sharp,
aperture range,
great for portraits and general photography,
bokeh

None that I know of.

Great Lens. Not only is does this lens take razor sharp picture with ery nice bokeh, it is extremely bautiful and well made. The focusing ring is silky smooth, the glass is coated, it is hefty but not heavy, all metal, and the range of aperture f2.5 - f32 is a photographers dream.

At first I thought it was a Macro lens, because of the f32 minimum aperture but apparently it isn't . With a couple of tubes however, you should be able to get pretty good magnification and working distance with this lens. I swithched to digital and AF years ago , but lenses like these is what keeps me coming back to film.

- nice bokeh.

- the price

- solid portrait lens

- solid construction

- goes great with the 50mm f1.8 since both accept the same 52mm filters.

NO AUTO FOCUS. this may be a deal killer for some esp. older shooters. But if your eyes are still fairly good and you dont mind shooting an extra frame or two to CYA for focus, then its a fair exchange for the price.

It has a moderate weight. I dont understand people sayings its light and short. its not but its not a hulking beast either. With the hood it almost doubles in length.

[I own the older version, the one without the built-in hood. I use it with D90, D70 + 35mm N8008]

Very good lens!

However, I'm not sure why everyone is raving about this lens other than its a solid telephoto portrait lens and great find for the price-- one person claiming its a "silver bullet", is crazy. Another other person claiming they spent $2000 for this lens is beyond belief as well.

As of 2009, this is a great used lens to find. I wouldnt pay over $375 for a mint one, and i wouldnt pay more than $250 for a used one. I bought mine heavily used (bargin) through Keh.com for around $180 and was very pleased. The metal showed the wear of a 20-30 year old lens, but the glass was near perfect.

It has a nice shallow depth of field however since theres no autofocus of VR it will usually produce more soft images.

I find its sharper around the f5-f11, wide open produces more buttery soft images.

Customer Service

never had to deal with.

Similar Products Used:

similar Nikkor telephotos of the same length.

Sharp
Fast
Built in Hood
Low Profile

Manual Focus, while not really a weaknesses, in quick situations a person not used to manual focus may have problems using it.

Limited to Manual or Aperture Priority mode only, which for myself isn't a problem as those are the two I use the most.

I recived this lens, along with two others when I was given a Nikon F3, and much to my joy I found out that I could actually use these with my D300. I quickly put this lens into use both on my F3 and D300. It proved amazing to work with on the D300.

It's low profile and the 1.5x mag factor made it perfect for candid street photography. In the field of photo journalism this thing is a classic lens, like street photography I was able to get nice candid shots of the event participants without needing flash (f/4 ISO-1600), and maintain a distance so that they wouldn't 'pose.'

On the F3, it provides a great portrait lens, and use in photo journalistic shooting also, but the 1.5x factor is missed, I guess at this point I'm used to it.

Similar Products Used:

A wide range of Nikkor Auto Focus Lenses and older Pentax and Minolta Manual Focus lenses.

f stop weight sharpness

Not found yet

This is a beautiful lens, crisp, sharp, not to big to handle easily, and the fast f stop makes it possible to make pictures almost during any wheter. I never use a flash and that is possible with f2.5. For the price this is a great little lens. Ideal for portets.

Customer Service

never had to use it

Similar Products Used:

nikon serie E 100mm

Fairly fast speed Incredible sharpness Amazing color reproduction

NONE

I purchased this lense after shooting some portraits with the same lense at a friend's house. The images I recieve from this lense are superbly sharp and the colors are fantastic. The fairly fast speed of this lense makes it very versitile for even indoor shooting.

Customer Service

none needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 135mm f2.8 Nikkor 43-86mm f3.5 Nikkor 28-50mm f3.5 Nikkor 50mm f1.4 Nikon series E 50mm f1.8 Tamaron 80-210mm f3.5-4.5

Sharp, sharp, sharp, clear and clean.

Manual.

I bought this in the 1970's and just thought I'd gotten lucky. Razor sharp images, it has minimal refractive glare and no spherical or chromatic aberration. I have blown PAN-X 35mm up to 16x20 with no visible distortions (except grain, no fault of the lens), sharp, sharp, sharp. I just wish that I had a 28mm, 50mm, and 200mm as sharp.

Customer Service

N/A

Small,lightweight,smooth focussing and pin sharp.

None

Stunning lens purchased in July 03 with black F2photomic small lightweight pin sharp what more could you ask for?

Customer Service

Never required

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF85mm f1.8,AF105mm f2.8 micro,AFD-DC105mm f2.0,AFD-DC135mm f2.0,MF 85mm f1.4,MF 135mm f2.8. Canon FD 85mm f1.8,FD135mmf3.5,FD 135mm f2.8,eos EF85mm f!.8 EF135mm f2.8 soft focus. Tamron 90mm f

Great bokeh. Small, light, smooth & easy focus. Wonderful glow to people photos, but also serves well for landscape shots. Excellent shot wide open, although f/4 to f/5.6 is outstanding also.

Buy this lens. You won't regret it.

Similar Products Used:

About 60 Nikon lenses, & 5 Leica lenses.

-abundant and cheap on the used market

-average "flat" results, at least with my sample

I bought this lens in the mid 1980's and have never used it much. I find the focal length a bit long for portrait work, and prefer 85mm instead. This lens is considered a classic, but I cannot agree. My sample produces photos that tend to be "flat" - that is average contrast and sharpness. It may be that I have a mediocre sample, but I have read several reviews that have similar comments. For portrait work there are other AIS lenses that produce better results. For example I get better results with my AIS 85mm f/2.0, which is often not that highly rated. Also, the 85mm f/1.4 AIS or AF produce very good results, but these are bulky lenses and are pricey.

Customer Service

Nikon Canada - used only a few times but service was good and prompt.

Similar Products Used:

Various Nikkor AI, AIS and AF primes.

Crisp and clear, optics are high quality.

- N O N E -

This is one of the "legendary" lenses made by Nikkor, with the quality build and glass we've come to expect. One CANNOT go wrong with this lens!

Customer Service

It's been over 20 years since my first and only Nikon service.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkors: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 135mm, 200mm, 300mm.