The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

a fast, longish old lens ...

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.

 
Last edited:
H

hawaiigent

Guest
Godfrey, you might be interested in some of the jury rig arrangements being done by videographers who own the GH2 and seek short short lenses too, often just not out there....
As I understand this article, the gent is using a Computar C mount lens of large aperture in wide aspect choice shooting video mode on the camera.

It just inspires one that out there with some rigging there seems to be unlimited possibilities, if one wants to do manual focus and why not manual focus with video especially. In any event, fills a gap in current lenses.
Of passing interest, following related link re the GH2 etc...

http://www.eoshd.com/content/535-EXCLUSIVE-12mm-F1.3-with-full-sensor-coverage-on-the-GH2-and-AF100
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Godfrey, you might be interested in some of the jury rig arrangements being done by videographers who own the GH2 and seek short short lenses too, often just not out there....
Not entirely sure what you're getting at. I bought this lens because I wanted a longer focal length, fast lens that was compact, not because I was looking for wide or videography.

I have the 11-22/2.8-3.5 for the E-5 ... plenty wide and plenty fast for an ultrawide @11mm. I also have an adapted Cosmicar 12.5mm f1.4 TV on a Micro-FourThirds mount adapter from when I was shooting with the G1, which I could use on a GH2 body if I wanted to. (It doesn't quite cover the whole format, but good enough for what I wanted.)

??
 

biglouis

Well-known member
It is great to have a modern camera on which you can mount old lenses like this. I'm also interested in seeing the results.

LouisB
 

DHart

New member
Godfrey... that's cool. Seeing the lens design and colors on that lens flashes me way back to the late sixties and seventies myself, when those lenses were brand new and I was a young Nikon shooter using them! All my old Nikon gear was sold long ago, dang it, when EOS hit the scene. It would be great to have some of those old Nikon lenses today. Great stuff. Looking forward to seeing what you can pull through that lens! I recently got an 85/1.4 and a couple of 50/1.4 legacy lenses... I bought mine primarily for shallow depth of focus/subject isolated portraits, not so much for general use.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
An update from using Nikkor 85 with the E-5 for a week or two ...

- My gosh, I'd forgotten just how well the Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 performs! It snaps in and out of focus crisply and cleanly even wide open, and has beautiful bokeh everywhere.

- There's almost no lateral CA and just a smidge of easily cleaned up longitudinal CA on specular highlights. Virtually no rectilinear distortion either. Truly an impressive performance for a 43 year old lens on a digital sensor.

- The E-5's big reflex viewfinder makes focusing this lens manually as easy as it was on my Nikon F3, and the Live View nets an even more accurate way to focus critically when doing static work or using a tripod.

- E-5 metering performance on Aperture Priority or Manual exposure with the 85 is very accurate.

- Combination of the 85's speed and the E-5's image stabilization, low noise at ISO 800-1600 nets impressive hand-held capability. I can shoot people subjects very comfortably down to 1/20-1/40 second, which at f/1.8 to f/2.8 is pretty darn low light. I was never able to get results this consistent when hand-held with the Nikon F3 and 180/2.8 (close match in FoV and DoF) back in the day, always needed at least 1/125 second or better.

- A local dealer had the original Nikon HN-7 lens hood for it in stock, used, for only $10. It's a little short for FourThirds format, but seems to do an excellent job of flare prevention nonetheless.

I'm delighted with this lens. It's just the right balance of size, weight, reach and speed for me at the long end; it will get a lot of use. And the price was a bargain ... I can spend another $140 on it for a full CLA if I want and not feel like I've over-paid.
 

Ron Evers

New member
You gave me a chuckle Godfrey, I opened this thread expecting you to be having fun with a 135 or 200mm & here it is a short 85 (I read as far as longish). I sometimes shoot with a Series 1, version 2 Vivitar 70-210/3.5 on my G1, now that is longish.

I am missing a 85 in my kit but have 14 to 210 covered in my kit mostly with primes starting @ 24mm. It is fun playing around with some of the old glass & finding gems for cheap coming from the former Soviet Union.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
You gave me a chuckle Godfrey, I opened this thread expecting you to be having fun with a 135 or 200mm & here it is a short 85 (I read as far as longish). I sometimes shoot with a Series 1, version 2 Vivitar 70-210/3.5 on my G1, now that is longish.

I am missing a 85 in my kit but have 14 to 210 covered in my kit mostly with primes starting @ 24mm. It is fun playing around with some of the old glass & finding gems for cheap coming from the former Soviet Union.
85mm on FourThirds format is as "longish" as I normally use. ;-)

In use, an 85mm f/1.8 gives field of view and depth of field characteristics virtually indistinguishable from using a 180/2.8 on my Nikon film SLRs from years back. And is a lot smaller and handier in the process. Love this FoV for a long lens options.

Most of my photography is made with wide to portrait tele focal lengths, in FourThirds 11 to 35 mm. So 50, 70 and 85 mm are longish. I have a nice old Pentax Super Tak 135/3.5 too, and can use it and the 85 with the 1.4x extender for when I want longer.

I'm just not a big zoom user. I had the 50-200/2.8-3.5 and found I just didn't use it enough. This 85 ... I'll use a lot.
 

DHart

New member
Memory is an amazing thing... every time I look at the photo of that lens, I can literally feel that focus ring and the unique feel of it's ribs and valleys in my left hand.. even the feel of turning the focusing ring... and the feel of pushing in those buttons on the lens cap... and I haven't had one of those lenses since the seventies... that pic really brings back memories.
 

Tesselator

New member
135mm on M4/3 is where I draw the line for hand-held walk about lenses in the MF genera. 85mm is sweet sweet sweet tho!

For example here's some lens tests from yesterday hand-held.

Canon FD 135mm f/2.5 (S.C.) on the GH1:



f/5.6




f/2.5


I think that 85mm would generally provide a higher fun-factor maybe tho. Here's a lust-page on it: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/6070nikkor/telephoto/85mm.htm :)

If you ever wanna do a trade just lemme know!



.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
85mm is one of my favourite focal lengths on the two 4/3 systems. As Godfrey points out, it's very close to the classic 180mm on film. I use mine, a Zeiss CY 85mm f/1.4 for portraits and as a general telephoto lens. It's mostly long enough for anything I do on travels. The rest of the kit is usually a 50mm, a 20-something mm and the Panasonic 7-14mm.

Here's a photo from Mekong River through Phnom Penh a couple of weeks ago:

GH1 with Zeiss CY 85mm f/1.4, probably @ f/4

 

DHart

New member
Tesselator... awesome images! I just stumbled upon and bought a like-new Canon FDn 135mm f.2.8 lens that I'm eager to do some work with. Your images are quite inspiring!

135mm on M4/3 is where I draw the line for hand-held walk about lenses in the MF genera. 85mm is sweet sweet sweet tho!

For example here's some lens tests from yesterday hand-held.

Canon FD 135mm f/2.5 (S.C.) on the GH1:



f/5.6




f/2.5


I think that 85mm would generally provide a higher fun-factor maybe tho. Here's a lust-page on it: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/6070nikkor/telephoto/85mm.htm :)

If you ever wanna do a trade just lemme know!



.
 

Tesselator

New member
Tesselator... awesome images! I just stumbled upon and bought a like-new Canon FDn 135mm f.2.8 lens that I'm eager to do some work with. Your images are quite inspiring!
You'll like it! My two 2.8s are even just a tad sharper than my two 2.5s. :) Yeah, I'm a sucker for a good buy. I sometimes have two or three of a particular lens. :p

Here's the two in a head to head on the rez-chart:




I wrote up a little info on the two here in this thread: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/985376 in the sixth post down.

The full chart image looks like this:



This is scaled of course. :)
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
funny how a discussion of my new - old Nikkor 85mm lens has morphed into a photo gallery of Canon 135mm photos .. and resolution charts and such too! wot da ...? ;-)

I'm sure the Canon 135 is nice. I occasionally use the Pentax SMC Tak 135/3.5 and stick it on a 1.4x telextender for a 190mm f/4.9 when I want a good long reach ...


Olympus E-5 + Pentax SMC Takumar 135mm f/3.5 + Olympus EC14
ISO 200 @ f/5.6 @ 1/320 second

But for me, 135mm on FourThirds is a bit beyond my comfort zone for hand-holding, just like a 300mm lens was generally a bit too long and cumbersome in film shooting.

The 85mm FoV is just right. ;-)
 

photoSmart42

New member
funny how a discussion of my new - old Nikkor 85mm lens has morphed into a photo gallery of Canon 135mm photos .. and resolution charts and such too! wot da ...? ;-)
LOL was thinking the same thing this morning, although I do love my FD 135/2.5 on the GH1.
 

DHart

New member
Godfrey and Tesselator, I agree that the 135 legacy lens is a bit long for hand held comfort. The 85 is generally a better choice for that, overall, unless one can steady with tripod or other stabilizing methods. My intended use of my 85/1.4 Planar and 135/2.8 FDn is specifically for shallow DOF portrait work done on my studio property where I use ladders with a sand bag for varied angle of view or a tripod for stabilizing long lenses.
 

Tesselator

New member
I don't do a lot of portraiture but 85 on the M4/3 is too long for me for that. I like 35mm ~ 55mm for that on the M4/3. That would be 70mm to 110 and about in line with what most portrait artists claim to be the most friendly with. And since there are just too many awesome normals (45mm~55mm) out there there's a cornucopia of unique glass to choose from too. :)

Portraiture for me is most comfortably undertaken from between 3 and 4 meters away. It feels like the proper distance to hold the person's attention for those intimate looks and yet not so close as to invade their personal space. 85mm on the M4/3 at 3 meters is not much more than a lip-to-eyebrow shot. :( Ya need 7 to 8 meters to get a bust shot with an 85 on M43 and that invariably means little to no intuitive/dynamic background control - unless you want to sprint ladder in hand, around your model or something. :D


.
 
Last edited:

DHart

New member
Tesselator... Among my other portrait clients, I photograph about 150 high school seniors a year, from August through October, with the 5DMkII with 70-200 f/2.8L, mostly at 200 mm, always at f/2.8, on the grounds of my 5-acre portrait park studio. And the average sale to each of these clients provides a remarkably nice living for myself and my family and fully supports this gorgeous home/studio property. So... I can't relate to what you're saying about the 85 not being suitable for portraits. The 85/1.4 on m4/3 equates nicely to 170mm f/2.8 with the FF 5DMkII. Works for me! Whatever other people use or believe applies to them, but not to me.

Oh.. the 8' ladder rides with us around the property in a golf cart with all my lighting gear. Easy. Everything I need during a session right there on the cart... including pruning sheers for the lush vegetation and a 12 ga. in case I see a new mole hill rising up on the lawn!

As for the 50/1.4 on m4/3... I'd say that an awesome choice too. This year I'm going to sub in the Planar 50/1.4 and the Planar 85/1.4 on my GH2 in place of the 5DMkII and 70-200/2.8L - for a few sessions at least. Depending on how it goes, I may use it more frequently for work and ease back from the full frame Canon kit. There are some portrait situations where I will still need the FF sensor for large canvas wall portraits of family groups, but for my 150 high school senior clients each year, I think the GH2 might just work out ok. My typical HS senior portrait order includes a 12x17 or 17x24 wall portrait, so it will be interesting to see how the GH2 prints at those sizes. If not, there's always the Canon kit. My m4/3 stuff is my "fun" kit.

Godfrey... sorry for the diversion... back to your wonderful 85!
 
Top