Godfrey
Well-known member
a fast, longish old lens ... Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8
The lens I've been waiting for arrived today:
Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 - circa 1969ish
Lovely old lens, I had one of these for my Nikon F back in 1969-1971 that belonged to my uncle. I made many more photos with it than he ever did.
I've been working with longer focal lengths and decided that something in this range and speed might be nice. Looked at the Samyang 85/1.4 because it's available in FourThirds mount, but there's really no difference between using it and using an adapted Nikon or other lens. I remembered this old lens fondly, looked it up on KEH and bought a BGN example.
The focusing helicoid on this one operates slightly rough (probably dried out lubricant, might send it off for a CLA) and the paint is a little chipped. But the glass looks perfect, the iris is clean and operates smoothly, and the imaging qualities in my test snaps around the house look good. Even fits on the fotodiox adapter better than the Nikon AI lenses (no AI coupling ridge on the aperture ring to get in the way of the adapter mount release).
Not bad for a cheap "BGN" lens... and it's nice and compact too.
The lens I've been waiting for arrived today:
Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 - circa 1969ish
Lovely old lens, I had one of these for my Nikon F back in 1969-1971 that belonged to my uncle. I made many more photos with it than he ever did.
I've been working with longer focal lengths and decided that something in this range and speed might be nice. Looked at the Samyang 85/1.4 because it's available in FourThirds mount, but there's really no difference between using it and using an adapted Nikon or other lens. I remembered this old lens fondly, looked it up on KEH and bought a BGN example.
The focusing helicoid on this one operates slightly rough (probably dried out lubricant, might send it off for a CLA) and the paint is a little chipped. But the glass looks perfect, the iris is clean and operates smoothly, and the imaging qualities in my test snaps around the house look good. Even fits on the fotodiox adapter better than the Nikon AI lenses (no AI coupling ridge on the aperture ring to get in the way of the adapter mount release).
Not bad for a cheap "BGN" lens... and it's nice and compact too.
Last edited: