chulster

I'm mystified that the Soligor f/2 and the Nikkor f/2.5, shot wide open, have such similar degrees of blur in the OOF backgrounds. If anything, the smaller-aperture Nikkor has slightly more OOF blur than the Soligor. Distance and object magnification are the same, focal length is nearly the same, and the aperture is 25% smaller with the Nikkor...yet it has the blurrier background. How can this be? I'm also wondering how much of the haziness and lack of contrast of the Soligor is attributable to the considerable amount of hazing on one of the inner elements.

It's fascinating to speculate about the many decisions Nikon engineers must have made over decades regarding the F mount, each one made in order to add some new feature that had not been dreamed of, or to correct a deficiency that had not been perceived, at the mount's inception. In an uncharitable mood (or if one is a Sony fanboy) one could call the F mount a pile of kludges on top of kludges...but you have to admire the tenacity and ingenuity of those mostly-nameless engineers.

In that case, I would surmise that these lenses (those equipped with both CPUs and aperture rings) do not in fact tell the camera what aperture their rings are set at, but only what their maximum aperture (lowest f-number) is. Thus, if a camera, such as the D3400, is not equipped with the minimum-aperture-set detector you speak of (and also has no AI feeler), it has no way of knowing that the lens's aperture ring is set to the smallest aperture. Thus, in order to avoid the possibility of the lens's being unable to stop down to the aperture specified by the camera due to the aperture ring not being set to the smallest aperture, Nikon simply disables metering entirely on such a camera, thus avoiding making a "promise" that the camera cannot keep. Well, it makes sense in terms of logic, although it doesn't make sense from the viewpoint of customer satsifaction.

A bit of a non-sequitur, that.

That implies that CPU lenses (even pre-G ones) do communicate aperture info to the camera through the electrical contacts. In that case, the D3400's inability to meter with pre-G lenses is purely a software choice to artificially limit the camera's capabilities. Sad! I think you're right that the low-end cameras will soon lose the mechanical aperture control unit, too. At least that would result in an actual cost savings, unlike the loss of metering support for pre-G lenses.

Wow. I guess in retrospect one could have guessed that was true if one remembered that the camera doesn't have an AI follower (or whatever you call that ring on the mount that mates with the AI ridge on a lens). Apparently, pre-G lenses do not communicate the set aperture to the camera through the electrical contacts—this is surprising! Or perhaps they do, and the low-end cameras just ignore that info. Nikon should really make it clearer to potential buyers that the D3x00 and D5x00 do not meter with pre-G lenses. Losing AF is one thing, but losing metering? I guess the "G" for "gelded" really applies as much to the cameras as the lenses.

Interesting. Anyone care to corroborate or to offer a contrasting opinion pun intended? I do love the 50mm 1.4 AI-S. After acquiring it, I sold the 1.8 AI because my copy of the 1.4 was better at every aperture than my copy of the 1.8, and hardly any bigger or heavier. But I'm curious about the f/2 lens. Have you also owned or tried the 50mm 1.8G? That one exhibits little spherical aberration wide open. It definitely has better micro-contrast than my two AI(S) 50's at maximum aperture. Is the f/2 comparable?

Sounds like maybe the electrical contacts on the lens are not making good contact with the ones on the camera. Try seeing if any of them are dirty. If so, try cleaning them with a pencil eraser.

Which lens has less "glow" at f/2: the 50mm f/2 AI, or the 50mm f/1.4 AI(S)? I found that, between the 1.4 AI and the 1.8 AI, the 1.4 had less glow at f/2. How about the f/2 lens?

Here, save this search on eBay and turn on email notifications. Wow, photo.net is really anal about links to certain sites, so I can't paste the URL directly. You'll have to remove the carriage return before the second line in the broken URL below, and also replace "[dot]" with a literal ".". www[dot]ebay[dot]com /sch/i.html?_nkw=nikon%2020mm%202.8%20af&LH_ItemCondition=7000

Is it the epoxy itself that has turned cloudy? Is that a known issue with some epoxies?

Yes. My copy is crazy sharp at f/2.8 when compared to the 105mm Nikkor at the same aperture. But the 105mm makes better portraits wide open. :)

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

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.

Hi all, You know how videographers "de-click" aperture rings on lenses to be able to turn the ring freely without having stops (detentes) get in the way of precisely setting the aperture to intermediate values? Well, I would like to do the same to the diopter adjustment knob on my D810. I use two pairs of glasses, one for distant vision and one for close-up seeing. I like to be able to use my camera without changing glasses, and so I adjust the viewfinder diopter more often than most people presumably do. Also, my vision changes as the day progresses; I need less diopter adjustment in the early morning than in the rest of the day. The thing is, it always seems as if the perfect diopter adjustment is between two clicks on the knob. That's why I want to de-click it. I read that one can take the knob off by removing the screw inside it after peeling off the sticker that has the +/- symbols on it. Has anybody here removed this knob on their camera, perhaps in the course of removing the top plate for DIY repair purposes? If so, do you think it would be reasonably easy to de-click the knob?

Sounds to me like the PDAF system is busted, not just in need of adjustment. I'd return it while you still can.