Photography thread

Is that up near Bodega Bay? I think I've seen this.

 

Wow. That's an amazing setup. Everything looks strategically placed. I like the "behind the scene" pictures. What lights do you use with the softboxes?

 

With conventionals I have a lot of Mole Richardson and Arri. But my newer lights are LED Cineo lights, they use an impregnated phosphorous front Plexiglas that you can have in tungsten, daylight or other color balances. The actual LED is uncoated, they get excellent color and life this way. If your familiar with say a 2K Mole Zip light, I can run 1 of those on 1 20 amp circuit. The Cineos put out 2 times as much light and I can run 4 of them off 1 20 amp circuit. And their color rendering index is at the top of the scale, something like 98 for daylight and 97 for tungsten. Beautiful pure colors.

 

South of Bodega Bay in Inverness, East of Point Reyes

 

Stanley Park overlooking the Lion's Gate bridge in Vancouver, BC during a recent evening ride.

 

Smaller scale than Gator. Built my first soffbox out of Fomcor and 1 stop Roscolene and four AC stobes. Three slaves and a master. I added a separate socket for a modeling light. Now using 6500K flourescents from WalMart. I shoot with a D300 Nikon Even on auto WB I get excellent color accutance.. 99% raw..Ex rep for Eumig out of Vienna. Eumig owned Bolex and made tons of stuff for Polaroid. Times do change..

Nikon shooter mostly. Film and digital. Some 120 stuff. I have a lot of 120 film from a bud who will go unmentioned.

Nice toys eh?

 

Does anyone here still use 35mm film cameras? Or for that matter, interested in a Nikon F401 camera with a 70-210mm and 35-70mm lenses? My recollection is that it needs a new internal battery for the time/date stamp/ CR2025 3v lithium battery. It also takes 4 AA batteries.

 

Your lens' if they are AI (auto index) will work on Nikon most DSLRs. If you bought them at the same time the F4 was issued they are compatible. If not they can be modified. This does not apply to all Nikkor lens'. There are charts on various Nikon related sites that indicate which is which.

For pricing see the usual sites.

Generally Nikon shooters who have DSLRs have film cameras too. Film is not dead yet. Momma took our Kodachome away.. Most of the 35mm film is of the negative type (process C41) Walmart has processing that is not in house. It is sent to Fuji. The trick is to specify no prints. The return is not the processed negatives. The images are scanned to disc. About three pesos a pop for this service. Smaller labs will also provide at sometimes more pesos that El Banco de Mexico has.

 

My studio is also tiny compared to Gators, but I'm only a part-timer... Although I do love having the rail system and pantographs.

 

Nice pics guys. I'm a Nikon shooter who switched from a D3100 to an F3 and kept all my glass. Film is so much nicer than entry level (and even some mid-range) digital. Too bad it's so expensive to process. Far as Nikon lens compatibility, all Nikkor DSLR/SLR lenses will mount on all Nikon DSLR/SLR bodies but will only meter to varying degrees, some perfectly, others basically not at all. The nice thing is the older lenses are really sharp, FAR better construction (seriously 10x as good) and cheap as chips in comparison to a modern Auto-Focus lens. Just gotta be willing to do it yourself, which to me is part of what makes photography fun.

 

Very cool. Most lights I've heard of are Elinchrom, speedotron, and Profoto. I've been wanting to get a DSLR camera. I love Photography, but I don't have much equipment. Working at Profoto I get to test out all the equipment and sometimes set up a small studio area.

 

Likely the

D3100 came with the standard Nikkor zoom glass. This got started around the time of the D40s and D40xs. Both are autofocus lens'. The Nikon F3 is not an autofocus camera. The Nikon F5 is. So on the F3 is the two kit lens are the ones mentioned they need to be manually focused and metered if being used on the F3.

As to fitment and compatibility of Nikkor lens' check out Nikons compatibility chart on the Nikon site or the same area on Ken Rockwell or other. All the Nikkor lens' fit in the sense that the bayonets are the same but the compatibility is not even to the point of really messing up a perfectly good SLR or DSLR of Nikon make. Same thing with various strobes. Case in point: The great Vivitar 283s-285' if used without a voltage converter will fry any Nikon DSLR.

Nikkor lens elements are glass. Do not make the mistake of thinking lightweight is cheap construction. Sure a prime or many of the older non-AI lens' are metal and heavy but what is most important is optical quality. I have a Nikkor F1.2 prime that is really old and weighs a ton. Same deal with an 200mm F4 prime and a treasure of Nikons famous 105..I have an older slower one that is almost too sharp for some uses.

Nikon has some glass that would blow most of us away not only in optical quality but in cost.. Or if ya got the big pesos I just spotted a Noctolux for sale on CR in Salem for 8K+ I think it was a f.87 or thereabouts.

Film processing... Buying film is easy by net. I use Adorama in NYC. Processing, I do at Walmart. Walmart has discontinued their on site wet labs and sends the processing out to FUJI. My stuff goes to Portland.. They do not send back negs. The images are scanned to disc. Prints are optional. If both are made the cost for a roll of 36 is aboot 12 pesos. If specified from the get go the disc only service is aboot three pesos.

There are alternatives via custom labs at much higher prices, in all categories for both color and B&W. This includes return of physical negatives. This is great if ya have a color printer or a pricy scanner with neg carriers and lots of spare time for all that. Been working on thousands of old negs from not only my pix but family stuff going back to before time began. I have (bragging rights here) an Epson V700.

Bottom line here cutting through all the nifty photo chat is that all those Nikkor lens's do not work on all the cameras. Best to RTFM.

 

I have used Broncolor for a very long time.

 

Ya lost me.. You work for Profoto and don't have a DSLR? For what Profoto gets for some of their gear most would think they'd give you a camera. Cheap bastards!

 

What a thread, I'm enjoying reading all what you guys have done and are able to do these days. Wish I had something to contribute. Only have like 25000+ photos on film. Digital disks are all over the place. I'm just a some what serious hobbyist with a keen eye. I've been told I should do it professionally, just IMO a lot of BS in the biz, so many different angles to it, then there's the $$$$$$, so do it for fun. My family hides when there's some sort of outing or event, camera ain't to far away. Got my start in Hi school annual staff. Well actually my grandma gave me her Brownie, then got hooked. I prefer action, cars, bikes, helicopter shots from the cockpit, sports, ya know things that move, then there's the scenic stuff like Nat geo. That's when I got for some reason looking at the roads I rode seeing the curve, the twist going up and around, all cool. But of late I've dropped the ball taking it to the next level, There's so much tech here can't afford to keep up, so I use a point and shot Fuji X1. Then the freaking smart phones SMH, as simple as it seems, I haven't figure out just how those take great shots, but some pull it off, mine sucks. Anyway, thanks to those here showing your stuff. Keep it coming

 

Yeah, I don't use the G or DX lenses on the F3, and I don't use the manual stuff on the D3100, but a nice D lens works brilliantly on the F3, and the older lenses (like my $30 100mm series E) is insanely sharp on a D600 and so easy to use. But like I said, they all mount but they don't all work easily. If you're fine with manual focus they are great lenses at a fraction of the cost of a new one. Also I specifically said the constuction (not the glass quality but the build) is way better, though I still think the older glass is really sharp. They just suffer from coma and chromatic abberation but only when they are wide open. I have the same 50 1.2 and it's built like a rock. I feel like I'm shooting a glock with that thing on my F3.

 

Best to always check for guys like me whose short term memory is faulty when trying to memorize all those permutations of lens/camera compatibility just on the Nikon stuff. Do you have one of those rare autofocus Nikkor non AI F1.2 lens or an AF series E? Rare stuff indeed.

So for the rest of the Nikon shooters oot there who do not want to risk breaking something:

This is a good thing:

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Nikon Camera and Lens Compatibility Chart




MANUAL FOCUS NIKKOR LENSES

F5 NO! MF1,2
F6 MF1,7,8 MF1
NIKKOR MANUAL FOCUS
NIKON DSLR Pre-AI AI,AI-S,E

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Nikon Camera and Lens Compatibility Chart - Nikonians



https://www.nikonians.org/reviews/nikon-slr-camera-and-lens-compatibility




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Nikon Lens Compatibility - Ken Rockwell



www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm






As you've read at Nikon System Compatibility, it's amazing how lenses and .... "As intended" means a feature supported by both the camera and by the lens.


Lens Compatibility - Nikon



imaging.nikon.com › ... › Imaging Products › Lineup › Digital SLR Cameras








Nikon
The features available with compatible CPU lenses are listed below: ... manually via the lens aperture ring and the camera metering system, i-TTL flash control, ...


Nikon Camera and Lens Compatibility Chart - Nikonians



https://www.nikonians.org/reviews/nikon-slr-camera-and-lens-compatibility



Nov 6, 2012 - Below, hopefully an easy to use chart that should provide an answer for most Nikon SLR cameras currently in use. You may also want to read our very active Nikkor AF lenses forum, check out the various Nikon camera articles and Nikkor lens reviews, and that you did a search on Nikon SLR at NikoScope.











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Nov 25, 2007 - In general, the higher end D-SLR's (such as the D5, D4(S), D3X, D3, D810(A), D800(E), D750, D700, D610, D600, D500, D300S, D300, D200, D2 and D1- series cameras) can meter with these lenses, but when used on the consumer cameras ( D5300, D5200, D5100, D5000, D3300, D3200, D3100, D3000, D80, D70, D60, D40, and D40X) the ...


D-SLR camera and lens compatibility - Nikon Europe



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Aug 29, 2006 - While every Nikon lens ever made share the same lens mount the compatibility of the lens varies depending on the camera body used.


Nikkor Lens Information by Thom Hogan



www.bythom.com/lensacronyms.htm






Any AI or later lens will mount on all current Nikon bodies. ... DX refers to lenses designed for the 1.5x crop cameras (mostly consumer DSLRs now), .... D5000, D5100, and D5200) only AF-S (or AF-I, HSM, NII) lenses give full compatibility.


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Jump to Compatibility - For example, many electronic camera bodies cannot meter without a CPU enabled lens, the aperture of G designated lenses ...


Nikon camera lens compatibility - LensHero



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Select your Nikon camera to find out which lenses are compatible with your DSLR or digital camera such as the Nikon D3300, Nikon D7200 or Nikon D5500.


Understanding old Nikon lenses: AI, AI-S, AF and AF-S: Digital ...



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i have an AI-S 50mm f1.2 manual lens, not one of the autofocus ones. that would be big money.

 

Nikon provides a feature little used by most called "A thousand and One Nights" This is one on the F 1.2 55 mm Nikkor. An autofocus lens of this type would be great for a bokeh influenced shot of a flying carpet if one could find such a lens. Same deal if one could find one to shoot fast guys who go really fast on 50cc bikes, always use the best oil and get 10K miles on a set of the tires of the moment.

Never fired a Glock, Plastic I think but for some reason the users don't seem to be of the same mindset as lens fans. I'm more the 40mm Vulcan type Mself.

For all that pre-digital stuff another great reference that helps my short term memory problem is a copy of The Encyclopedia of Photography by McGraw-Hill. Mine is the desktop version with a publication date of 1973. 1,699 pages of all manner of stuff photowise. Probably makes Google seem in some respects not a major player.



Nikon: At the heart of the image

NIKKOR LENSES

Japanese
English



NIKKOR: Capture more. Create more.


NIKKOR – The Thousand and One Nights: Tale 49: The challenge to develop a large-diameter f/1.2 lens: Nikkor-S Auto 55mm F1.2 By Haruo Sato




In Tale 49, I will talk about large-diameter normal lenses. An attempt to develop an f/1.2 lens and an obsession with the focal length of 50mm… I will introduce the thoughts of the designer of the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 lens and the untold stories behind its development. Why did the focal length have to be 55mm? What was the key to achieving the small f-number of 1.2? Does it shoot well and what kind of pictures does it take?

Tonight, I will disclose the secrets of the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2



I
The Birth of Large-Diameter SLR Camera Lenses



As I noted in Tale 7, the competition for superfast lenses grew fierce in the 1950s. Every manufacturer commercialized large-diameter lenses, which included the ZUNOW 5cm f/1.1. The competition came to a halt with the release of the Canon 50mm f/0.95 from Canon Inc.

At that time, cameras were range-finder cameras. The largest benefit of the range-finder camera’s optical system is a short flange back distance that imposes no restrictions on the back focal length. Simply put, the distance between the lens and film can be set freely. This means the range-finder camera requires no space for a mirror unlike the single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. Therefore, it was possible to develop Sonnar-type lenses with short back focal lengths and lenses that can be called a hybrid of the Gauss type and the Sonnar type.

Today, the Gauss type is synonymous with large-diameter normal lenses. But it has its own peculiar problem: the back principal point is located far ahead of the aperture diaphragm. That is, it is difficult to secure a long back focal length with a Gauss lens.

The world of photography then shifts to the age of SLRs, typical of which was the Nikon F. Superfast lenses of f/1.1 and f/0.95 achieved during the fierce competition become a pipe dream for SLR cameras.


Each camera maker adopted various back focal lengths for SLRs, generally ranging from 35 to 40mm. This means SLRs needed longer back focal lengths than range-finder cameras and posed a constraint, especially for designing 50mm lenses, very difficult to overcome at that time. The design of the Nikkor 5cm f/2, an early normal lens, shows traces of efforts to secure a sufficient back focal length. The solution was to add a weak concave lens in front of a Gauss type lens for a retro-focus effect that permits a larger back focal length.

What did other companies do to cope with this problem? They gave up the focal length of 50mm even for f/2 lenses and extended it by 5mm to 55mm to circumvent the issue. Lens designing had become difficult even for f/2 class lenses. But lens designers possessed strong desire to commercialize again the f/1.4 and f/1.1-1.2 lenses they had successfully produced for range-finder cameras. Every designer apparently thought it was problematical that the future camera system that made its debut with so much fanfare was actually inferior to the existing system. Nikon developed the Nikkor 5.8cm f/1.4 by extending the focal length by 8mm. However, designers at the time were not content with this solution. Through their persistent efforts, they finally developed the 50mm f/1.4.



II
Barrier of f/1.2



Developing a normal lens with an f-number of 1.2 was a considerably challenging theme in those days. We had to wait until the 1960s for the release of f/1.2 lenses from optics and camera manufacturers. Canon launched the Canon R58mm f/1.2 in 1962. The company could not design an f/1.2 lens with a focal length of 50mm. Canon improved the lens to 55mm in 1968, but it was not before 1980 that the focal length was changed to 50mm.


In the meantime, Nikon released the Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 in 1965. It was difficult to make it 50mm. But Nikon attained f/1.2 by making the focal length a mere 5mm longer. The goal of 50mm was achieved in 1978 with the AI-Nikkor 50mm f/1.2. Nikon was comparatively early in achieving an f-number of 1.2 with that focal length.



III
Development History and Designer



Now, let’s take a look at some development history. The man who designed the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 was Mr. Yoshiyuki Shimizu, the originator of the Nikkor Auto who often appears in Nikkor – The Thousand and One Nights. For Mr. Shimizu, normal lens designing was his life work. He laid out all the specifications of normal lenses from 5cm f/2 to 50mm f/1.4, 55mm f/1.2 and 55mm f/2-1.2. I personally believe that Mr. Shimizu was one of the Nikon designers who were most well versed in the Gauss type at the time.

Let’s look at development reports and drawings. According to the reports, the design was completed at the hottest time during the summer of 1964. In winter of that year, a prototype drawing was made and after trial volume production, a mass production drawing was created in the late spring of 1965.


The Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 was released in the middle of winter that same year. The lens was later given a multilayer coating as the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 (c). The design was modified to use a new nitrate material and Nikon put on the market the New-Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 in 1975, achieving a reduction to the shortest shooting distance. In the spring of 1977, it became the AI-Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 with the adoption of the automatic maximum aperture indexing (AI) system. The long-sought 50mm f/1.2, the AI-Nikkor 50mm f/1.2, made its debut in 1978, putting an end to the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2’s 13-year long-selling history.

Its development definitely must have involved much difficulty because of its superfast speed. I take my hat off to Mr. Shimizu’s efforts and patience while developing multiple products in parallel.



IV
Photographic Characteristics and Lens Performance



Nikkor-S Auto 55mm F1.2 Cross-sectional view

Look at this cross-sectional drawing. This is a typical Gauss (double Gauss) type lens. It is relatively easy to make large-diameter lenses with the Gauss type.


However, the available angle of view would be up to around 2ω = 63 degrees (focal length of about 35mm in terms of the 35mm format). With the Gauss type, it would be easiest to design a lens with an angle of view ranging from 46 to 24 degrees in the case of the 35mm format. In the normal lens range, f/1.8 to f/2 lenses can be made with six elements, while f/1.4 to f/1.2 lenses require seven elements for good aberration correction. These lenses are marked by a configuration in which two cemented lenses sandwiching an aperture diaphragm are in turn sandwiched by convex elements. Generally speaking, lenses with many convex elements on the image side of the lens tend to achieve better results for coma and spherical aberration correction.

How does the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 depict pictures? Let’s consider it from the viewpoints of both aberration characteristics and a spot diagram. Aberration values, a modulation transfer function (MTF) chart and point images in the design report show us how difficult it was to develop a superfast lens with an f-number of 1.2.




The lens is marked by its spherical aberrations. In order to obtain good sharpness with a large-diameter, f/1.2 lens, it is necessary to minimize spherical aberrations. This lens effectively corrects spherical aberrations without aspherical elements by, so to speak, fighting fire with fire – generating higher spherical aberrations by using a high-curvature lens surface. The design concept can be seen in the field curvature as well. The meridional image plane is slightly under-corrected compared with the sagittal plane and the two planes almost match each other up to half the distance away from the center of the image with only small astigmatism. Typical of large-diameter lenses, it has good axial chromatic aberrations and lateral chromatic aberrations, making stopping-down very effective in correcting aberrations. The problem is coma aberrations. As it is a large-diameter, f/1.2 lens, it produces large meridional and sagittal coma. Especially, sagittal coma flare in the four corners of the image is considerable. The flare shape greatly affects point images. Distortion is -2% at infinity focusing, an average value for a large-diameter lens. Like other general Gauss-type lenses, all aberrations become under-corrected at close-up shooting. This phenomenon reduces sharpness, but is good for blurring out the background. This is why Gauss-type lenses are usually often used for portrait and macro photography.


Aberrations of the top-of the line f/1.2 lens at the time of the Nikon F launch were not corrected effectively. Nonetheless, it was a deftly designed lens with no major flaw for a trail-blazing 55mm f/1.2 lens. We can see the excellent results of Mr. Shimizu’s painstaking efforts.

Now, let’s study its image forming using a spot diagram. Points are well imaged in the center with less flare. But flare becomes increasingly visible toward the periphery in both meridional and sagittal directions. Modern lenses tend to correct meridional direction flare only, which is relatively easy, for higher MTF. But if meridional direction flare alone is corrected, point images show comet-like flare and become asymmetrical. From the viewpoint of photographic depiction, the shapes of point images of the 55mm f/1.2 would produce better, if slightly less sharp, results. We can observe the master’s art here as well. However, vignetting removes meridional coma flare from point images far from the center of the picture, leaving Wings of a seagull-like flare with visible sagittal coma flare. This must have been the maximum possible at that time when no aspherical lenses were available.



V
Photographic Performance and Samples



Next, let’s have a look at some sample photos, broken down by focal length.





Open aperture at f/1.2

The resolution is comparatively good at the center, but the image is surrounded by veil-like flare. Flare increases toward the periphery and peaks out at a distance some 60% from the center. It then decreases slightly, affected by vignetting. As a whole, depiction is delicate and the resolution is a bit low in the four corners. But color bleeding is small and coloration is clear and favorable.

f/1.4-2

Stopping down the lens to f/1.4 reduces the veil-like flare and vignetting, but does not change the resolution much. At f/2, the resolution improves from the center to the middle area with flare disappearing, but not in the periphery, especially the four corners where resolution and flare improve little.

f/2.8-4

The resolution improves considerably with flare mostly gone and sufficient sharpness is obtained, excluding the four corners. At f/2.8, high-quality resolution coexists with softness, while high resolution is achieved at f/4.


f/5.6-8

Depiction is consistent over the entire picture with high sharpness achieved. Possibly this is the best image quality among all the f-stop ranges.

f/11-16

Depiction is consistent over the entire picture with high sharpness obtained. Stopping down the lens to f/16 mars the resolution slightly due to diffraction.

If you need sharpness, shoot in the aperture range of f/5.6-11 to produce good results. For soft, distinctive depiction in still life photography and portrait shooting, try f/1.2-2. If you want soft depiction with some extent of sharpness, stop it down to f/2.8. Through the shooting tests, the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 proved to be a lens favored by connoisseurs, which changes its depiction every time the aperture is changed.




Look at the samples to check depiction characteristics.





Image sample 1
Sample 1

Nikon D3X, Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2
Exposure: 1/160 second, f/1.2
Sensitivity: ISO 400
Image quality: RAW
White balance: Auto
D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control: Neutral
Date: August, 2011


Image sample 1
Enlarged image of Sample 1


Image sample 2
Sample 2

Nikon D3X, Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2
Exposure: 1/3200 second, f/1.2
Sensitivity: ISO 400
Image quality: RAW
White balance: Auto
D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control: Neutral
Date: August, 2011


Samples 1 and 2 are designed to feature the soft depiction of the lens and reproduce an airy feeling. The pictures were taken at around the shortest shooting distance of 60cm/1ft 11.6 in., using the open aperture of f/1.2 for a shallow depth of field. The background of Sample 1 has a sequence of points. Its bokeh has no flaw and depiction is good. The sharpness of the eye on which the lens was focused is fine and the depiction of the blurred area is smooth and excellent. Look at the enlarged image of Sample 1. You can see that the lens is effective for three-dimensional depiction. The disappearing line of the chin, blurred thin hair and the blurring of the eye with a three-dimensional feel… All are completely satisfying. The Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 can be called a lens that achieves high fidelity in the three-dimensional direction. Sample 2 was shot deliberately against the light in front of a lattice-shaped reflective object. The back blurring is flawless and the generation of double-line bokeh is curbed. The sharpness of the focused area is good and the eye and hair are richly reproduced.



Image sample 3
Sample 3

Nikon D700, Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2
Exposure: 1/800 second, f/2.8
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Image quality: RAW
White balance: Auto
D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control: Neutral
Date: August, 2011


Image sample 4
Sample 4

Nikon D700, Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2
Exposure: 1/2000 second, f/2.8
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Image quality: RAW
White balance: Auto
D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control: Neutral
Date: August, 2011


Samples 3 and 4 were taken to check the lens depiction at f/2.8. In both samples, the focused area has expanded with improved sharpness. However, its depiction has not lost its softness. Sample 3 was backlit shot against the soft light. Observe flare and the background bokeh. The bokeh is flawless and there is no unfavorable chromatic flare. As for Sample 4, look at the lens’ depiction at a relatively medium shooting distance. The back bokeh is presented flawlessly and the sharpness of the focused area is good. From these samples, I can say that excellent portraits can be taken by trying various f-stops within the range of the open aperture to f/2.8.



Image sample 5
Sample 5

Nikon D700, Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 Exposure: 1/3200 second, f/4
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Image quality: RAW
White balance: Auto
D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control: Neutral
Date: August, 2011


Image sample 6
Sample 6

Nikon D700, Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2
Exposure: 1/1000 second, f/5.6
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Image quality: RAW
White balance: Auto
D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control: Neutral
Date: August, 2011


The lens was stopped down to f/4-5.6 for Samples 5 and 6. At f/4-5.6, the softness unique to a large-diameter lens disappears and the image is sharp to the periphery. Sample 5 was shot at f/4. The building wall is clearly reproduced to the periphery of the picture. Sample 6 was taken at f/5.6. When stopped down this far, the lens produces an image sharp to the periphery, showing its best depiction characteristics. For landscape photography, the aperture range of f/5.6 to f/8 should be most appropriate.

As these samples show, the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 is a refined lens that changes its depiction characteristics every time a different f-number is selected. Thus, it can shoot portraits and still lifes as well as landscapes when adequately stopped down. It is safe to say that the Nikkor-S Auto 55mm f/1.2 is a lens favored by connoisseurs.



VI
Obsession with 50mm



Having read the tale of the 55mm f/1.2 lens, did you wonder why the designer stuck to 50mm? That is because normal lenses for the 35mm format have a long history. The focal length of the normal lens was set at 5cm (50mm) by engineers of Ernst Leitz GmbH, notably Oskar Barnack and Max Berek. Then, why did they choose 50mm? There are many stories, typical of which is that the angle of view of 50mm (46 degrees diagonal, 40 degrees horizontal) is the closest to the field of view of the human eye when it is not closely focused. Other theories are that the diagonal distance of the image is close to the focal length (precisely, however, it is not 50mm), that wide lens and telephoto lens characteristics both become least evident at the focal length of 50mm and that lens characteristics are optimum at 50mm (precisely, however, such focal length cannot be limited to 50mm). In any case, only Barnack and Berek, who built this system, know the truth.


The certain fact is that the first 35mm camera of Leitz came with the Leitz Anastigmat (later called Elmax) 5cm f/3.5 as the standard lens. Camera makers of the world all started manufacturing cameras modeled after Leica, together with 5cm (50mm) normal lenses. Because of this historical background, they have been continuing producing 50mm lenses for many long years and developers and users alike have become familiar with the angle of view of 50mm lenses. Based on this history and tradition, 50mm lenses were positioned as normal. Therefore, developers at the time apparently wanted to make standard lenses for SLR cameras with the same angle of view as in the era of range-finder cameras. Designers’ obsessiveness is the seed of progress and development. The development of normal lenses started with 58mm and shifted to 55mm and then to 50mm.



VII
50mm, but Is It Actually 51.6mm?



What we call the focal length of 50mm is actually a nominal value. The designed value has not necessarily been exactly 50mm. As noted above, the normal lens started with the Leitz Anastigmat 5cm f/3.5. The actual focal length of the Leitz 5cm normal lens at the time was 51.6mm. Leica cameras were not originally of the interchangeable-lens type, but after their introduction, many optics makers started manufacturing interchangeable lenses for the Leica.


It was convenient for them to use the same focal lengths as Leica lenses in view of the viewfinder and range finder. This is why long-established Japanese optics manufacturers and camera makers designed their nominal 50mm normal lenses with the actual focal length of 51.6mm. This practice was handed down to the age of SLR cameras and its history and tradition are still alive. The actual length of 51.6mm carries the weight of history.


fin.




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