Richard Haw's Classic Nikon Repair and Review

Hello, everybody! I like shooting with film. It’s inconvenient, unpredictable, expensive and unforgiving but it gives you memorable pictures that you’re not going to get with digital. It requires more skill to use compared to digital and it requires even more skill to use it properly. Many people ask me why I prefer to shoot film and I always find it hard to justify it, my only answer is usually short – “I love a challenge”. Sure, I can get instant review with digital but it doesn’t feel as satisfying and so the pictures that I made don’t have the same impact as my pictures that were taken with film which is memorable. The inconvenience of taking it makes it more precious and you’ll remember how you took that shot and why. Sometimes, a little bit of inconvenience is a good thing. Today, I will talk about an inconvenient lens to use. It is difficult to use properly but you are rewarded with nice pictures if you managed to nail a shot.

Introduction:

Today, we are going to discuss a very unusual, rare and historical lens. This is something that you do not see everyday and as a consequence there isn’t a lot of info on the net about this lens. Many people don’t even know that it exists. The Micro-Nikkor 5.5cm f/3.5 started the popular 55mm line of macro lenses. This lens line was so popular and practical that other manufacturers had to copy this idea and incorporate it into their own products and this all started with this lens.

This is a compact little lens by today’s standards but this was considered to be on the fat side when it debuted. The barrel had to be wide because it can extend to about 2x its length when fully extended. If you want to read more about this lens you can go to Matthew Lin’s great writeup here.

Hello, everybody! I am currently busy studying Unreal Engine this holiday and weekend so I do not have a lot of time to write a lengthy post. My baby is also getting bigger and bigger and she now requires more attention as she is now capable of walking fast! Anyways, a couple of people have talked to me regarding today’s problem and this is how I solved mine.

Introduction:

Today’s topic is the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai-S. It’s Nikon’s fastest 50mm and it’s still being produced in 2019. It debuted in 1981 as an Ai-S update of Nikon’s first 50/1.2, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai and it stayed in production since then. I sometimes wonder if there is an actual demand for this but I remember a few acquaintances who actually bought these in the past 10 years or so. It’s the only thing Nikon has in the ultra-fast normal lens class so I guess that it is one of the reasons why this lens is still being made and sold.

It’s perfect with the Nikon F4, it’s best-paired with a bigger camera since it is heavy. Handling is perfect and I wouldn’t ask for anything more. The bright, big glass is all that you’ll see when looking from the front. It’s a professional tool and it means business.

Hello, everybody! I am craving for some smooth and creamy French blue cheese, the one that smells of feet and with the blue molds. It is one of my comfort foods so I love to spread it on top of bread and saltine crackers for breakfast. I know that this is not good for people who suffer from gout but you have to eat the things that make you happy some times. We only live once and we should live our life to the fullest! Of course, we should never abuse our health so we should take care not to over-do anything. Since we are on the topic of smooth, creamy things, I’ll show you something smooth and creamy that isn’t as expensive as the stinky French cheese that I crave. Read the whole article to find out more.

Introduction:

There are few Nikkors that can match The Nikkor-Q 135mm f/2.8 Auto when it comes to creating smooth bokeh for very little money. These lenses can be bought for as little as $10 to an average of $80 these days depending on the condition. Near-mint samples with those valuable factory Ai-rings can fetch above $120 but seldom more than $150. This isn’t as popular these days due to it being a manual focus lens, the modest f/2.8 speed is turning-off people who crave for faster glass, too. For people who know their thing, this lens is going to be a keeper. Professionals even use these today and I know a few of them (2 actually) who use these as their portrait lens for work.

The Nikkor-Q 135mm f/2.8 Auto debuted in 1964 and was made until 1975. It was then replaced by a similar lens with the same optics design but with an updated barrel. The 135/2.8 line has about six major variants throughout its long production run. The lens family existed up until the DSLR era with the Nikkor 135mm f/2.8 Ai-S being the last version. This shows how this lens line sold very well through the years and across generations. It’s a classic in the sense that it’s never going to be useless even in the decades to come.

Helicoids are essential for focusing a manual lens. While it is a joy to focus with one, it is a big pain to repair for beginners and it can really be a show-stopper if you do not know how and where these things should mate when reassembling a lens.

Helicoids are a thing of the past for the AF (autofocus) generation but for connoisseurs like us who enjoy and appreciate older (or current) manual focus lenses, the helicoid is the soul of the lens when it comes to focusing because this is the one thing that affects us the most as we turn the focus ring left and right.The helicoids are also the source of frustration and the root cause for their lens’ problems for many. Lenses that were poorly kept and maintained will exhibit some form of focusing problem ranging from a seized helicoid to dry focusing sensation.

Hello, everybody! I was a bit busy with a wedding yesterday as photographer#2 so I did not have the time to prepare for a complete article. I decided to write something else instead. It dawned to me that in order to keep this blog alive, I should not post a repair article every week because I will quickly run out of items to write about! A balance has to be struck so I will write filler posts like this in between the repair articles. I hope that you don’t mind.

Introduction:

I have some people ask me about how to deal with fungus. This is also a niche topic that is not commonly discussed and even if you have found some information it is usually vague or false, so you will have to do your own tests. For this reason, I will share with you my fungus removal techniques. This is something that I have been doing to any lens that I bought that has fungus. It has worked so far and the lenses stay clean and clear.

Fungus in a lens is something that all photographers try to avoid as much as possible. It’s something that is impossible to avoid because fungus spores are everywhere, from the air we breath to every surface that we touch. The only way to keep this from happening is to not provide them any chance to germinate by depriving them of nutrients and other essentials for them to thrive.

Hello, everybody! It’s not secret that I am cheap, so cheap that I cannot even buy myself a set of dentures or get a shave or haircut. Different people have different priorities and we tend to spend less on things that we do not view as essential to our being and that forces us to make tight decisions on these things to make the most out of our money. For example, instead of buying a pair of expensive shorts that look fashionable I opted for surfers’ shorts so I can wear them comfortably and clean dry them really quick. They last very long and they’re functional, image is only second to utility. I will show you a nice example today that pertains to lenses as far as the Nikon brand goes. It was sold cheap when it came out but there’s nothing cheap with the photos it produces so it has acquired a cult following.

Introduction:

The Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Series-E is considered as a hidden gem by its fans despite being a Series-E lens, a line of lenses made by Nikon to complement the entry level class Nikon EM camera. The Series-E lenses were made with cost-cutting as the main factor while maintaining superb optical design and performance. Most lenses under the Series-E brand are good and they have acquired a following so many of them have inflated prices in the used gear market.

It’s a sleek lens with a useful focal length and a decent maximum aperture. I like this lens a lot because it’s small and light. I like the push-pull layout due to the broad grip, this allows me to zoom or focus using without the need to think about 2 separate rings to manipulate. The drawback is most push-pull lenses have this annoying problem called “zoom-creep”, it’s just a name for the phenomenon where the zoom/focusing ring slides towards the camera, throwing your focus and zoom off and it does this un-assisted and gravity is the only force in-play here. Most, if not all old lenses of this type suffer from it to some extent.

Continued from Part 1…

There you are. I have split this blog post into two parts so that people one mobile devices will not have a hard time scrolling and loading everything as well as to give me some time to pause and take a rest (I’m only human. Flesh and blood, I’m made…)

Tamron:

Oh,boy! You guys are going to like the new Tamron lenses! Just check these out…

The Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD is the only lens in it’s class. It is the world’s first fast 85mm for the 135 format to have VC. That thing (VC) actually works! The focusing is very fast as you can see in my video above.

It is also sharp wide open and contrast looks just about right. Some lenses of this class will exhibit low contrast when shot wide open with boatloads of chromatic aberration but this lens showed none in this picture. The rendering is pleasant to me and I actually like this better than Nikon’s new 85mm f/1.8G. The Nikon lens is considered by many to be one of the best 85mm’s available in the market. More