35 mm shift lens

[andrew_nee]

I am looking for a 35 mm Nikkor shift lens and notice that there are

two categories of "black shift knob" and "chrom shift knob" with a

price difference of almost 2:1. I shall be most grateful to learn

more about the difference, is the latter an older lens with inferior

optical quality? Another question: is it advisable to get the 35 mm

or the more expensive 28 mm shift lens? My interest is mainly to get

the right perspective of some interesting buildings and monuments.

[lex_jenkins]

I haven't heard anything indicating that there's a significant difference in optical quality between the chrome knob and black knob PC-Nikkors.

 

The main reason I bought a black knob 28/3.5 PC-Nikkor is because I'd seen a few chrome knob PC-Nikkors with bent knob shafts. The shafts were considerably thinner than the black knob varieties, which are very sturdy.

 

If you can find a chrome knob version in good condition with a straight shaft and it really is half the going price of a black knob version it sounds like a bargain. When I bought my PC-Nikkor a few years ago there wasn't that much difference in the price.

 

As for advantages in focal lengths, there's no way to answer that. Where do you do expect to do most of your architectural photography? If in a crowded city I'd suggest the 28mm lens. If in less crowded areas, or if you just want to photograph details such as arched doorways the 35mm may be fine. I'd like to have both but I haven't been able to justify the cost. And with my D2H the 28/3.5 has already lost effective width.

[alan_wilder1]

I've owned both black knob versions and optically, the 35/2.8 handily beats the 28/3.5 especially as you move to the outer portion of the frame. Unlike the 28/3.5, you can shift the 35 to the very end(11mm) regardless of position and not suffer any significant loss of sharpness, just a little more vignettting. It's been reported that this is Nikon's sharpest 35 prime. With the 28 you're constrained by Nikon's shift recommendations or suffer significant softness at the edge. Even with Nikon's recommendations, the edges are a bit soft unless you stop down a few stops. Be that as it may, if you need the wider coverage of the 28, get it. The sharpest 28 shift for Nikon is the 28/2.8 Schneider.

[ilkka_nissila]

The 35mm PC is indeed remarkably sharp wide open at f/2.8 (without shift), but the 35/2 AF beats it at f/5.6-8. Not that it's ever a practical problem. When you shift a lot, you need to stop down well to get good results.

[joseph_wisniewski]

I'm goig from memory here, but as I recall, silver knob 35mm PC lenses always need an AI conversion (and yes, I know it's a manual aperture lens) to not bend or tear up the aperture coupling tab on most higher end Nikon bodies, and a different modification to keep them from forcing in or cheweing up the EE servo (minimum aperture) switch on low end AF bodies and pretty much all Nikon DSLRs.

 

So, add $35 to the price you see on the silver knob version, to cover the necessary mods.

 

A silly observation. If you're shooting every day with it, I find the focus, aperture, and aperture limit rings on the older silver knob version are easier to work with quickly. They're more well differentiated (different texture, different diameter). The black knob version looks slicker, but there's less differention on the controls, so it's harder to work quickly.

 

If you're not shooting it every day, get whichever one you get a better bargain on.

[kc_dougherty]

I have an old (circa 1967) 35/3.5 PC-Nikkor and I have found it to be an excellent lens.

 

KC