice for packing light. Got 'em both, like 'em both, probably gonna keep 'em both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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