Budget Manual Focus Nikon Lens?

[gryffinwings]

So, I'm in need of some prime lenses, and as usual there are a ton of older lenses on eBay, all the more popular lenses are commanding a premium, even the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-S is starting at 60 USD or more, so can anyone recommend some lens that are more budget oriented that are decent and not horrible. Lens will definitely be used on a Nikon EM and potentially a Nikon FM that I'm looking at tomorrow to see if it's one I can get working.

Thanks for any help?

For starters, the only manual focus Nikon Lens I have is the Nikon Series E 50mm f1.8 on my Nikon EM.

 

[ac12]

First, you need to define what you mean by budget, cuz to me $60 is not a bad price.
Then what primes or range of primes are you looking for?

If you are willing to go with slower lenses, they are usually cheaper.

Example 28/2.8 rather than the 28/2, 135/3.5 rather than the 135/2.8.​

If you need AI for your camera, get the plain AI, not AI-S.

 

[gryffinwings]

First, you need to define what you mean by budget, cuz to me $60 is not a bad price.
Then what primes or range of primes are you looking for?

If you are willing to go with slower lenses, they are usually cheaper.

Example 28/2.8 rather than the 28/2, 135/3.5 rather than the 135/2.8.​

If you need AI for your camera, get the plain AI, not AI-S.

Yeah, I should've mentioned that. My budget for lens is kind of low for the moment. $60 dollars is the max I want to be spending and the cost of lens has gone way up for manual focus lens, even ones that have fungus on them are in my opinion over priced. Now I've seen older Nikkon Q lens and Nikkor S lens go for cheaper, which is more my budget and I wouldn't mind going this route, but I have no idea which ones to go for, here's a short list of what I am looking at:

Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4 non-AI (Minor Fungus) - 38 USD
Nikkor Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm f3.5 (AI converted) - 59 USD
Nikkor-H 50mm f2 Non-AI - 34 USD

 

[compur]

You'll need an AI lens for the EM. You can use non-AI lenses on the FM but only with stop down metering (after flipping up the meter coupling tab on the lens mount).

Your sig says you already have a Series E 50mm so why are you shopping for another 50mm?

In any case, the 55 Micro is a very good lens.

 

[Tim Tucker 2]

Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4 non-AI (Minor Fungus) - 38 USD

A good lens for the price but I would avoid any fungus at all. The Ai versions (and latter 'K's) were improved and better plus are multi-coated. I would go for the first of the multi-coated (SC) and early K versions, you can find many of them Ai converted and cheaper than the Ai.

It's rendering is actually very nice and very usable from f2-f8. Wide open suffers as many older lenses do with flare but is still reasonable sharp in the centre, but has good OOF and a fairly nice transition:

Nikkor Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm f3.5 (AI converted) - 59 USD

A very impressive lens and one of the true gems of the Nikkor back catalogue. There are two versions of this and the one you want for general photography is the one with the *rubber* focus ring. The ones with the metal *hill and dale* rings were optimised for macro use and are noticably soft at landscape distances to infinity.

This lens offers an impressively flat field with little distortion and very good edge to edge sharpness from f5.6 to f16. Yep, f16, this lens is very usable at small f-stops and doesn't really suffer noticeable diffraction softening until f22. The bokeh is quite harsh for close objects, especially the front focus. It is my standard landscape lens:

Your series E will be very similar to the 50/2 and identical, bar coatings to the 50/1.8 Ai.

 

[ac12]

Avoid any lens with fungus.
It will get worse with time.
And it "might" be contagious and spread to your other lens.

 

[gryffinwings]

You'll need an AI lens for the EM. You can use non-AI lenses on the FM but only with stop down metering (after flipping up the meter coupling tab on the lens mount).

Your sig says you already have a Series E 50mm so why are you shopping for another 50mm?

In any case, the 55 Micro is a very good lens.

The reason I want a second 50mm is because one camera I will be shooting B&W and the other camera I will be shooting Color film so I'd like to have two 50mm lens because it's a very common focal length to have and I do not want to have to change the lens from one body from the other. Now other lens will be a different story.

Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4 non-AI (Minor Fungus) - 38 USD

A good lens for the price but I would avoid any fungus at all. The Ai versions (and latter 'K's) were improved and better plus are multi-coated. I would go for the first of the multi-coated (SC) and early K versions, you can find many of them Ai converted and cheaper than the Ai.

It's rendering is actually very nice and very usable from f2-f8. Wide open suffers as many older lenses do with flare but is still reasonable sharp in the centre, but has good OOF and a fairly nice transition:

View attachment 166594

Nikkor Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm f3.5 (AI converted) - 59 USD

A very impressive lens and one of the true gems of the Nikkor back catalogue. There are two versions of this and the one you want for general photography is the one with the *rubber* focus ring. The ones with the metal *hill and dale* rings were optimised for macro use and are noticably soft at landscape distances to infinity.

This lens offers an impressively flat field with little distortion and very good edge to edge sharpness from f5.6 to f16. Yep, f16, this lens is very usable at small f-stops and doesn't really suffer noticeable diffraction softening until f22. The bokeh is quite harsh for close objects, especially the front focus. It is my standard landscape lens:

View attachment 166596

Your series E will be very similar to the 50/2 and identical, bar coatings to the 50/1.8 Ai.

Thanks for information, can you tell me exactly what a "K" variant lens is, I'm not sure how to identify one. I'm familiar with Nikkor-Q, Nikkor-P, Nikkor-S as identifiers but not K.

Avoid any lens with fungus.
It will get worse with time.
And it "might" be contagious and spread to your other lens.

Now the question is, is it possible to have fungus removed from a lens and if so what problems if any would this cause?

 

[Designer]

Now the question is, is it possible to have fungus removed from a lens and if so what problems if any would this cause?

Yes, it's possible, but you need to find someone with experience and it will cost you. Problem; if you let someone who doesn't have the tools and experience to do this, he might not get it back together correctly.

Frankly, I'd just kill the fungus and leave it in there. Depending on how much (how thick) it is, you might either see some loss of contrast or maybe see no effect at all in the images. U.V. light will kill the fungus. (Place it in a window with full sun hitting the fungus.)

Show us the fungus.

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, do you mean the one on eBay with the spider web fungus: Nikon non Ai NIKKOR 50mm F1.4 Lens SLR Film Limited Japan last one rare | eBay

update: looks like someone bought it already

 

[Tim Tucker 2]

Thanks for information, can you tell me exactly what a "K" variant lens is, I'm not sure how to identify one. I'm familiar with Nikkor-Q, Nikkor-P, Nikkor-S as identifiers but not K.

The Q/P/S/N etc. were references to the actual lens grouping. These were updated to QC/PC/SC etc. when they were multi-coated. There was then a change in the outer design with many lenses retaining the same optical designs which were generally Designated "K", these were just before the implementation of the Ai (Aperture indexing) system. They look more like the Ai lenses but don't have the Ai indexing ring.

 

[ac12]

The lens has to be completely disassembled, sterilized to kill the fungus, then the lens elements have to be polished to grind away the fungus and etching on the glass, then the elements have to be reassembled, collimiated, then the lens put back together.
That $50 lens might require $300+ of work to clean the fungus and polish the elements.
IOW, not worth the effort or cost to remove the fungus.

Killing the fungus is iffy. Sunlight should/might work. But window glass will filter some of the UV light, so leaving it by the window may not work. Better to leave it outside in the clear sun. But you don't know if the fungus spores has migrated to other parts of the lens.
A few wisps might be OK, but if it looks like a spider-web or cotton haze, I would say it is too far gone.

You are better off getting one without fungus.

 

[bhop]

Nikon E series fits in your budget.. they're ok.. not great, but you get what you pay for.

$48 shipped
Nikon Series E 50mm F/1.8 Lens | eBay

 

[compur]

... can you tell me exactly what a "K" variant lens is, I'm not sure how to identify one. I'm familiar with Nikkor-Q, Nikkor-P, Nikkor-S as identifiers but not K.

K-series Nikkor lenses were Non-AI types made from 1974 until the introduction of AI lenses in 1977. Nikon dropped the "Q", "P", etc designations during this period. The K lenses also had a more modern appearance and look a lot like the later AI lenses (cosmetically speaking).

This is a K-type Nikkor:

It looks a lot like the later AI type but it is Non-AI.

 

[bribrius]

Good thread..

I actually have a fungus lens but so far it hasn't seemed to hurt anything (and it has been a few years). I like the look of some of these older lenses. Not as clear as the new but still nice renditions

 

[Dave Colangelo]

I have two of the Nikon 50mm lenses that I have used on my EM, FT, FE and F3 over the years. The 1.8 and 1.2 both of which were purchased for under $60. My first piece of advice is to get off eBay and look elsewhere. I found my 50mm 1.2 in an antique shop about 45 min from home for $60. Ill admit it was a pretty lucky find but they are out there and at a dusty antique store you can sometimes get away from silly overpriced issues you have on eBay. I picked up the 50mm 1.8 on an EM body at a curb side flea market 15 blocks from home for like $40. Both lenses are fungus free and have worked flawlessly since I got them. Go on an adventure, go to estate sales, go to flea markets, ask around, you may find what you are looking for more easily than expected.

Fungus can be removed at home, the older the lens the better. Generally the projects may not be for the faint of heart but if its only surface fungus its quite fixable. The issues you tend to have is when the fungus has etched the glass a bi-product of an acid the fungus creates. Some of surface coatings can also react with fungus and cause issues over time. You dont really need that many special tools, just a set of watch screwdrivers and maybe a lens opening tool.