Manual focus lenses - wide is best

The more I review my gear, the more I realize that manual focus telephoto lenses, especially good quality fast aperture ones, are just a waste of time.  It's not due to the optical quality, its due to focusing.  Using something like an 85mm f1.4 or 135mm f2, it is very difficult to get the focus spot on, especially if the object is moving or relatively close.  If it is both, then forget even trying.  If it is difficult to get an in focus shot, no matter how good the optics are, its very difficult to justify owning.

So, just recently I sold my Nikon 85mm f1.4 Ai-S and Nikon 105mm f1.8 Ai-S, and will sell the Nikon 135mm f2 Ai-S shortly.  I've already purchased the Sigma 85mm f1.4 HSM recently to add to the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 AF-S I already own.  Both these lenses have fast AF, and the chances of missing a shot are much, much lower.  My hit rate (ie perfect focus) is now about 70%, as opposed to 5-10%.

Wide angle lenses are a different kettle of fish.  Even with a fast lens, like the Nikon 24mm f2 Ai-s, it is much harder to miss a shot as the depth of field is much greater. The Nikon 35mm f1.4 Ai-S though, is trickier, and so I have just replaced this the new Sigma 35mm f1.4.

Sigma 85mm f1.4 HSM, Nikon D600

Nikkor 135mm f2 Ai-S

One  major difference between this lens and the Nikon 105mm f1.8 Ai-S I also have, is sharpness at max aperture.  Wide open the the 135mm remains very sharp, while contrast and edge performance drops off on the 105mm at f1.8.

Even on the D600, this lens can still out-resolve the sensor at f2, which is a pretty amazing feat.

My copy is perfect optically, but cosmetically its quite rough, with engravings, missing hood and lots of wear. 

Non bidder eBay winners

Though its harder now with a little one around, I often spend time looking at interesting items on eBay, and make sure I watch them, especially if they are local.  Occasionally some very interesting items have not had any bids for what seemed like a very reasonable starting price.   So several times now I have contacted sellers after the auction that are local and made them an offer about 5% less than their starting price (to account for their eBay and PayPal fees).  Usually most sellers are interested, and once we agree, I make arrangements to pick up the item from where they live.  This works well for the seller as it means no hassle and cash payments for their items, and for me I get a great item at a great price.

The two lenses that this worked out very well for are a rare Nikkor  105mm f1.8 (see previous post) and an ultra wide Sigma 12-24mm full frame lens.  For both I ended up paying about 25% less than what I thought their true used market value was, so a great deal all round.

Nikon 105mm f1.8 Ai-S

Though I've had this lens for a while now, I haven't really used it much as I got I just before I sold the D700.  It doesn't really suit the D90 I have now due to lack of manual focus lens metering, but I decided to do a test anyway, and adjust exposure off the screen.  Like most fast aperture portrait lenses, it lacks a bit of contrast and sharpness wide open, but by f2.8 it is pin sharp.  This is a very similar proposition to the Nikkor 85mm f1.4 Ai-S I also have, and common for fast portrait primes.  Like the 85mm f1.4 it shares  the beautiful bokeh in the out of focus areas at wide open aperture.

In fact it is the lovely wide open bokeh that makes purchasing lenses such as this worthwhile.   They're really not that sharp until f2.8 or f4, and the longer minimal focal distance rules out any semi-macro usage.  A similar focal length macro will ultimately be sharper, but the photos won't be as creamy.