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Photography Question 

Simon A. Velu
 

Good or bad purchase?


Can any answer this please: I just bought a Nikkor 200 mm f4 MANUAL focus lens by accident thinking it was an AF. Is this lens any good? Is it a micro Nikkor? Is manual focus a pain to work with using the D50? Thanks


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December 07, 2007

 

Mark Feldstein
  Greetings Simon. I've used one of these for many years and find it to be a very good lens. It's not a micro, it's not spectacular and doesn't offer any exciting features other than a built-in lens hood, but it's a real workhorse, built like a hockey puck, with very good multi coatings and solidly built. BTW, the multi-coated version is significantly sharper than its uncoated predecessor.

Is manual focus a pain to work with? LOL ! That depends on a lot of things particularly your point of view, I think. I can't speak particularly to the D50, but from my experience as a longtime photojournalist, I still shoot with Nikon F-2A's and Leica M-6s. Even under the worst lighting conditions, I prefer fixed focal length Nikkor and Leitz, Zeiss lenses on manual focus bodies. I think the answer also depends on what you're shooting and whether or not the camera itself feels as though it's an extension of your hands and eyes. To me, what I shoot with is exactly that kind of extension. I've been using them for so long that they're just second nature to me.

IMHO, I think older is better made, sturdier, more reliable, far less electronics to go awry, faster to use for my own skill levels, and the optics and coatings seem better than a lot of new stuff available these days. Aside from those points. . .well, you get the drift I'm sure.
Take it light Simon ;>)
Mark


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December 07, 2007

 

Samuel Smith
  so new or hip ain'em better.ya talkin capture?no blamin the lens or the flash?
ah well,simon?why did you purchase the d50?me thinkin ya didn't outlive your last camera.opinion,not judgement.


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December 07, 2007

 

Bob Cammarata
  An older Nikkor in good shape at a good price is never a "bad purchase" but it must fulfill your intended needs (or wants) to be considered a keeper.

Take it out for test drive and shoot with it for a while with the D50 to see if you are comfortable focusing manually. Examine the results and if you are un-happy with what you get, sell it and get something else which will more practically satisfy your intentions.


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December 09, 2007

 

John H. Siskin
  Hi Simon,
As a guy who has used Nikon for some thing like thirty years I can say it isn’t a bad lens. But I hate to tell you this it will be very difficult to focus. When the camera manufactures, not just Nikon, started selling zooms with apertures around f3.5 as the normal lens for the camera they had a problem. These lenses were much too dark to use indoors. Not for the camera to focus light with, but for the user to frame with. Mark did you like this f4 lens indoors? My 80-200 f4.5 was difficult to use indoors. The camera manufacturers responded in two ways: first auto focus. This meant that the photographer didn’t need to focus. The second thing they did concerns us here. They installed much brighter focusing screens. Mark did you ever try using one of the G screens for the viewfinder on your f2? These are very bright but you can’t focus except on the central spot. Current viewfinders are very bright, but almost as hard to focus on as a G screen. This is called an aerial image, if memory serves. While with practice I am able to focus manually it is much more difficult to do so on my digital camera then it was on my manual focus film camera.
Thanks, John Siskin


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December 12, 2007

 
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