Nikkor lenses, Ai or Ai-S?

[chambrenoire]

Bought a bunch of stuff yesterday and got two nice Nikkor lenses in the package.
Thinking of selling them but first I would like to know what exactly they are!
Here are pictures of 'em:

I've had other Nikkor lenses before and they've had this metal thingy by the apperature ring, seems absent from these lenses?

And finally, what should be the value of these lenses?

Thanks for any help I can get.

/Mattia

 

[Graham Line]

Don't know the price, but the value is pretty high -- two great Nikkors if you have a use for them.
There are two big differences between AI and AIS:
The focusing throw was reduced from the AI to the AIS -- most AIS lenses go from closest focus to infinity in a quarter-turn of the ring.
AIS lenses have a linear motion on the stop-down level that renders it more accurate with, I think, the FA and F4 bodies in auto modes. In practice, and with other bodies, it's kind of an invisible advantage.
www.keh.com and www.ffordes.com are where I'd look for prices.

 

[dnk512]

Both are AIS (see the shallow groove on the mount -- at 6' oclock on the 55mm right image and at 4 oclock on the mount image of the 24mm). There are nice lenses, but the going rate is low. The 55 has a reputation for oil in the blades, by mine has always been dry.

 

[former member]

They are both AIS lenses.

The Orange color on the ADR (Aperture Direct Readout) is the mark.

The original AIS lenses used a miserable Lubricant that leaked into the aperture blades. After a couple of years, Nikon switched it to something better. If there is no oil on the blades now, there will not be.

 

[chambrenoire]

Thanks for your replies!

There is no oil on either blades of the lenses, but the focusing is super-slow/difficult on the 55mm lens. Is there anything simple I can do to make it go smoother or is a professional CLA needed?

 

[Graham Line]

The missing metal thingy would have been on those lenses as sold and was needed to properly index the old prism-mounted meters. It isn't needed on more recent bodies that have the meter built into the body and some people remove them. The 'ears' are pretty easy to acquire.

 

[Terao]

The 24mm f/2 is a very good lens and doesn't appear for sale very often (I ended up buying the later f/2.8 when I had a Nikon system)

 

[sepiareverb]

Shallow groove on the mount and orange smallest f-stop= AiS

 

[Cale Arthur]

With an older Nikon body, those two lenses would make quite a formidable & unique rig.. I'd keep 'em! 🙂

--c--

 

[chambrenoire]

I'm more of a Olympus OM-2n guy! I've put them up for auction on Swedish eBay (Tradera).

 

[David R Munson]

If you don't shoot Nikon, selling them makes sense, but both are definitely awesome lenses. The 24mm f/2 is one of my favorite all-time lenses, being second only to the AIS 50mm f/1.2 for 35mm-format lenses.