Nikon 50mm 1.2 AIS

benlonghair · Jul 30, 2009

Good morning folks. Thanks for all the advice in my SB-600 thread.

I'm looking around on craigslist again. Found a person selling their father's film setup. I have no interest in the body, but included is a Nikon 50mm 1.2 AIS. Holy fast lens, batman.

They want $450 for the whole lot, which seems pretty good. I look on EBay and those lenses are selling for $500+.

I am aware that this lens won't meter or AF, but I'll deal with that. If I offered them $100 for the lens would that be fair?

(Actually, I'm thinking about just buying the whole lot, here's the list of stuff)

2 Sunpak Slave Units w/ case... (shadow remover or area brightener),
• Vivitar 70-210 lense w/skylight filter
• Nikon MD-14 Motor Drive
• Nikon MD-15 Motor Drive
• Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Lens w/cap and and 52 ml skylight filter and case
• Nikon 50mm, f/1.2 w/Ultraviolet Skylight filter and case
• Nikon SB-15 Speedlight
• Nikon SB-16 Speedlight
• Hoya 52mm Soft lense
• Tiffen 52mm Split-field +2 lense
• Nikkor 52mm Sunshade 85/18 F
• HCE Vari-close-up Macro lense
• Soligor Electronic Flash unit (MK-10A)
• Tiffen Polarizing Filter Circle
• Luna-Pro Electronic System Exposure Meter (GOSSEN)
• Slave Light w/flash (Automatic model#- 400-80080)
• Slave Light Table Tripod (8" self contained) w/slave to the camera chord
• Nikon SS-15 Electronic Flash unit w/ leather case (vertical & horizontal)
• Nikon Quick Charger MH-2
• Portrait Filter
• Accessory Chords
• 2 Bounce Flash Shades
• All required books included for accessories
• 2 black cordura multi pocket Camera Bags
• Large aluminum Flip-Pod Unipod

Steph · Jul 30, 2009

benlonghair said:
If I offered them $100 for the lens would that be fair?

Well you said yourself that they sell for more than $500 on eBay, so to me it does not look very fair on the seller...

benlonghair · Jul 30, 2009

Well, I'm not even sure the person will split it up. In that case I'll probably just buy the whole thing and sell off what I don't want. I'd probably end up paying about $100 I figure.

benhasajeep · Jul 30, 2009

Can still get the 50 f/1.2 new from B+H. $650 I think. So if that 50mm f/1.2 is in good shape your ahead of the game if you sell any of the other items. I say meet up and check out the lens. Might get away with $400. Then sell the other stuff.

JerryPH · Jul 30, 2009

... as long as we're not talking fungus factory or damaged lens.

Personally, for me, the draw of a F/1.2 is way lessened by more modern lens coatings, autofocus and F/1.4 lenses (which is a mere 1/3rd of a stop difference)

An F/1.2 lens on a modern dSLR will be hell to focus at those razor thin DOF ranges without something like a CatzEye. It already is tough at 1.4, trust me, I've been playing a lot with my 50mm 1.4 and if I'd had to focus manually with my D700, 90% of my shots would have been missed!

benhasajeep · Jul 30, 2009

I always thought of it as a half stop. But have read it considered 1/3 or 1/2 stop faster than 1.4. Numerically its 1/2 way between 1.0 and 1.4. But maybe mathematically (formula's) they are actually closer to just 1/3??

JustAnEngineer · Jul 30, 2009

f/1.00: 0 stops
f/1.12: 1/3 stop
f/1.21: 1/2 stop
f/1.26: 2/3 stop
f/1.41: 1 stop
f/1.59: 1-1/3 stops
f/1.68: 1-1/2 stops
f/1.79: 1-2/3 stops
f/2.00: 2 stops
f/2.24: 2-1/3 stops
f/2.38: 2-1/2 stops
f/2.52: 2-2/3 stops
f/2.83: 3 stops
f/4.00: 4 stops
f/5.66: 5 stops
f/8.00: 6 stops

benlonghair · Jul 30, 2009

JustAnEngineer said:
f/1.00: 0 stops
f/1.12: 1/3 stop
f/1.21: 1/2 stop
f/1.26: 2/3 stop
f/1.41: 1 stop
f/1.59: 1-1/3 stops
f/1.68: 1-1/2 stops
f/1.79: 1-2/3 stops
f/2.00: 2 stops
f/2.24: 2-1/3 stops
f/2.38: 2-1/2 stops
f/2.52: 2-2/3 stops
f/2.83: 3 stops
f/4.00: 4 stops
f/5.66: 5 stops
f/8.00: 6 stops

I was told there'd be no math.

Thanks everyone for your opinions.

Derrel · Jul 30, 2009

Check Bjorn's review of the 50mm f/1.2 here Normal Lenses For Nikon 'F' Mount

As he notes, "Image contrast even at f/1.2 is higher on the D3, so pictures come across crisper and appearing sharper with this camera. Focusing the lens on a D3 was easy."

This is one of the better-rated 50mm lenses in the Nikon system. Keep in mnd that it is best to focus from Infinity toward closer focus, moving the focusing ring as fast as possible. Once the finder images looks good, stop. Usually, that will be very close to the correct focusing distance.

Older manual focus Nikkors almost invariably focus better than newer AF Nikkors do,especially on d-SLR bodies.

Garbz · Jul 31, 2009

I have the Nikkor AI-S 50mm f/1.2 and it's fine as long as you only shoot people or low contrast shots at f/1.2 At f/2.0 it's tac sharp but at f/1.2 it's the softest lens I own, and by soft I mean it's softer than using my B+W softfocus filter. It is SOFT! Suffers from severe CA and you completely forget about shooting into a light.

Look at a Nikkor AI-S 55mm f/1.2 especially the 3rd gen series. A friend of mine has this and makes me very jealous, no where near as jealous as a Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 AI-S but jealous none the less.

This is a tac sharp shot at f/2: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/2835152780_67448ab47b_b.jpg

Here's an example at f/1.2:

djacobox372 · Jul 31, 2009

I'd buy that lot... you could resell what you don't need on ebay for a good chunk of change.

The two lenses cover the price of the lot. 50mm f1.2's can sell on ebay for $500, but i've seen them sell for $300 as well.

I personally bought a pristine nikon f3 with a motordrive and a 50mm f1.2 for $350 on ebay.

I would add that there is very little difference in usability between a f1.4 and an f1.2... other then the f1.2 weighing about 50% more.

At f1.4 they are about the same IQ, and at f1.2 you get very soft images--which I personally like.

JerryPH · Jul 31, 2009

Garbz said:
...no where near as jealous as a Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 AI-S but jealous none the less.

And yours for a mere $3600US... lol

Garbz · Aug 1, 2009

Bargain. Last I saw it sold for close to $4500 on ebay. Not bad for a lens made in the 70s

smyth · Aug 1, 2009

I went to a Flickr meet here in Ottawa where someone had a Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 AI-S. Whoever had it shot it on someone's D3.

sample image here: DOF on Flash on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

and yes it's a photo of me

JerryPH · Aug 3, 2009

Beautiful results, but then again, with a D3, you could almost take that lens off, replace it with a straw and get similar results... LOL

There are rumors of a 35mm F/1.4G coming out, that is a rumor worth already starting a lens fund for.

Taken with the 50mm at F/1.4, the bokeh is also extreme and not all that dissimiar to a F/1.2 lens (and shallow as heck... ears and shoulders are clearly blurred). I often compare my shots to my friend's and his 5DmkII and 50mm F/1.2 under similar conditions (shooting the same subject side by side)... it is very, very close.