One of the most sharp (and famous) lens ever made, isimply love it, the focussing throw is incredibly precise, the lens is well built and balanced, amazing bokeh and IQ,, just the right weight and size. A wonderful lense for portraits and not only. A "must have" lens. P.S i personally think that the qualities and prerogatives of this lens can be spplied to the Nikon 135mm 3.5 (with the slower speed of course), 2 wonderful lenses that can be purchased used for very cheap.

Manual focus? If you want to consider that a weakness...

One of the most sharp (and famous) lens ever made, isimply love it, the focussing throw is incredibly precise, the lens is well built and balanced, amazing bokeh and IQ,, just the right weight and size. A wonderful lense for portraits and not only. A "must have" lens. P.S i personally think that the qualities and prerogatives of this lens can be spplied to the Nikon 135mm 3.5 (with the slower speed of course), 2 wonderful lenses that can be purchased used for very cheap.

Manual focus? If you want to consider that a weakness...

Sharpest lens made for 135 format; incredible resolving power. Heavier than a normal lens, but balances well on body. Terrific coatings and color rendition, closer focusing than average. Newer f/1.8 update supposedly as good or better, but info is subjective to reviewer. Readily available in great condition at reasonable cost, really useful even as a prime lens.

Slowish at f/2.5 maximum, but not dim.

Ligero, compacto funciona genial en todos los diafragmas, es muy fuerte, muy interesante en paisaje y retrato

que es manual, y requiere mayor atención con la cámara

He utilizado este objetivo y tiene una resolución bestial, tanto de cerca como de lejos paisaje, es muy fuerte incluso a F/16. según dicen es el único objetivo que funciona igual de bien en todos los diafragmas, no tiene picos como otros objetivos Nikon que su punto más dulce de resolución suele ser entre diafragma 4 y 8, éste va bien en todos

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 85 f1.8 Sigma 85 f1.4

Performance, optically and mechanically. Price (2014). Can be easily adapted for use on other brand DSLR's.

Manual focus

I was shooting with a Nikon F3 when I bought my lens and it produced flawless images on film. Now I shoot with full frame Nikon DSLR's, and the lens performance is even better. My only complaint is I wish my DSLR had a split image focusing screen. It's a little soft in the corners at f2.5-4 which is perfect for portraits and once the lens is stopped down to f5.6-8 it is crisp corner to corner. My lens is very flair resistant. There are several versions of the 105/2.5 out there, the latest AIS version is the best, having improved optics and a built in lens shade. It also has a larger rear element than the AI and earlier versions, which seems to make a difference with full frame sensors. On DSLR's with aps-c or DX sensors your using the "sweet spot" all the time and it's difficult to get a bad image. The lens is small, compact and well built.
If your shopping for a 105mm this is a wonderful lens, but don't forget about the 105mm f1.8 AIS which is often overlooked, IMO it's even better.

Customer Service

Never needed any repairs.

Similar Products Used:

100-105mm lenses from Pentax, Minolta, Miranda.

Great optical performance, a perfect blend of colour rendition, smoothness and sharpness.
Tough build and mechanics, super smooth operation.
Very inexpensive in today's digital era.

Best when fit on a proper camera body, which means a Nikon film camera or a pro level Nikon DSLR (due to need of aperture ring coupling) with adequate focousing screen.

I own an AI-S sample since 1996 and use it on Nikon FM-2n and F3.
Despite it's small and inexpensive, I believe this is one of the very best lenses ever. Image quality is extremely high, not just in terms of 'sharpness', but also in terms of a very fine balance between colour rendition, smoothness, out-of-focus transition.
Perfect for portraits expecially at f/2.5 or f/2.8, turns into an impressive landscape lens when stopped down to f/4.
Build quality is probably the best one can dream of: despite a very heavy optical group, the lens is perfectly solid and everything runs and turns positively and smooth.
In my view, this lens is worth owning a 'proper' camera body (a Nikon film camera, or a Nikon pro digital with full meter coupling for AI-S lenses and a viewfinder fit for manual focousing) just to use it the way it should be.

Customer Service

No need for that.

Similar Products Used:

Olympus Zuiko 135/3.5, Leica Elmarit-M 90/2.8.

smooth bokeh, good contrast even wide open, sharp even wide open, light and compact, exceptional build quality,

would be better on full frames and inconsistent exposure with my 7D (don't know about other canons). except for those none really

i normally don't write reviews but i thought it might help some people out there. I shoot canon and have the nikkor 50 1.2 and 105 f2.5 mounted on my 7D with adapters. A word of warning: these lenses are easier to shoot with on nikon bodies (obviously) as they meter properly on pro bodies and high end entry DSLRs like d300s, d7000 etc. Exposure on my canon is at times inconsistent no matter what mode (aperture or manual) i am shooting in.
I borrowed my friend's d700 and shot the whole day today with the combo. Here's what I noticed: sharp even wide open (some people complain about sharpness with most lenses wide open but believe me if you can focus spot on you can get reasonably good results even with the nikkor 50 1.2 @1.2); very high contrast wide open (the high dynamic range of a full frame certainly adds to it); very light and compact: the 105 2.8 macro would extend quite a bit more.
I bought the lens for $400 and except for 1-2 tiny scuffs you wouldn't even tell it's second hand so i'm very happy with that.
Another thing i liked about it is the focusing throw: it is just perfect - not too long, not too short. I imagine on a 2.8 macro it would be much longer and that cost me some shots with my zeiss 50 f2 makro-planar: perfect for fine tuning but a disaster when you need to focus quickly from one end to another.
Also, i find focusing easy because i use katzeye focusing screen (on 7D) which really makes a HUGE difference and with the d700 i was spot on 90% of the time (great viewfinder) but it will be harder on cropped bodies with inferior viewfinders.
Bear in mind with canon bodies you'll have to use stop down metering which may be an issue if you like to shoot at narrower apertures as there will be less light available for you to see properly through the viewfinder.
Overall, a truly great lens BUT to fully enjoy it use on a full frame. If you're a canon user and use a cropped sensor like i do atm, you may find metering to be inconsistent. That may be a deal breaker for some - i'm switching to nikon anyway so i can bear with it for the time being.

Customer Service

none

Great bokeh. Wonderful focal length on D300. Sharp. Compact with built in shade.

Auto focus can be a problem at times things are moving fast.

A very nice lens for people and for shooting flower and garden pics. Colors are good and the bokeh is really nice. No problem shooting wide open. Probably the best Ais lens that I have used.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

105 mm F2 DC
180mm F2.8 AFD
135mm F2.8 AFD
200mm F4 Ais
85mm F1.8 Ais

Light wieght , easy to focus,best bokeh,tac sharpe,built like a tank,built-in lens hood.

None at all I can think of
Also,,another post here says he has a lens similar to this being a 100mm nikon 2.8 E Lens.
Let me tell you,,,,this is so far above the E class of Nikon Lenses that it shouldn't have been mentioned.
This is a NIKKOR LENS not cheap Nikon E lens. Only Nikkor is on Nikons BEST Lenses.

This lens came in about 4 versions from pre-AI to AIS . The very earliest versions had a diferent set of elements and groups. The real great lenses came around the late sixties and early 70s but they didn't all perform the same as the coatings were being improved over the years. That was about the only thing that was changed but it was a big one reducing ghosting and flare. To get the really best one with all the latest refinements you should get the one with no numbers or markings on the lens and the large rear glass and only buy the AIS version and you will indeed have a Real Nikon Treasure and absolutely Stunning pictures of the ultimate quality.
PS,,,,I heard but cannot confirm that this latest version had the N.I.C.,coating on the front glass with a pinkish tint to it.

Customer Service

never needed yet !

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 85mm 1.8 AIS , ED 135mm AIS 2 DC , ED 180mm AIS 2.8

Excellent color.
Sharp as can be imo.
Sweet bokeh.

The weight.

I have used this lens for a few large panoramas, and it performs really nice. Extremely nice color and great sharpness.
I've also used it for a few outdoor portraits - extremely nice bokeh and sharpness.
I was really lucky to get it at the price I did, but I would even have paid 2-3 times that.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon Nikkor 100mm f/2.8