Ha thanks for making me feel bad for eating TWO donuts tai 8^) But don't worry I'll work it off by lifting my camera bag up and down a flight of stairs.

Thanks NikoDoby! I'm on a diet, so I'm only taking half of one.

Excellent! Admin, Tai, Monty, anyone else....Gentoo?

Hey you! The one who always comes in here and only reads and never posts anything, you want a donut at least?

Hehe, I ate my share!

I bought donuts for everyone! Sorry I couldn't resist and I "accidentally" ate two getting over here.

Oh yeah, the D40's viewfinder is terrible for manual focus. My D200s is significantly better, but still not nearly so nice as on my FE.

Very cool, thanks for the information guys.

Tai, the reason why I don't mount it on a DSLR is that I hate focusing it on the D40. Honestly, the viewfinder is tiny. I have used it once or twice in the past, but I love it more on the film camera. The other reason is build quality- it feels much more natural on the hefty FM2. It definitely is usable, but the pentamirror design is really crappy, in my opinion. It's also another reason why I want a metal bodied cameras throughout the range of Nikon's DSLRs.

It would be quite cool if I could get my hands on a Nikon rangefinder.

You're right NikoDoby, the 1.2 isn't the fastest ever made, but it is the fastest currently made. If you mean the 50mm f/1.1, I believe it was a rangefinder lens (I've been meaning to get my hands on a nikon rangefinder for a while).

@NSX - you say you have the lens on the FM2, any reason you don't use it on a DSLR? There was never a non-ai version of this (closest was a 55mm f/1.2 Non-AI) so it should mount fine.

Nikon made an f/1.1 back in the day. I think they also made an f/0.95 but they weren't Fmount. So you see NSXType-R your 1.2 isn't that special, but I'll still give you 20 bucks for it, anyway, just 'cause I'm a nice guy :)

Correction: There in fact was a Nikkor 35mm f0.9 lens! They also made an 85mm f1.0 macro lens! But it wasn't an Fmount :( NSXType-R if you have any of these lenses I'll give you 40 bucks for all of 'em, you know since their worthless and all.

Very cool Tai.

Is the 50mm 1.2 the fastest Nikkor lens ever made?

That would be pretty awesome then if I own one example of the fastest Nikon lens.

Wow, you know my lenses! The first 2 are easy, I have tons of shots to choose from. Though the 135 may end up being more fun as I'll have to get out and shoot extra material for that.

I think more old school manual focus lens reviews would be great. Don't see very many reviews on the old, I mean classic, stuff :)

The 50mm as well as the 35mm F2 and the 135 f2.8.

Sure!

Now that you ask, how about the 50mm 1.2? I have that lens on the FM2, I just want to see your impression of it.

Thanks! I haven't decided what lens I'm going to do next. I have a growing collection of MF lenses (and AF, too, but that grows much more slowly due to cost). Is there any type of lens you'd like to see?

Great pictures tai. Beautiful lens thanks! What's in store for your next review?

@NikoDoby, I've added more photos of the lens at the end of the review. I'm going to go back and add similar photos to previous reviews, too.

boston creme please :)

Thanks tai, don't forget to bring us all donuts too!

It's the 1977 version. The C version is the older one. I can certainly take more photos of the lens over the next few days and add them.

Is this the 1984 version of the 500 f8 or the 1977? Hard to tell from your one pic. Looks like the 70s version to me. Can you put up more photos of the lens. I'd be interested in a side view, lens mount, and maybe a pic on camera for size perspective.

Haha, that's perhaps the biggest downside (or upside?) to a reflex lens!

Tai your review suddenly gave me a craving for donuts!

If anyone's interested, I just posted my review of this old mirror lens.

http://www.taishimizu.com/index.tai?title=Reflex-Nikkor-C-500mm-f-8-Mirror-Catadioptric-Lens-Review&view=post&postid=151