On a 1 - 5 scale it's a 10. I'm sure the 135dc is as good.
Review: Nikkor 135mm F2.0D DC AF Lens on D800
(50 posts) (22 voices)-
Posted 10 months ago #
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Anybody try it on a D600? I have both the D600 and the D800 and I'd like to get this lens for the bokeh and "lighter" weight. I have a 70-200/f2.8 VRII but I'd like the freedom to hand hold something lighter. I also own a manual focus 105mm/f2.5 AI-s that I've used for the last 30 years, but I want something a little longer for head shots. Any thoughts out there? Is it really worth the money? Is it going to be replaced with a VR model a month after I buy it?? Yes, I do realize that they just don't build 'em like they used to, so any replacement will likely be a "gelded" version with nano-coated elements, plastic housing, and cost $500 more.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Hi.
I've mentioned this before but it is still a good, if not great, tip.
A thread was started about two years ago on the Fred Miranda forums about using manual focus Nikon glass - "This thread is devoted to those photographers shooting with Nikon digital and film cameras who mount manual focus Nikon lenses, specifically those lenses with either Nikkor or Series E Nikon labels."
It seems to have been very successful, with lots of images and tech data posted, and over 2,200 pages in the thread ... phew, there's a heap of stuff to scroll through.
Starts at:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/929565
May be of interest.
Michael
Posted 7 months ago # -
NikonMick: Many really great images in that thread! Always love to see how impressed I can be with images taken by "outdated" equipment. It is humbling.
Posted 7 months ago # -
I just acquired the 135mm F2 DC lens (early Xmas gift from wife), which after hearing all the praise and great reviews, it has been high on my "wish" list. Unfortunately, I am (after only 2 days) a little disappointed with the sharpness. Also, the bokeh, it seems when I dial the "defocus" everything gets a blur. I took a couple images with that lens and my 70-300 zoom and the zoom did a better job, particularly with sharpness. Well, I could be doing something wrong (although I don't know what) or is it possible I got a bad unit.
I will post an image on PAD soon and ask for advice from you more knowledgeable Nikon folks. I will request constructive advice when I post, so let me have it!
I am using it on the D90Posted 6 months ago # -
Posted 6 months ago #
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vinopaul22 said:
I just acquired the 135mm F2 DC lens (early Xmas gift from wife), which after hearing all the praise and great reviews, it has been high on my "wish" list. Unfortunately, I am (after only 2 days) a little disappointed with the sharpness. Also, the bokeh, it seems when I dial the "defocus" everything gets a blur. I took a couple images with that lens and my 70-300 zoom and the zoom did a better job, particularly with sharpness. Well, I could be doing something wrong (although I don't know what) or is it possible I got a bad unit.
I will post an image on PAD soon and ask for advice from you more knowledgeable Nikon folks. I will request constructive advice when I post, so let me have it!
I am using it on the D90Hello. I also have the D90 as well as the D800. Just a couple things come to mind, if this is redundant to your knowledge level or use, please forgive, not meant to be preachy or talking down to a fellow Nikon user. And others will have more precise technical differences, so let me just get this down here to start.
Thoughts:
- The 135mm will behave as a 200mm as you know on our D90 DX sensor. As such, all the already-narrow Depth of Field measurements are even shallower, so the margin of error is even more extreme.
- at F2, any focus issues of the DX camera will be magnified
- Just double checking the lens usage -- after setting Aperture to F2, you are adjusting the front Defocus ring to F2, then hitting AutoFocus to reset the lens to the target object. I miss this step when I am rushed, it is easy to forget to refocus.
- the lens is at its best for sharpness in all the usual ways -- remote shutter, tripod, mirror up.The 70-300 is VR and more forgiving hand held because of the smaller apertures. So are you seeing the 135mm to be less sharp at 5.6 vs the 70-300, handheld at shutters 1/250 and faster? How about tripos?
again just posting ideas and thoughts to double check what I would look at prior to having the lens examined (or the camera). Hope this helps the assessment. Your wife is generous. This is a very nice gift! Lets see what we can do to make it be what you hoped it would be. Best, red
Posted 6 months ago # -
I use the 135mm f/2, with defocus on my d90 and it is as sharp as any lens I have. It may not be as quick to focus and follow focus may also not be its forte, but the lens is phenomenal in my opinion. I never use the defocus control as iI rarely think about it. Maybe someday I will try it.
Posted 6 months ago # -
I appreciate all comments even critical ones, as long as they are constructive. Thanks for the above comments. I am starting to believe the lens is "front" focusing. While testing I took a shot through a window and it was spot on sharp. However, most shots are just a bit off focus. I don't know how to adjust the lens for that except to try and focus at a point just slightly behind the real subject. I tried to set the "defocus" to R-2 and that doesn't help. Seeing I spent my entire photo budget for the next year, I expect better results.
Posted 6 months ago # -
The AF can be adjusted front to back on the D90, i had to do it with mine when i got my 35 1.8 and 50 1.4, as the problem wasn't apparent with my other lenses at the time, but obviously this only works if the problem is the camera not the lens
Posted 6 months ago # -
Unfortunately the D90 does not have an AF Fine Tune. But, one can find out where the lens is focusing, then when shooting it will become a natural to find a point which brings the ideal focal point into good focus. For example, if the camera front focuses by about an inch at ten feet, that is you focus on an object at exactly ten feet and the real focus is at 9 feet 11 inches....then by a finding a point in your subject, such as a point about one inch behind the eye, to focus on, you should hit the focus exactly.
Make certain nothing is loose on your D90. If any thing is loose it could be creating a problem which did not show up on slower lenses.
Try the lens on another body and see if it front focuses on all bodies. If so, it may need to be adjusted by Nikon.
Posted 6 months ago # -
redirector said:
- The 135mm will behave as a 200mm as you know on our D90 DX sensor. As such, all the already-narrow Depth of Field measurements are even shallower, so the margin of error is even more extreme.
- at F2, any focus issues of the DX camera will be magnifiedUnfortunately that isn't true. In fact, its the exact opposite. With a crop sensor the DOF is inherently deeper.
Posted 6 months ago # -
SquamishPhoto said:
Unfortunately that isn't true. In fact, its the exact opposite. With a crop sensor the DOF is inherently deeper.Actually that is not true either :)
We are talking about using a 135 mm lens on a DX or FX body and the DOF will be the same on both cameras. The DX image is the same as using FX and cropping the image a little - and cropping does not change the DOF.
But if you take a DX camera with a 135 mm lens on and at the same distance to a subject you also place an FX camera and you would like to get the same field of view on both cameras you need to use a 200 mm lens on the FX camera. At the same f-stop the lens with the shorter focal length will have a larger DOF so in this case the 135 mm. I assume this is what you were referring to.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Thats a much clearer way of looking at it. :]
Posted 6 months ago # -
I'm leaning on sending it back (I have 2 weeks to decide), but not sure if I should try another unit, maybe the 105, or just look into something else. More testing tomorrow using the "ruler" trick and focusing as msmoto suggests, but even if I get the sharpness the bokek is a little disappointing.
Posted 6 months ago # -
vinopaul22: "bokeh a little disappointing" - yes, I recently acquired that lens, used it only a few times and I agree. You expect fantastic bokeh all the time and it just isn't there in many shots. I think this is due to the background which makes up the bokeh in the first place rather than due to the lens "bokeh" ability. If you have a dull darker background with dull colors you won't get "warm" bokeh. If you have have a background near the subject you won't get "creamy" bokeh. By the time I received my 135 DC lens fall had passed so creamy green and yellow/red backgrounds are now gone as winter brown is here. I don't think the sharp lines created by bare branches will make the good "creamy" bokeh I like. Maybe when the grass turns brown, it will work as a tan background? Now the grass is sort of a brown/green. I think I have to have the colors I like, the shapes I like and brightness I like in the background before this lens can "melt" them into the creamy bokeh I seek.
Since you have a DX D90 maybe a 105 DC lens will work better for portraits (it would be a 152.5 equivalent in FX). Or maybe an old 60mm macro f2.8 or a new 105 macro f2.8? Or an 85mm f1.8 D or G? They all should be able to produce good enough bokeh under the right circumstances. I don't know what other lenses you have but that 135 DC on a DX body is quite a specialized lens. You may be better off replacing it with something more versatile. Or even replacing your D90 with a D7000 or the soon to be released D7200.
Posted 6 months ago # -
msmoto said:
Unfortunately the D90 does not have an AF Fine Tune. But, one can find out where the lens is focusing, then when shooting it will become a natural to find a point which brings the ideal focal point into good focus. For example, if the camera front focuses by about an inch at ten feet, that is you focus on an object at exactly ten feet and the real focus is at 9 feet 11 inches....then by a finding a point in your subject, such as a point about one inch behind the eye, to focus on, you should hit the focus exactly.Make certain nothing is loose on your D90. If any thing is loose it could be creating a problem which did not show up on slower lenses.
Try the lens on another body and see if it front focuses on all bodies. If so, it may need to be adjusted by Nikon.
Actually you can af fine tune on the D90, its done in the mirror box with a 2mm allen key, but this only works if the cameras focussing is off,
I had this problem with mine after a fall
Posted 6 months ago # -
@ mk2pop
OK,on my D90 I have looked at the small 2mm Allen screw on the right side of the mirror box, seen after one raises the mirror. I suspect this is a cam device and when rotated it changes the position of the mirror angle.
This appears to be the kind of adjustment which might best be done by a qualified camera technician with the proper optical measuring equipment as once moved there is no way to bring it back to precisely where it was previously unless the camera is on an optical bench.
But, I have learned something. Do all the Nikon DSLR's have this screw? This would also alter the image in the viewfinder from the final image recorded.
Posted 6 months ago # -
this thread is titled Nikkor "135mm F2.0D DC AF Lens on D800"
may be it needs to be "DX vs FX and how to adjust the focus on a D90"
new threads no longer get closed, without good reason, so is it possible to start a new thread
as no one searching for "how to adjust the focus on a D90" is going to find this
Posted 6 months ago # -
Correlli said:
Actually that is not true either :)We are talking about using a 135 mm lens on a DX or FX body and the DOF will be the same on both cameras. The DX image is the same as using FX and cropping the image a little - and cropping does not change the DOF.
But if you take a DX camera with a 135 mm lens on and at the same distance to a subject you also place an FX camera and you would like to get the same field of view on both cameras you need to use a 200 mm lens on the FX camera. At the same f-stop the lens with the shorter focal length will have a larger DOF so in this case the 135 mm. I assume this is what you were referring to.Correlli is correct. FX or DX formats by themselves Don't make a difference as far as DoF. DoF is only affected by FL, aperture, and separation between subject and camera.
Another way of looking at the FX vs DX DoF is if you want to get the same framing (i.e FoV) with the same 135mm lens on both FX and DX cameras then you'll have to move the FX camera closer to the subject and/or the DX one farther away. This will also create the effect of a greater DoF on DX and a more shallow DoF on FX.
Posted 6 months ago # -
And now it is going to DX/FX DOF. Actually, the idea of a particular lens on a particular body just might require a lot of extraneous discussion to come to a conclusion. And to attempt to explain the aberrant results of using what by most accounts is one of Nikon's finest lenses.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Bottom line: The 135 f2 AFd DC is one of the best of the best lenses Nikon ever made.
Without a professional eval to determine where the fault is, camera, lens or human, nothing said here has much meaning. I would certainly not fiddle with screws inside the camera.
framer
Posted 6 months ago # -
Anyone interested, I am exchanging the 135 for the 105 f2 dc, which may shed light on whether it was a somewhat defective unit, or operator error.
An interesting story; I bought the 70-300 VR zoom last March and wasn't too thrilled with that either ($580), but during a trip to Ca. in June, I tripped on a sidewalk and fell with my D90 and 70-300 around my neck. The lens bounced off the sidewalk (me too), but appeared to work right after. However, after some use I realized it wasn't auto-focusing all the time and manual focus wouldn't work at all. I sent it to Nikon for repair and they did that under the warranty (the filter adsorbed all cosmetic damaged, which I removed before sending it in). After getting it back the lens works better than before and now I love that lens.
Moral of story; It is possible that some units do not come from the factory perfect all the time and maybe this is an example.
I'm sure hoping the 105 (which I think may be better for my needs on a DX camera) will be all I've read and it isn't operator error.Posted 6 months ago # -
I bought my 135mm f/2 DC used. Love it, love it, love it. Honestly, I don't use the DC feature at all. Just love shooting this lens wide open for portraits and (mostly) for the "talking heads" portion of our videos.
In this video, the part where the various women are on camera, fairly tight cropping on their heads, and talking to someone off-camera, you can see why I like to isolate them from the background with this lens. This was with the D7000.
(I don't know how to embed the video here.)
Posted 6 months ago # -
@ Tom Gresham Right click and copy "Video URL" Then paste in you post....
Posted 6 months ago #
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