Got this lens in pretty good condition on a flea market. However, it turned out to be totally unsharp even stopped down. Nikon (Berlin) offers an adjustment/calibration plus some cleaning inside etc. for a total of 117 Euro. Is there hope for this lens or is this (potentially) a further waste of money?
why is unsharp?
1 . AF problem?
or
2. decentred lens?
3. low contrast?
or
4.something else
(2) and/or (4) I suppose. The results were really extremely bad at any aperture and there was an unhealthy amount of color artefacts too.
[quote name='Sammy' timestamp='1318445080' post='12300']
Got this lens in pretty good condition on a flea market. However, it turned out to be totally unsharp even stopped down. Nikon (Berlin) offers an adjustment/calibration plus some cleaning inside etc. for a total of 117 Euro. Is there hope for this lens or is this (potentially) a further waste of money?
[/quote]
I guess this is the Series-E lens. I have one, and bought it for 120€ in Vienna (so I can say that the price for repair seems to be too much). Mine was in a very mint condition. Not a killer lens but does a good job. It's compactness is a charm. It suffers from CA but the sharpness is very decent even wide open. And the bokeh is better than ok (for my taste).
I've chosen this lens over 135mm f/2 Ai-S because of the price tag and compactness.
The attached were done @f/5.6 and f/2.8 (on a D700)... Maybe can help you to decide...
Serkan
[quote name='PuxaVida' timestamp='1318488541' post='12308']
I guess this is the Series-E lens.[/quote]
It´s the Ai-S version. Don´t know whether these are optically better than the "E"s though.
[quote name='Sammy' timestamp='1318489432' post='12309']
It´s the Ai-S version. Don´t know whether these are optically better than the "E"s though.
[/quote]
135mm f/2.8 Ai-S has two versions: Series E and the regular one. Surely Series-E should have more plastic feel and a different optical design.
If you want you can check these links for more info... It's a very informative site for MF nikon lenses:
[url="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/emfgfg20/eserieslenses/htmls/100135mm.htm#135mm"]Series-E 135mm Ai-S[/url]
[url="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/135mmnikkor/135mm28.htm"]135mm Ai-S[/url]
Serkan
Thx for the link. I was looking here:
http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/lenses.html#135
According to the serial number it´s not an E-series lens. Besides some CA these lenses are (mostly) said to be pretty good.
[quote name='PuxaVida' timestamp='1318503953' post='12316']
Edit: One more remark, these Ai-S lenses do not get on well with the matrix metering (I guess because of the lacking "distance" information). Therefore, I'd suggest to use spot metering in almost all cases.
[/quote]
Distance information is only used for flash exposures, as far as I know...
' />... 
' /> It's one of the inputs indeed...