johnsabella

Another option is to buy a DP-3 (which came on the F2SB model). The DP-2 (which came on the F2S model)was a step up but still used Cds cells. It had a better range than the DP-1 and added + and - LED's instead of a needle. I bought a F2S that Nikon USA did repair for me in the mid 1980's. They told me ordinarily they stopped repairing years ago. They even relined the entire Mirror box too. I own a F2SB and the DP-3 uses Silicone Blue Cells. Much more wider EV range and instantaneous sensitivity. If you target on a bright image with a DP-1 the sweep over to a Dark scene, there is a momentary hesitation to register. With the DP-3 it adjusts immediately. If you want to upgrade to Ai, then find a DP-12 meter( it came on F2AS models. It also has the Silicone able Cells too. So far my F2SB has no repair issues. Quite a few show up on eBay. Good luck with what ever you choose!

I see I've touched upon a nerve that I never intended to do, but your explanations are getting past the point. I bought 1 defective Hoya 72mm Skylight filter. You didn't read my explanation why it was defective as per what the Nikon technician explained to me. Not me saying it, the Nikon Repair Technician. The glass I'm sure was produced FLAT but the way Hoya mounted the filter within their metal filter mount, somehow didn't assure it was plano parallel. That the story, plain and simple. Now, I already told you, do I think Hoya are inferior? No, just the one, I just happen to purchase. Honestly, there are plenty of manufacturer's to choose filter for ANY product. Your insistence that the even a search thru hundreds of Nikon filters could produce a bad one just doesn't make sense. Buy what your happy with but do look up what Plano Parallel is before passing judgement on a simple observation and a more simpler solution.

The issue I brought up about the Hoya 72mm skylight filter was indeed a true story. A " Flat piece of glass" indeed can cause this. Do a Bing or Google search on the terminology of Plano Parallelism for a detail description. A quick explanation is this. If Any Filter is screwed onto a lens isn't exactly Plano Parallel it can cause this Out-of-Focus condition when attempting to focus at infinity. I have only experienced it with that Nikon 300mm F4.5 lens I bought new along with the Hoya 72mm Skylight filter. I'm thinking with the Higher focal lengths this condition can be more pronounced. I wasn't a knock on Hoya by any means but I did have to return the 72mm Skylight filter. When the Nikon Technician showed me what was causing the Out-of-Focus condition at infinity, I thought he was blowing smoke until he had me try focusing with and without the filter in place.. When the Hoya was removed, the lens focused to infinity perfectly. I purchase the Nikon 72mm right there at their Nikon Repair facility, and immediately screwed it onto my New 300mm f4.5 lens and tested if it could focus to infinity.It focused perfectly at infinity. Better yet, you could call Nikon directly and ask what I explained is a true condition or not.

I slowly made my trek through wide, to super wide. I bought a 35mm f2.8, 28mm f3.5, 20mm f4 and then my Wife bought me a 15mm f3.5 AIS for a gift for our Wedding. The 20mm f4 is simply an amazing lens. It doesn't look like any special when you pick it up, but its performance was dramatic. Then I got the 15mm f3.5 AIS. I've got to tell you. I saw Ken Rockwell's reviews and others who say it Ghost Flares like crazy. I never experienced it. Of course, some common sense has to be used with this type of lens to begin with. If you keep it level, there's absolutely NO distortion. If you want to induce it, just tilt it up or down to get the effect. After using it, I can tell a lot of photos you see like sweeping images of a Bahama Beach shots definitely are taken with this type super wide lens. I like to put something right up front and the background and both images are perfectly in focus due to its wide focusing range. The older 15mm f5.6 is I'm sure a winner too, but I never got a chance to shoot with one. I almost bought one at Ken Rockwell's in NYC showroom. It was a used one. He wanted $550, but he pointed out that one of the tiny lens near the back of the lens had a crack in it. That lens was probably 7 years old at that point and I don't think Nikon had the replacement parts for it. Even if they did, I'm sure the cost would have at least doubled to have it repaired. in my opinion, the older Nikkors were just built better. A lot of the newer Nikkors just feel like plastic. When you pick-up one of these lens, you can see and feel the quality that was built-in. Back in the 80's, I had a relative at Nikon USA in Garden City, NY. I had all my older Nikkors converted to Ai at that time. The cost were really low but it was worth it. Good luck with your choice !!

OK, that's good to know. I purchased the Hoya 72mm for about half the cost of the Nikon one, back in the day. I was buying it mostly, just to protect the front element not realizing what effect it had on that 300mm f4 lens. It didn't even dawn on me to remove it and test the lens prior to bring it in for Nikon USA repair. Also, products have improved immensely since the 1970's too!

Way back when I started to build me Nikon collection, my 3rd acquisition was a Nikkor 300mm F4.5. I worked for a camera store in Hempstead, NY and when I bought the lens, I wanted to protect the front lens element, so I bought a Hoya 72mm skylight filter. When I started to go out and test the new lens, I noticed an odd thing. The lens couldn't focus at infinity. I brought the lens into the Nikon(EPOI at that time) just outside of Roosevelt Field. In a couple of days I received a call to come in and pick it up. I asked what they had found and they said the 300mm was not the problem. The technician asked me to go to the window and focus at a target at infinity. It worked perfectly. Then he said, let me put back on your Hoya 72mm filter and retry focusing at infinity again. Sure enough, I couldn't focus at infinity. He explained, that especially on larger lens it becomes more prevalent. He said it was a Plano Parnellism issue and of course I asked what was that?? He explained that the Hoya 72mm wasn't perfectly parallel once it was screwed onto the 300mm. He went on to say that this is what caused the issue. He then took out a 72mm Nikon L37 and screwed it onto the 300mm. I then attempted the same test, and bingo, the Nikon filter focused down to infinity perfectly. So my suggestion is, buy the better made filters. They just work better. .