My new 20-year old Nikon lens, and tech help pls

[reznap]

Have a Nikkor/Nikon 135mm f/2.8 prime which belonged to my father's film SLR collection. Used a $20 fotodiox lens adapter to mount it to my camera and thought I'd try it out. The sample pics are boring so no C&C is needed (they were more for testing purposes). Gotta say it's a fun lens though, super shallow DOF is possible but the manual focusing is pretty though.

On a side note (stupid question) - should I be getting a focus confirmation beep on this lens? I'm not and I didn't expect to but I want someone's affirmation on that.

Here's what the setup looks like:

I wish 1:2.8 was visible..

Here's the 4 sample shots. Kinda pleased with the sharpness and fringing and CA don't seem to be present at all.

1

2

3

4

 

[Derrel]

One small tip is to focus briskly from far toward near, and moving the focusing ring quickly and decisively until it "looks good", then STOP! You might need to make a very small reversal of direction, a little tiny "hitch", and then you will be quite close to the optimal focusing point. The human eye is good at spotting differences, and the focusing throw changes most rapidly as the lens is focusing inward, from Infinity and toward closer ranges. When the lens is focusing from its closest focusing distance outward, toward Infinity, the change in focusing is slower, and more-gradual, and the human eye is LESS-good at detecting the difference. So, the most accurate and repeatable focusing with manual focus Nikkor lenses is always from Infinity and rapidly twisting closer....when it looks good, you stop! Practicing is how you learn what actually "looks good".

I learned this trick many years ago from a column written by Herbert Keppler, in which he detailed why this is so. All I can say is, he was right. With some practice, this method works very well, and works much better than see-sawing back and forth, back and forth. I'm not all that "up on" the T2i's AF confirmation system, but the lens's max aperture of f/2.8 would seem to be fast enough to allow most camera's that use a phase detection system with an AF-confirmation system to give you a focus confirmation notification. I happen to own that same 135/2.8 in AiS and am familiar with the lens.

 

[Dallmeyer]

Looks a decent shooter. Was #3 shot at F2.8? Nice bokeh in that. Good color too (#1). I'd hang on to that lens for a while!

 

[reznap]

I don't remember what I shot them at... and it's obviously not in my exif so that info is gone forever, haha. Probably 2.8 though, I have a habit of keeping my lenses wide open when just playing around.

I'll try that method of focusing Derrel, thanks! I wonder if I can swap a split prism into my viewfinder.. probably can - seems at least someone out there makes something for everything.

 

[Derrel]

Yup, here's a web page showing exactly how to remove and re-install an auxilliary viewfinder screen in a Canon T2i

Canon EOS 550D / 500D Focusing screen installation

and here KatzEye™ Optics - Custom Focusing Screens

is the URL for the very well-regarded KatzEye Optics focusing screen company.