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Anybody know anything about this Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 ai-s


Guest Ebrahim Saadawi
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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/36949-USA/Nikon_1429_Wide_Angle_35mm_f_1_4.html

I am tempted to pick one up for the wider look and lowlight ability vs my 50/85mm 1.8 lenses to use on my Canons/Nikons, but also because it's new, not used and is selling in a local store for 300$ vs 1100$ on B&H (due to no demand on manual glass in the country). 

What do you think? Worth picking up as a 35mm or rubbish old glass sold new?

ai3514_1.jpg

 

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

Seller just called me saying take it for 1500 Egyptian Pounds (= 190$ vs 1100$ on B&H!!). It's a manual lens so been on the shelf unboxed for five full years, luckily for me.

Too zoomy?

Hahahaha not too zoomy no :d

The sigma is 1.8 and I am just buying this only for the 1.4 advantage in lowlight and bokeh, plus price is clearly not a rival now. 

Bror: Your favourite lens? wow

Definitely getting this now.

I love finding glass bargains in the third-world, nobody understands what they are!. Thanks guys EOSHD members are the best!

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Bjorn Rorstlett is the go-to guy for old Nikkors. The 35 1.4 is on this page: http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html. His website is a mess but links to his lens reviews can be found at the bottom of this page: http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html#rating

http://www.verwoerd.info/nikon/short.html is also a good site for old Nikkor appraisals.

I've bought a lot of AI Nikkors and found these two sites to be the most reliable and accurate (though not always).

I lusted after the 35mm 1.4 AIS for a long time but after much research decided it wasn't worth the high price tag due to being softish wide open. $300 is a good price though and those AI lenses are worth owning for video for the focus ring alone (and aperture ring and lovely coatings). I bought the Nikkor AF-D f/2.0 instead but that one has serious CA problems wide open. I sold it when I bought the Sigma 18-35. If you want a fast, reasonably priced 35mm prime to use wide open and don't need full frame, your best option is the current 35mm f/1.8 DX. It's as sharp as the Sigma 18-35 wide open. Focus ring is a bit rubbish but useable. Also there's the Sigma 30mm 1.4 Art, but again not great wide open. Appealing if you'd like something just a bit wider though ...

Seller just called me saying take it for 1500 Egyptian Pounds (= 190$ vs 1100$ on B&H!!). It's a manual lens so been on the shelf unboxed for five full years, luckily for me.

Holy sh*t that's an amazing price. If you don't like it you'll be able to sell it for twice that on ebay I'm sure.

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

Welcome back Matt! Great to have you here

I lusted after the 35mm 1.4 AIS for a long time 

Holy sh*t that's an amazing price. If you don't like it you'll be able to sell it for twice that on ebay I'm sure.

Since you were lusting for it if I find it's not for me in the first couple of days I can give it to you for the same 190-200$-ish price + shipping wherever you are.

Thanks for the links, very messy site but an info mine

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Seller just called me saying take it for 1500 Egyptian Pounds (= 190$ vs 1100$ on B&H!!). It's a manual lens so been on the shelf unboxed for five full years, luckily for me.

Hahahaha not too zoomy no :d

The sigma is 1.8 and I am just buying this only for the 1.4 advantage in lowlight and bokeh, plus price is clearly not a rival now. 

Bror: Your favourite lens? wow

Definitely getting this now.

I love finding glass bargains in the third-world, nobody understands what they are!. Thanks guys EOSHD members are the best!

Well, that does sound like a steal and worth a try. I have the Ai-s 28mm f/2.8 and 35-70mm f/3.5 zoom which are for sure worthwhile.

tumblr_inline_nkr2deGkfM1rj3z3j.jpg tumblr_inline_nqz9dnMa8j1rj3z3j_400.jpg

Nikkors in general are pretty fun, so for the price you're probably going to get your money's worth and then some! Enjoy!

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Welcome back Matt! Great to have you here

Since you were lusting for it if I find it's not for me in the first couple of days I can give it to you for the same 190-200$-ish price + shipping wherever you are.
Thanks for the links, very messy site but an info mine

Thanks Ebrahim :) very generous of you. It's one of those bits of gear that if I was shooting just for myself it would be on the camera all the time, but for pro work it's less useful. Particularly as I rely on zooms mostly now. As much as I'd love to own it I need to put every spare penny into my "30 items I need that all cost around $200" piggy bank (the latest of which is a BM Video Assist to make V-Log a viable option for work).

Having said that, I remember a thread on DVXuser where Brian Caldwell (designer of Metabones' Speed Boosters) was talking to someone about issues with their Nikkor 35mm f/2.0 AI-s with a speed booster. As I recall Caldwell actually went out and bought a few copies of the 35 2.0 to test. His conclusion was that it's just an awful lens and this was soon confirmed by several other people. Apparently it's pretty much the worst lens (technically speaking) of Nikon's whole AI era - including a lot of their consumer-oriented "E-series" lenses. Though I have seen a few people get nice 'characterful' results with it (including Ed David with his NX1). Regardless, the 35mm f/1.4 is said to be the best 35mm of that era (sharpness etc) once it's stopped down a bit, so if nothing else you have a great, reasonably fast (f2 I'd guess is where it gets really good?) "normal" prime. It'll be interesting to hear how you like it. 

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off-topic, but to save the reputation of the "worst lens of Nikon´s whole AI era":) (last post about the 35mm ai-s f2)
2 flickr sites

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=35mm f2 ais

https://www.flickr.com/search/?tags=ais35mm12

It´s a nice lens! 
 

Absolutely. Don't get me wrong - I was just reporting the DVX conversation. I have no hands on experience of either and as I say I've seen some nice stuff from the f/2.0 myself. I think the problem arises from the fact that so many of those AI lenses were (and still are) really excellent!

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Had the 35mm/1.4 in the past and sold it because it's extremely soft and low-contrast (=nearly unusable) wide open. The Sigma 18-35/1.8, Sigma 30mm/1.4 and Samyang 35mm/1.4 are clearly better IMHO. On the other hand, $190 is a steal. If you don't like it, you could sell it again for more.

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