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.
Hello, everybody! Despite the busy schedule I managed to pace my time in order to post this to my blog on a timely manner. Apart from being busy at work, I was sick with hay fever. Hay fever is a thing here every spring and it affects a significant part of the populace. Keep your masks on to prevent hay fever from ruining your Spring. As I promised a before, I would like to present to you some unusual Nikkors as we have dealt with conventional ones in the previous posts. This approach is to nurture your growth and you start with simpler lenses then proceed to the more exotic ones. The subject of our post this time is a mysterious and unique Nikkor that many people do not know much about.
Introduction:
This one is a mystery to many people because it is the only Nikkor of its type that got into production. This lens was designed to aid photographers who used flash guns. Back in the days before TTL metering, photographers need to adjust flash output by re-calculating its power as you go nearer or further from the subject (hence GN for guide number). Nikon’s engineers had to find clever ways to solve this like the GN-Nikkor 45mm f/2.8 Auto and its unusual coupling mechanism. Another good example is the earlier production type Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm f/3.5 where the aperture opens up as you go closer to its maximum reproduction ratio of 1:2 (native) or 1:1 with the included M- ring accessory.
This has a switch at the focusing ring to couple it to the aperture ring so that these move together when you turn either one of them. For example as you focus your lens closer the iris would stop-down and when you focus further the iris would open-up to compensate. It allows you to shoot without even thinking about changing the power of the flash. While this is clever it has a catch, the focusing ring on Nikkors go the other-way and this means turning the focusing ring to the right makes the lens focus to infinity and in order to make this clever iris compensation trick work, it had to turn the other way! This is very annoying so I don’t use this lens as often as I would like to. It’s such a pity because I have grown to love this lens.
This is a nice example of precision engineering. Look at the nicely engraved numbers, it is something that you don’t anymore see in current lenses from mainstream brands. If you think this is all the engravings this lens has then just wait until you read the whole article. This is one of Nikon’s most ornate lenses and it’s one-of-a-kind.
Hello, everybody. I’m sorry for posting this late but I was having a problem with the blog so I was not able to post this earlier. For some reason. I can’t access my drafts and my site would not load at all. That was all fixed after I restarted my laptop. I was scared because I have spent a lot of time documenting/writing for this blog and if I lost all of my posts it would mean the end of everything. Now that it is all in the past we can now proceed with our subject for today.
Introduction:
Our subject for today is the amazing Nikkor-Q 200mm f/4 Auto. It’s one of Nikon’s most expensive lenses in its day and it’s the successor to the Nikkor-Q 20cm f/4 Auto which is a revolutionary lens in its own rite. This lens is an improved version and it fixed some of the bigger problems of the older lens so it’s considered to be a different lens in nearly all aspects. Apart from the obvious difference in lens barrel design it also has an improved optical design (slight variation) that makes it a better-handling lens overall. I like how the new focusing ring feels because it’s now broader. It also focuses a bit closer which makes it more useful but is still too-long compared to later lenses from this class. It’s a great lens for its time and many people bought these for taking pictures of sports, news, birds and just about anything that needs a long lens.
The silhouette of this lens reminds me of a softdrink bottle. It looks sexy and people will surely stare at you when you use this lens. As you can see from the photo, this lens is not what I would call small. It’s heavy, long and big so carrying it all-day can be a problem if you wear your setup around your neck. I wish it came with a tripod mount because it is front-heavy but I guess this lens was designed to be used hand-held so it was omitted.
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
Hello, my dear readers and friends. It’s that time of the year again! I will give you an early bird’s account of this year’s CP+ in Yokohama, Japan. I only went to the exhibits that I am interested in so you will not find anything about Sony, Fuji or Canon in this post because these brands do not appeal to me in any way.
In my usual way of posting, this will just be a series of pictures accompanied by a short commentary. Some of the booths are boring (Nikon) but I promise you that the ones for Tamron and the rest will be worth the read so please read the whole article and I hope that you guys will enjoy it!
The exhibit opens at 10:00AM but 15minutes before that a crowd of old Japanese men and camera buffs from here and abroad can be seen forming at the entrance. I talked to some clerks at the camera shops and they told me that it’s the same old Japanese men that buy and spend money on cameras. Here in Japan, a typical hobby for retirees is fishing and if you have saved more money then photography will end up being your hobby.
Just look at that crowd and imagine if this was held in summer. I am one of those people who are allergic to body odour. The scent alone overwhelms my senses and I may pass out! More
Hello, everybody! It’s starting to get a lot colder now and the bugs have all crept back to their hiding places to wait for the coming spring next year. I love bugs, they’re tiny but their bodies consists of many interesting parts. I am always amazed by how intricate they can be, even a boring beetle has a few things that makes them interesting when viewed up-closed. Today, I am going to show you a little lens and just like bugs, it’s intricate inside and the construction is wonderful to marvel at.
Introduction:
The Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 Ai-S was sold from 1979 to 2020, it succeeded the then-aging line of 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkors which never saw any significant optical change for nearly 20 years. It’s a popular lens, it’s one of Nikon’s all-time best lenses so it was only discontinued recently, some 41 years after it debuted. It has a special place in Nikon’s lineup despite being succeeded by 3 other lenses. People sometimes require a simple, manual solution to their problems and this lens supplied that. People like scientists or engineers will require it for exact-reproduction. I won’t be shy to admit that this is one of my favorite lenses, if I were given a chance to only use a lens for the rest of my life I would probably have this on my top-3 list.
This is one of Nikon’s masterpieces, it works great with every Nikon. It has a compact barrel despite being a bit longer than its predecessors. Optically, it is quite good and many people use it for scientific and industrial purposes even today. Modern high-MP cameras won’t out-resolve it, it was made for reproduction so its resolving power is quite high.
Hello, everybody! Smart phones are getting bigger these days. It used to be opposite, I remember how phone brands were trying to make smaller and smaller phones each release. I sometimes think that it may be time for the smart phones to get smaller for portability. The downside is it will be hard to read my blog so it may be better to leave them the way they are. There’s something that we can miniaturize without losing any functionality. Wrist watches, wallets, etc. Today, I’m going to show you one of those things that gets better as it gets smaller. It’s not my favorite but I certainly like it.
Introduction:
The Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Ai-S has a big following because it is Nikon’s smallest 50mm lens. It was made from 1980 to 2005, it had a long production run. It’s preceded by the short-lived Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Ai-S (long-nose). If I recall, its optical formula is different and that allowed it to be more-compact. Despite being small it could perform quite well so it soon became a favorite of many photographers.
I remember that you could still buy these brand-new some 12 years ago. Its price has remained steady since there’s always a demand for it. Despite the hype and novelty, I don’t think of it as extraordinary apart from the fact that it’s small. It’s dwarfed by the Nikon D4 which can make handling awkward as you can see in this photo.
Hello, everybody! I was hungry this morning so I opened the refrigerator to look for something to eat. I found an old sandwich from a couple of days ago. I reheated it in a toaster and it tasted as good, if not better than it was a few days ago. Reheating old food could make it taste better at times because fermentation helps a lot in breaking-down some of the ingredients. This is also true with lens design but instead of fermenting it benefits a lot from newer techniques in manufacturing, enabling an old design to get new upgrades and performing a bit better compared to the older designs. We’ll talk about one such thing in this article.
Introduction:
The New-Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 was sold from 1974 to 1977 and it was followed by the Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 Ai which was sold for only a year up until 1978. It’s an update of the older Nikkor-S.C 55mm f/1.2 Auto. Most, if not all of Nikon’s lenses received an update in the 1970s and were sold as “New-Nikkors“. All of them have new barrels, some even have newer optics or better coatings to make the upgrade complete.
Here it is with the Nikkor-S.C 55mm f/1.2 Auto which it shares a lot in-common with. The new barrel enables it to be mass-produced easier and cheaper without sacrificing quality and other things. The dream of creating a 50/1.2 for the SLR system was only fulfilled when the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai debuted.
Hello, everybody! Are you a Vim fanatic or an Emacs supremacist? I personally don’t use both much but I Vim is something that I used a lot when I was still working on a Linux environment. It’s small, nimble and easy to use. It doesn’t have the power of Emacs but it gets the job done. I like simplicity, it makes me more productive because I don’t have to deal with any clutter. Today, I am going to show you something simple. It doesn’t have the bells-and-whistles of newer lenses but it gets the job done due to its simplicity.
Introduction:
The Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f4 Ai-S was sold from 1981 to 1988. It was made to complement the Nikon F3 and this replaced the Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/4.5 Ai (N). The former is an amazing lens that many people felt an attachment to and for a good reason because it’s a great performer. It was tough for Nikon to exceed it but this lens marginally improved upon it. The production ended because autofocus lenses were the fad, the Nikon F4 was introduced and that soon became the end of the manual Nikkor era.
It has a huge barrel for both zooming and focusing. I call these “pumper-zooms”, it allows me to operate this with a single hand. This is handy for shooting action. The size of the barrel is just-right and it feels great to use it. Handling is quite nice but it’s a bit heavy, it will strain your neck.
Hello, on this post we are going to discuss how to restore faded or chipped paint on the engraved lettering on your cameras and lenses. This problem is pretty common amongst users and collectors of classic lenses as the lenses themselves are usually subject to poor handling and abuse by the previous owner and even if the owner was careful enough, the lenses themselves are pretty old and bright paint rarely retain their finish for that long unless they are very well kept and used very rarely.
Fortunately for us, the process is not difficult at all since I would just consider this to be a “spot” repair and you do not need to be a highly skilled craftsman to be able to do this but you do need to have some basic understanding of paints and materials to pull this off. The good thing about being a scale modeler (I quit in 1999) is that we are exposed to the same materials and skills used in restoring older lenses.
Actual cosmetic restoration requires more work such as stripping the metal parts to bare metal and repainting everything with an airbrush but we will not go that far in this post but I may do one in the future if I found a lens that is valuable enough to restore to that extent. I also have a baby at home and I do not want the fumes to affect the health of my family as well because lacquer fumes can get everybody high (glue sniffing as a hobby is not encouraged). More
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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. 
The exhibit opens at 10:00AM but 15minutes before that a crowd of old Japanese men and camera buffs from here and abroad can be seen forming at the entrance. I talked to some clerks at the camera shops and they told me that it’s the same old Japanese men that buy and spend money on cameras. Here in Japan, a typical hobby for retirees is fishing and if you have saved more money then photography will end up being your hobby.
Just look at that crowd and imagine if this was held in summer. I am one of those people who are allergic to body odour. The scent alone overwhelms my senses and I may pass out! 
Richard Haw's Classic Nikon Repair and Review 