Legacy Lens - why not Nikon?

[greypilgrim]

I guess I should also say that my whole reason for doing this is not so much as a comparison to other lenses as it is to be able to experience (happily) shooting with my MF lenses. I have already found to my satisfaction that the kit lens and the 45-200 do fine for the AF experience.

Just wanting to go retro .

Doug

 

[RichA]

I own dozens of Nikon lenses. I have tried most. I do not use them on the G1.

There are better, smaller and lighter weight alternates to every Nikon lens there is.

No magic.

No lens I've used matches Nikon's 14-24mm f2.8. But then it is $2000.

 

[ddk]

No lens I've used matches Nikon's 14-24mm f2.8. But then it is $2000.

At what focal length are we talking about, because at 18mm, 21mm and 25mm Zeiss ZF lenses have it easily beat, and at 14mm Nikon's own 14/2.8 is on par with the zoom at that fl, with quite a bit less distortion, though the zoom is sharper at outer edges, costs a lot less than the above collection and is still a great lens.

 

[JMaher]

It's a nice lens (I have borrowed a friends) but if I were to pick a Nikon I might go with the 85 1.4 I had for a number of years. But alas I may be moving to the dark side - I have a Hexanon 40 1.8 on order modified to 4/3.

Jim

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

No lens I've used matches Nikon's 14-24mm f2.8. But then it is $2000.

... and it doesn't have an aperture ring, so it wouldn't be very useable on 4/3 anyway.

 

[greypilgrim]

At what focal length are we talking about, because at 18mm, 21mm and 25mm Zeiss ZF lenses have it easily beat, and at 14mm Nikon's own 14/2.8 is on par with the zoom at that fl, with quite a bit less distortion, though the zoom is sharper at outer edges, costs a lot less than the above collection and is still a great lens.

Umm, even though I have a solid preference for primes, I'm afraid this statement is not strictly accurate. Nikon's 14 f2.8 is an older lens and doesn't hold up well. Nikon's 14-24 zoom is constantly reviewed as being one of those zooms that meets the best primes out there. And while there are those who would agree about the Zeiss lenses, there are many out there who will just as vehemently argue that the Nikon 14-24 easily is the best FF wide angle option out there in F mount. Go over to DPReview's Nikon Lens forum and make that statement :ROTFL:....

Course as has been said elsewhere, it isn't a viable option for micro 4/3. No aperture ring, and waaayyyy too heavy, so this really is a moot discussion here. :sleep006:

I would not use any of the modern AF nikkors on a G1 or EP-1. To what purpose? Generally too big and not optimized for a good MF feel.

Doug

 

[ddk]

Umm, even though I have a solid preference for primes, I'm afraid this statement is not strictly accurate. Nikon's 14 f2.8 is an older lens and doesn't hold up well. Nikon's 14-24 zoom is constantly reviewed as being one of those zooms that meets the best primes out there. And while there are those who would agree about the Zeiss lenses, there are many out there who will just as vehemently argue that the Nikon 14-24 easily is the best FF wide angle option out there in F mount. Go over to DPReview's Nikon Lens forum and make that statement :ROTFL:....
Doug

Older lens or not I don't see the relevance of age, specially when there are fine examples of old Nikkors that haven't been matched with new releases. The 14mm is not any less sharp than the 14-24 @ 14mm @ any fstop, except at the edges which I mentioned, the 14-24 is sharper in the corners and vignettes less.

Talking about dpreview, when I first got the 14-24, at the time of its introduction, I did a whole series of comparisons between the Sigma 12-24, Nikon 14/2.8, and the Zeiss 25mm, at different fls and all apertures between f2.8 and f11 and posted full rez samples for people to download. Of course the masses on dpreview were incensed and declared that there was something wrong with my 14-24!

As they say, you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink...:ROTFL:

(disclaimer, I'm not knocking the 14-24, its a great zoom just don't think that its the end all of everything.)

 

[greypilgrim]

Well, as I've stated, I prefer the older pre-AI, AI, AIS Nikkors for MF, so those are the ones I will use . I'll be ignoring my D lenses for sure as they have a horrible MF feel. And of course, why bother with the G lenses.

I'll be curious to see which ones I really like on the G1.

Doug

 

[f6cvalkyrie]

I'll be curious to see which ones I really like on the G1.
Doug

My personal preference goes to the Micro55/2.8.
A very fine macrolens !

C U
Rafael