dave lackey
Veteran
A new year and a new direction or three... 
)
My old F2 received a transplant last year and is now an F2a with a very accurate meter. Somehow it has rekindled my interest ... now I am mulling selling a few items to build a nice kit around the F2. But what lens? All I have is a 50mm 1.8. I am open to a wide angle or short tele but there are so many choices and I am only looking for one lens to continue a relationship with this rock sold old friend.
Your thoughts are coveted.
)My old F2 received a transplant last year and is now an F2a with a very accurate meter. Somehow it has rekindled my interest ... now I am mulling selling a few items to build a nice kit around the F2. But what lens? All I have is a 50mm 1.8. I am open to a wide angle or short tele but there are so many choices and I am only looking for one lens to continue a relationship with this rock sold old friend.
Your thoughts are coveted.
ray*j*gun
Veteran
A must lens IMO is the 105 AI or AIS. Its the 3-d equivalent to the Leica glass that I have for my M2. The other "must have" is the 50mm 1,2 AIS which is an amazing lens at all stops especially for such a lighting fact lens.
dave lackey
Veteran
Very good vibes for me on those, Ray. Thank you so much!
mfogiel
Veteran
GarageBoy
Well-known
28 f2 - popular back in the day of film, beautiful dreamy backgrounds-
85 1.4
85 1.4
lawrence
Veteran
Wide: 28mm f2.8 AIS (very sharp, generally considered a classic)
Tele: 85mm f1.8 AI (quite beautiful but rare and superseded by the f1.4 & f2 lenses)
Tele: 85mm f1.8 AI (quite beautiful but rare and superseded by the f1.4 & f2 lenses)
besk
Well-known
The 35mm F2 O or OC lens was very popular back in the day. (The OC was an AI lens.)
They were made from 1965 to 1974 or so.
They were made from 1965 to 1974 or so.
maryland_fotos
Well-known
A suggestion is 55 1.2 S, SC or AI. Any of them would go sweetly with the F2A
105 DC. An AF lens, but built like an AIS.
alistair.o
Well-known
For cheap (as in inexpensive) I would try a 50mm f2 Ai (I believe it only Ai)
I realise you have a 1.8 but the 'signature' of the f2 is beautiful.
I realise you have a 1.8 but the 'signature' of the f2 is beautiful.
nobbylon
Veteran
I had a 35 O but the 28 2.8 Ais is a better lens. For a great MF kit I settled on,
28 2.8 AIS
50 AI F2
85 1.4
105 AI f2.5 AI because it has a longer focus throw than the later AIS version.
I still use the 28 as my main lens on the F6.
I updated to the AFd version of the 85 1.4, had the G but wanted an aperture ring.
I never saw any point in the 1.2 lenses because of the very small DOF wide open. It's bad enough to manually focus a 1.4 accurately.
28 2.8 AIS
50 AI F2
85 1.4
105 AI f2.5 AI because it has a longer focus throw than the later AIS version.
I still use the 28 as my main lens on the F6.
I updated to the AFd version of the 85 1.4, had the G but wanted an aperture ring.
I never saw any point in the 1.2 lenses because of the very small DOF wide open. It's bad enough to manually focus a 1.4 accurately.
ferider
Veteran
Hi Dave,
on the wide and normal side id doesn't get much better than 28/2.8 AIs and 50/1.8 AIs, clean, sharp, but not exactly character lenses. If you want character, maybe find an old 35/2 Nikkor-O and/or 55/1.2 Nikkor-S and/or Nikkor-S 5.8cm/1.4 ? The latter two have nice swirly bokeh ... Along a different road, the classic Nikkor-H 5cm/2 is very sharp and rectilinear but with lower contrast (like an early Summicron).
Regarding Teles and the various 105 Nikkors:
I was doing some experiments on my new digital Leica and comparing the LTM 10.5cm/2.5 (Sonnar), LTM 8.5cm/2, 105/2.5 AI (Gauss) and 105/2.8 Micro AIs.
I observed much more difference between the 10.5 Sonnar and later Gauss versions than what people usually describe. The Sonnar is very creamy and sharp in the center wide open and close, best portrait lens bokeh that I know, but it's quite a bad performer at infinity, only gets sharp even in the center at f5.6 and higher. This is different from the more modern 105/2.5 AI/AIs Gauss lenses, and I was surprised as I only found a couple of other user reports confirming what I saw. Note also that my 8.5cm/2 LTM Nikkor is much harder/sharper at all distances wide open, but at the cost of bokeh.
So I found this article http://www.nikkor.com/story/0045 that confirms that my 10.5 Sonnar is doing what it's supposed to do; aberrations are intentionally under-corrected to improve close up portrait performance, at the cost of wide open infinity resolution.
Long story short: if you want a true character lens by design for your F2a, get an early F-mount 105/2.5 Sonnar (silver focus ring - that one has the same design as my LTM copy). For a best performance all around tele, I suggest the 105/2.8 AIs Micro Nikkor, not the later 105/2.5 AI/AIs Nikkors. The 105/2.8 Micro is stellar as a general purpose lens, has a longer focus throw than either 2.5 AI or AIs lenses, and can do macros too, as an SLR is supposed to.
And finally, a non-Nikkor suggestion: you can now find the Helios 40-2 85/1.5 with Nikon mount installed by the factory (I had to convert my M42 copy years ago since the native Nikon mount didn't exist yet). That's a very special lens.
Roland.
on the wide and normal side id doesn't get much better than 28/2.8 AIs and 50/1.8 AIs, clean, sharp, but not exactly character lenses. If you want character, maybe find an old 35/2 Nikkor-O and/or 55/1.2 Nikkor-S and/or Nikkor-S 5.8cm/1.4 ? The latter two have nice swirly bokeh ... Along a different road, the classic Nikkor-H 5cm/2 is very sharp and rectilinear but with lower contrast (like an early Summicron).
Regarding Teles and the various 105 Nikkors:
I was doing some experiments on my new digital Leica and comparing the LTM 10.5cm/2.5 (Sonnar), LTM 8.5cm/2, 105/2.5 AI (Gauss) and 105/2.8 Micro AIs.
I observed much more difference between the 10.5 Sonnar and later Gauss versions than what people usually describe. The Sonnar is very creamy and sharp in the center wide open and close, best portrait lens bokeh that I know, but it's quite a bad performer at infinity, only gets sharp even in the center at f5.6 and higher. This is different from the more modern 105/2.5 AI/AIs Gauss lenses, and I was surprised as I only found a couple of other user reports confirming what I saw. Note also that my 8.5cm/2 LTM Nikkor is much harder/sharper at all distances wide open, but at the cost of bokeh.
So I found this article http://www.nikkor.com/story/0045 that confirms that my 10.5 Sonnar is doing what it's supposed to do; aberrations are intentionally under-corrected to improve close up portrait performance, at the cost of wide open infinity resolution.
Long story short: if you want a true character lens by design for your F2a, get an early F-mount 105/2.5 Sonnar (silver focus ring - that one has the same design as my LTM copy). For a best performance all around tele, I suggest the 105/2.8 AIs Micro Nikkor, not the later 105/2.5 AI/AIs Nikkors. The 105/2.8 Micro is stellar as a general purpose lens, has a longer focus throw than either 2.5 AI or AIs lenses, and can do macros too, as an SLR is supposed to
.And finally, a non-Nikkor suggestion: you can now find the Helios 40-2 85/1.5 with Nikon mount installed by the factory (I had to convert my M42 copy years ago since the native Nikon mount didn't exist yet). That's a very special lens.
Roland.
maryland_fotos
Well-known
Lots of great suggestions for the OP. Agree with Roland on the portrait usage for the 105 2.5 going all the way back to the original 10.5cm P Sonnar F lens from 1959/60.
Another stellar medium tele Nikkor option is the 135 f2 AI/AIS.
Another stellar medium tele Nikkor option is the 135 f2 AI/AIS.
Fuchs
Well-known
for a true wide, 24/2.8 AI or AI-s. 20/3.5 AIs also.
Fixcinater
Never enough smoky peat
I have the 5.8cm f/1.4 and it's *loaded* with character.
John E Earley
Tuol Sleng S21-0174
This is the one for character if you want to shoot portraits.
A new year and a new direction or three...
My old F2 received a transplant last year and is now an F2a with a very accurate meter. Somehow it has rekindled my interest ... now I am mulling selling a few items to build a nice kit around the F2. But what lens? All I have is a 50mm 1.8. I am open to a wide angle or short tele but there are so many choices and I am only looking for one lens to continue a relationship with this rock sold old friend.
Your thoughts are coveted.
The 85mm f/1.4 AIS lens is pricey, but oh-so-beautiful both to look at and the images it can produce. Just a gorgeous lens. The 28mm f/2.8 AIS lens has a spectacular reputation. I have the 24mm f/2.0 lens and enjoy that quite a lot. That extra stop at f/2 helps with low light sometimes.