Nikon Nikkor 55mm F/28 Micro Ais Manual Focus Lens Review
https://i0.wp.com/casualphotophile.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/nikon-nikkor-55mm-1.two-photos-one.jpg?fit=3000%2C1688&ssl=1 3000 1688 Josh Solomon Josh Solomon https://i0.wp.com/casualphotophile.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/kodak-ektachrome-samples-josh-ix-of-9.jpg?fit=96%2C64&ssl=1
After shooting the Nikon Nikkor 55mm f/i.2 fast prime number for the past calendar month, I'1000 reminded of my one-time, high schoolhouse jazz teacher. He would always tell our band, "Speed isn't everything." Our problem was that we young whippersnappers could play fast, but we never sounded skilful doing information technology. The solution, co-ordinate to the instructor, was to practice slowly until familiarity with the material let us play non only faster, merely with more control.
Unsurprisingly, telling a bunch of hyperactive xvi-year-olds to dull downward and practice self-discipline wasn't effective, and the band continued to neglect at faster tempos. It became clear that, to us, the physical rush of playing faster was the only thing that mattered, even if our sound suffered for it.
The Nikkor is big, glamorous, and features that seductive "f/i.2" mark on the aperture ring. This lone makes it a lens to conjure choruses of Oohs and Aahs at the local photographic camera meet, and posting a shot of it on Instagram racks upwardly massive numbers of likes and reposts. People dearest this lens. Because of that fast aperture it automatically gets lumped in with some of Nikon'southward best lenses. Yes, the numbers say it should exist a nifty lens. But after spending time with it for the by month I'yard starting to concur with my old jazz instructor; speed isn't everything.
Simply I should wearisome this review downwards; the reputation and fanfare surrounding the Nikon 55mm f/1.2 does indeed come up from a place of existent reverence. When introduced in December of 1965, this lens was the fastest lens on offer for the Nikon SLR arrangement (although not the fastest in their unabridged catalog – the Nikon rangefinder 50mm f/i.1 takes that credit). The combination of a Nikon F or F2 with the 55mm f/1.2 represented the premium package from the brand, the all-time of the best in the heyday of the 35mm mechanical SLR camera.
Its construction was country of the art – a 7 elements in 5 groups Double Gauss-derived design with a 7-bladed aperture and, depending on the version, single-coated or multi-coated elements to provide punchier images and improved flare resistance. Mitigating that flare was crucial – a speed of f/1.2 could not be achieved without an enormous front end chemical element, and this lens had a large one.
These huge drinking glass elements came packaged in Nikon's all-metal lens chassis complete with a metal focusing band and aperture ring, bringing the lens to a hefty 12.6oz. The resulting heft and size makes the 55mm f/ane.ii cutting an imposing figure to this solar day, fitting for what was one time top domestic dog in the vast Nikon lens lineup.
Large, fast, and technically bonkers lenses like the Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 became a badge of accolade for lens makers of the fourth dimension. Some notable examples from the period include Canon's 50mm f/0.95 "Dream Lens" made in 1961 for Leica Thread Mount, Leica'southward Noctilux 50mm f/1.2 introduced in 1966, and Minolta's MC-Rokkor 58mm f/i.2 made in the late '60s. These lenses were the feathers in the caps of each manufacturer, and the Nikkor 55mm f/i.2 was a specially colorful plumage.
Though fundamentally glamorous and showy, these super-speed lenses did take a existent and applied function. Movie sensitivity was much lower back then, which in plough required faster lenses. These enabled shooters to get ane more stop out of ultra-slow slide films like Kodachrome 25, and helped nightcrawlers pull out an extra end for their ISO 400 blackness-and-white films.
When these factors are taken into account, a lens like the Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 makes a lot of sense. Nikon gets a lens that keeps them relevant among lens manufacturers, and shooters can bask improved performance on slower films and in depression-light.
But nosotros must remember that while these super-speedy lenses were dancing on the bleeding border of optical technology, they were doing and so in the mid 1960s. Manufacturers at the time still hadn't perfected many of the techniques that make super fast lenses so infrequent today.
Modern lenses are synthetic with a much college number of drinking glass elements than their ancestors. These advanced elements correct baloney and field curvature, increase corner resolution and help to mitigate optical aberrations. That's why older lenses are and so much smaller, lighter, and more than elegant than modern drinking glass. Good news for legacy lens lovers, just information technology's also true that the early on super-fast lenses suffer when information technology comes to epitome quality. This is especially true when shot wide-open (every bit the f/i.2 Nikkor so often begs u.s.a. to do).
Like many of its contemporaries, the Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 is a product of its fourth dimension and of those manufacture-wide growing pains. Though it sports an plainly incredible tiptop speed of f/1.2, optical functioning at that aperture leaves a lot to exist desired. At f/one.2, contrast decreases and sharpness becomes a moot signal. Brilliant sources of low-cal endure from large amounts of coma (smearing), and color images prove plenty of chromatic aberration (color fringing in high contrast areas).
The tradeoff for this lack of technical quality is an added functionality in low-light (f/1.two being a full stop faster than f/i.8) as well as razor-thin depth of field, dream-like rendering and, you guessed it, heaps of bokeh. It should be noted that the Nikkor 55mm f/one.2 does all of these things extremely well. Shooters who prefer dreamier photos every bit well as bokeh addicts will exist admittedly in love with this lens. It renders subjects with an ethereal quality, has an uncanny ability to dissolve backgrounds and foregrounds, and lends itself well to a more interpretive composition. This lens is an art lens.
[Black-and-white sample shots made with Ilford HP5 and a Nikon F2]
However, shooting at maximum aperture in situations where fidelity is the ultimate goal is hard, and shooting must-capture subjects this way is risky. I do a lot of shooting in low-calorie-free and I discover that if my subject is anywhere besides the eye of the frame I won't come up away with anything resembling a usable image. The razor-sparse depth of field afforded by a 55mm lens at f/1.two as well makes shooting moving subjects at close to mid-focusing range every bit difficult as bullseyeing womp rats in a T16 back home (without using the Force). In other words, it'southward actually difficult to do.
Users of super-fast sub-f/one.4 lenses may be familiar with these characteristics, and savour them while as well championing the stopped-downward operation of such lenses. The Nikkor 55mm f/1.ii'south functioning does amend a lot when stopped downwardly, just its stopped-downwardly functioning doesn't outshine the other Nikon standard focal length lenses of the era. The slower Nikkor 50mm f/ii and f/1.4 lenses perform about the same as this Nikkor 55mm f/ane.two when stopped down, and wide open up they offer a slightly deeper depth-of-field which makes acquiring focus in low-calorie-free much easier. In fact, the only advantage the 55mm f/i.2 has is that it exhibits less vignetting at f/2 and is slightly sharper at that discontinuity.
Considering that Nikon'due south slower, cheaper lenses of the same era perform only too as the 55mm f/1.2, the lens seems impractical. If given the option, I'd all the same take any of Nikon's slower standard focal length lenses over the 55mm f/ane.two simply because they're lighter, and easier to use when shooting wide-open. Sure, the 55mm f/1.two has a dream-similar character that bokeh lovers go crazy for, but beyond that the lens' epitome quality is par for the course. Add together that to the fact that this lens sells for three to iv times the price of those slower, but sharper, lenses and the prospect of ownership 1 suddenly elicits fewer Oohs and Ahhs, and a lot more Hmms.
[Digital sample shots fabricated with a Sony a7]
Prospective buyers should consider if a lens every bit specific every bit the Nikkor 55mm f/1.ii fits in with their personal vision and photographic style. People who dear bokeh and savour dreamier, softer images will desire to ain this lens. It does make dreamy, ethereal portraits improve than nearly fifties on the marketplace. But for shooters for whom bokeh and softness aren't the ultimate goal, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 or f/2 will be a far more practical selection. They practice the simple things well, and are just as capable of making great images loaded with vintage Nikkor graphic symbol.
Shooting an early super-speed lens Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 reminded me a lot of being a immature musician wanting to play as well fast, also quickly. Playing fast feels skillful, but if the fundamentals aren't in that location, the music volition just end up sounding rushed and one-dimensional. Similarly, the Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 might be fast and feel groovy to shoot, but its images wide open can be one-dimensional and most uncontrollable.
In an era where legacy lenses are equally likely to be fitted to a modernistic mirrorless camera (with their incredible high-ISO performance) as they might be to a classic Nikon, these ultra-fast primes just have less relevance than they did fifty years ago. I detest to admit it, but speed really isn't everything.
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Source: https://casualphotophile.com/2018/11/14/nikon-nikkor-55mm-f-1-2-lens-review-the-fast-and-the-spurious/
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