Lens advice please: Nikon AF NIKKOR 35-105mm f/ 3.5-4.5 Lens

[Lonnie1212]

I found this older lens for sale. Would this lens be compatible on a Nikon D610? Would it have to be an AI or an Ais lens?

 

[Derrel]

This lens will work perfectly well.

The Nikon D610 will use any AF or AF - D lens quite well. In fact I would encourage you to stick with autofocus lenses rather than manual focus lenses on your camera.

 

[Lonnie1212]

This lens will work perfectly well. I should let you know the Nikon ai-s 35 to 105 was perhaps the worst Nikon zoom lens I have ever had, but that was around 1987 and the lens was bought from a friend who bought it from a friend, so I was the third owner, and who knows what the lens's life history was.

The Nikon d610 will use any AF or AF - D lens quite well. In fact I would encourage you just stick with autofocus lenses rather than manual focus lenses on your camera

I agree with you about the auto focus. It was okay to use manual with the Pentax K-1000. Maybe if I only took pictures of architecture maybe manual would be okay. But photographing grandchildren and swimming ducks doesn't work out well with manual. Thank you for the advice.

 

[Braineack]

It's compatible

 

[Derrel]

Getting accurate Focus has never been more important than it is with 24 megapixel and up DSLR cameras. Even missed Focus of a few inches is fairly visible. The viewfinder screen in a DSLR is not meant for ascertaining focus.

 

[Derrel]

I need to correct my first post. The horrible zoom lens was the Nikon 35 to 135, and not this 35 to 105 millimeter. As you can see by the small front-mounted focusing ring with its hard finish, this is an early AF design. Later lenses had wider and rubber finished rings.

 

[Braineack]

Quick research shows the af-d model being well received

 

[Lonnie1212]

Thanks for the advice guys. I just bought the lens for $44.00. I now have 8 lenses. 473 more lenses to go and I will have more lenses than The Angry Photographer.

Lonnie

 

[Derrel]

The $44 price seems pretty good to me. Even if it's not that great there should be some utility in this lens. I don't think that the d610 requires the absolute highest grade Optics to make a pretty good picture. it has a good combination of 24 million pixels over a large 24 by 36 mm sensor area, so it doesn't demand ultra-high-resolution lenses. My own personal experience showed that the d610 shot pretty well with a wide variety of lenses.

 

[Braineack]

Thanks for the advice guys. I just bought the lens for $44.00. I now have 8 lenses. 473 more lenses to go and I will have more lenses than The Angry Photographer.

Lonnie

But you'll actually use them...

 

[Derrel]

Quick research shows the af-d model being well received

Note that this is the AF model, and judging by the hard, narrow focusing ring, I think this lens was most likely made from 1987 to 1990. I don't know if there was any change in the optical formula between the AF and the AF-D versions, but for $44 I think the gamble is supremely worth it.

The Ken Rockwell website has a lot of reviews of older Nikon autofocus zoom lenses. You should be able to find out this lens's reputation.

Addendum: I just stopped by the Ken Rockwell site where he noted that the afd version is different and has internal focusing this lens looks to me as if it extends the barrel and therefore I think it has somewhat different Optics than the AF-D version which was made from 1994 to 2001. I still would get the lens and try it out. Chances are you'll be happy with it. I think this was a $529 lens when it was new. $529 in late 1980s money was a lot of coin. A manual focus lens that I paid $79 for was the 62 mm filter thread 80 to 200 millimeter AIS f/4.... a really good shooter.

 

[Lonnie1212]

An update on the 35-105 mm lens. I really like this lens so far. I took it to work and to a church service. It seems to work quite well. The true test will come when I go for a walk in the downtown area. I took this picture from my apartment window. ISO 200, f 7.1, 1/500 SS. The focusing speed is lightning fast. Would like to thank everyone for their advice.