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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Nikkor 105mm f/1.8 AI-S

Nikkor 105mm f/1.8 AI-S ('81-'05)
This sample circa '81.





Filter size: 62mm
Close focus distance: 3.3 feet or 1 meter
Aperture range: f/1.8 - f/22
Aperture blades: 9
Depth of field scale for f/8, f/16, and f/22 plus IR focusing index.
Design: 5 elements in 5 groups

I am quite taken with this lens!  They are unfortunately not very common.  I am very impressed with its performance both at wide apertures and stopped down.  The optical design is surprisingly simple, see the Nikkor Thousand and One Nights tale for more on that.

Nikon's fast telephotos are the 85mm f/1.4, this 105mm f/1.8, the 135mm f/2 and 180mm f/2.8 ED.  The 135mm and 180mm are a bit too big and long in focal length for me to use often.  As much as I would love to get a 85mm f/1.4, there are several reasons why the 105mm f/1.8 makes more sense for me:  it is cheaper.  They both focus to 1 meter, so the 105mm has slightly better maximum magnification.  The 85mm has a huge 72mm filter thread, the 105mm f/1.8 takes 62mm filters, which I have a nice set of.  However the 85mm f/1.4 is obviously a third of a stop faster, and a bit shorter, so it should be slightly easier to handhold in low light.

More information:
Nikkor Thousand and One Nights
West End Camera Club
Matthew Durr
MIR
Ken Rockwell

Photos from this lens:
































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