Richard Haw's Classic Nikon Repair and Review

Hello, everybody! It is with profound sadness that I announce to you the parting of miss Dolly Parton. She is one of my favorites, her voice is excellent, cheerful, and uplifting. But what I love most about her is she has a beautiful pair. Those were great jugs and in the 1980’s when plastic surgery was uncommon, having a natural pair like that was really something. I do not know who Jolene is but she must have been one hell of a woman for miss Dolly to be jealous of! Just to be clear, by pair I mean her boots, what else would it be? Today, I will share with you my own “pair”, they’re just as big and valuable, I’d imagine that they’re the envy of many people, too!

Introduction:

The Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 Ai is the predecessor of the Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S, both are legendary and not cheap just to say the least. This former is the original, a hallmark of 1970s engineering just to make a statement. It was sold from 1977-1981, a short run compared to its successor which was made from 1981-1998. Both share the same optics as far as I know but the barrel design and construction is totally different as you’ll soon see. This one is a bit heavier, and is more durable in my opinion. We can say the same for all Ai-S Nikkors that have an Ai counterpart. Why choose one over the other? It’s a toss between handling and how you’re going to use it and for what. You choose the newer lens if you need the automatic features that an Ai-S enabled camera offers, you really won’t notice anything significant otherwise. The biggest difference apart from the obvious is the older one has a longer focus throw which enables you to make smaller adjustments. In general, Ai Nikkors (and many earlier ones) have longer focus throws if you compare them the their Ai-S versions.

Like all of the Ai Nikkors, this one is built exceptionally well, much better than the Ai-S ones. It has a longer focus throw which allows for finer focus adjustments. This may be the only reason why you would prefer this over the Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S since the optics are identical.