Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]B. D. - The 85/2 Nikkor is a nearly identical design to the 105/2.5 IIRC. I had the 85/2 in LTM for while. I liked it very much for concert shooting. Here it is wide open, in color, on a scanned Provia slide: http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/currentpics/roar.htm The in-focus image is certainly usable at 5x7 or letter size. The bokeh is double-line and kind of distracting. When the background is dark, or not very far away, the 85/2 is a great lens, decent wide open and all you need at f/2.8 and beyond. f/2: http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/musicians/bravahelen.htm (a little motion blur) http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/musicians/02David.htm http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/musicians/03RachelDavid.htm f/2.8: http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/currentpics/harpolean.htm http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/musicians/quartet.htm So why did I eventually sell my 85/2 Nikkor? I had the old chrome-on-brass mount, which was very heavy. Too heavy to carry around unless I knew for sure I'd need it. Also, after shooting it head-to-head with a 90/2 pre-asph Summicron, I found that the 'Cron is a bit better in the center at most stops, and decidedly better at the edges. And the bokeh is much smoother. Since you have the 90 'Cron, you probably wouldn't find the Nikkor any better. Then again, you can get a 105/2.5 that fits on a Nikon SLR, which you can't do with the 90 Summicron. Hope this is useful. --Peter B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> wrote: > Damn! That raises a really interesting question concerning nostalgia v. > reality. I remember the classic Nikon 105 2.5 as an absolute killer of a > portrait lens, a lens so outstanding I have been tempted over the years > to buy one of the old silver barrel ones. Does anyone know what tests of > the lens might suggest? Is it as good as I remember it - or was it just > outstanding in its day, which happened to be my late teens and 20s, a > period in which pretty much everything was outstanding. :-)