Nikkor 80mm to 180mm Primes

Good morning! Well it is morning where I am starting this post…

This post will just be covering a few primes, the focal length here is higher than normal/natural, they are medium telephoto (70-100mm) & some Telephoto (100-300mm). There are no zoom lens on this page, as they were covered in an older post. Originally I was going to cover 85mm, 105mm, & 135mm but… 180mm can arguably be used for portraits, tho its more for birds. Well that is in here too! 🙂

There are more than 4 focal lengths here tho… Some oddball lens were made & there were no other successors to them. Additionally Nikon experimented with a few aperture sizes & designs, so some might be bundled in. There are quite a bit of old lenses in here, so I could not find B&H New prices… some sourced are used lens, however still sold by B&H so take it as you will, I tried to not post ugly/hella used lens for B&H so yea. Almost all of these lenses are Professional use, some are Semi Pro, and then there’s a few Specialty/Industrial types thrown in. Due to this, I removed the last column ,”Level” because it wastes space/info.

85mm – Medium Telephoto Portrait Pro Lens

The 85mm lens is pushing it when it comes to natural portrait. I wouldn’t consider it but others do, so w/e. Anyways, almost all of these lenses are f/2 or lower, a few f/2.8’s in here.

80mm – First Autofocus Lens

• This lens along with its companion 200mm lens is Nikon’s first autofocus lens.
• Nikon had made a special F3AF, an Autofocus version of the F3 SLR for this and another lens.
• Supposedly it will work w/ the N2020 & F4 SLRs, ymmv 😉
• This lens will not autofocus on ANY DSLR & can damage them if you try…
• The AF drive motor is housed inside the lens, like AF-S/P lenses, but Nikon instead went with AF motors built inside lenses on later cameras.
• It’s only for novelty now days, it’s not spectacular at all, & your money is better spent elsewhere, but it’s here to complete the set

85mm f1.8 & f/2 Classic lens

• Sorted from oldest to newest
• Lens design changes from the K ver to the Ai, I’m sure it’s a completely different type, perhaps the Ai 85mm f/1.4 is the true successor
• Price/Performance – Ai-s 1451 seems to have a lot sold, slightly higher starting price, but good mid & EX+ price
• I like the H-C version design wise, but im biased

85mm f/1.8 – Autofocus Professional

• Sorted from oldest to newest, one Z mount here
• The first two lens can arguably be Semi Pro in comparison to the f/1.4 sold alongside them
• The 85mm f/1.8S was JUST released at the time of this post, even if bought used, you might shave $50 off.
• Price – 85mm f/1.8D, similar to the 50mm 1.8D
• The Z lens is way fucking bigger and has a big ass grip too, different design.

85mm f/1.4 – Low Light Pro

• Sorted from oldest to newest
• Lens builds are Manual focus, Auto Focus or Silent Wave Focus?
• I really really like the 1.4D version, it has that potmetal finish
• Price – 1.4D 1933, its just cheaper
• The Ai-S KEH price is just a guess from eBay listings, Bargain unit only available

85mm f/2.8 – Macro & Perspective Control!

• Sorted from oldest to newest
• Arguably the Canon 105mm TS-E is a better buy than the PC-E 85mm
• Price – 1458, but if you’re thinking of tilt/shift, the 24mm PC lens will show you much more drastic results
• Get the 2175 if you want Nano Coat & may shoot less still objects with it, or you dislike moving the aperture ring for the right f stop

105mm – From Portrait to Macro Standard

105mm focal point, seems sort of limited in respect to the 85mm & 135mm versatility. It excels at having a great selection of Macro lenses, similar to the 55mm lens vs the 50mm portrait standard. Also there are a few one offs too. Some will argue that the 105mm is great for portraits and is the best back in the day, but others will say its the 135mm lens that did it better. For instance, Stephen Curry shot the famous “Afgan Girl” portrait for National Geographic on an Ai-S 105mm f/2.5. Might be wrong…

100 & 105mm – f/whatever

• The reasons why these are here, si that they all have different designs, & lens configurations from the others. Sorted in no real order.
• 100mm Nikon E series, no other 100mm lens (other than CX/APS)
• Nikkor-T 10.5cm f/4, the “Mountain Nikkor”, was a legendary economy priced lens in F & S Mount, that cemented Nikon sharpness.
• Build quality- E is budget, T/P semi pro, S is prototype
• Nikkor-P 105mm f/2.5 has a different design than the other variant… prices here are mixed with it.
• The Soft Focus is a prototype lens, which made way for the soft focus filter.
• Price/Performance – Nikkor E
• Collection – Nikkor-T, unless you somehow can get the prototype

105mm f/2.5 Manual Focus Lens

• Sorted oldest to newest, no AF 🙂
• Nikkor-P is mixed with the other unit, slightly longer barrel
• Price – Ai 1156, high starting price vs P-C, they even out at mid & EX+
• f/32? K & earlier, Ai & Ai-S have a lesser min aperture at f/22
• For some, the Ai-S 105mm f/2.5 is the lens to get…

105mm low light – f/1.8, f/1.4, f/2

• Sorted from… uh old to new, then to defocus control. No other f/stop in this range/lens, so they are all mixed.
• Price – Ai-S 105mm f/1.8, because simplicity & availability
• That Ai-S was a low light successor to the f/2.5, heavier tho
• f/1.4E 20064 is hella advanced, Nano coat, Fluorine Coat for durability, & the Electromagnetic Diaphragm thingy, for best HDR exposure
• Thinking of the DC nikkor? Check this, I’d add more but couldn’t find good galleries/differences for now. 😛

105mm Macro f/4 – Manual Focus

• Sorted from oldest to newest, but still pretty old
• Price – Ai 1154, though the Ai-S isn’t much more.
• I’m not sure the optics differences, Ai/Ai-S are virtually similar.

105mm Macro f/2.8 – Ai-S to AF-S

• Sorted from older to newer
• AF 1987 & 1988 both look similar, other than the D 😛
• Nikon still sells the Ai-S 1455, it is available from them via special order, & in stock in retail stores
• AF-S 2160 uses VR 1st gen, & has Nano coat

105mm & 120mm Medical Lens

• Sorted from Newer to Older
• These lenses completely different, the UV lens is on a class of its own entirely, and is a expensive, specially made to order item.
• The Medical lens has a LED ring light flash built in it, however it requires its own power source, which may not be included in sale. Additionally it can be used for Macro photography but its system can be tricky to use, oh and it’s big.
• The UV lens is made w/o typical coating, instead having phosphate glass. It captures UV light, which isn’t visible to us. It’s used for lasers, forensics, & bio-med stuff. Its entirely different from that UV lamp shit, because it doesn’t need the lamp light.
• Obviously, the Medical Nikkor is a bargain and can be an interesting setup for macro photography, but other Micro Nikkors can be cheaper & much easier to use.

135mm – The OG Zoomed Portrait

This focal length makes great portraits in outdoor situations, and obviously outdoors things like wildlife you can get close to. Obviously there are “professional photographers” who will bitch at anything above 85mm is too much for portraits… but Nikon had made quite a bit of these lens throughout the years. Almost all of these lenses here are manual focus only, with the exception of the Defocus Control Nikkors if you want to spend the $$$ for AutoFocus. There are currently no AF-S, AF-P or Z mount lens here, but there is a Sigma f/1.8 if needed.

135mm f/3.5

• Sorted from prehistoric to classic
• There were NO B&H used units I can find, so its omitted here
• All Q lens are pro, K & later are semi pro, all excellent build quality
• The 13.5cm is one of the first F mount lenses, based off the rangefinder version.
• All of these lenses are super cheap, partially because they were Nikon’s cheapest telephoto lens you can buy new
• The Ai & Ai-S have the 4 lens in 4 elements vs the K & previous, which are 3 elements
• Price – Nikkor-Q 135mm, many of these available but maybe my search results had gotten the 13.5cm & QC version?
• Performance – Ai or Ai-S

135mm f/2.8

• Sorted from old to new
• There are two K versions, the older had f/32 & the later has a smaller grip, prices are similar anyways
• Supposedly the E Series has an iffy build quality compared to the Ai/K
• Price – Nikkor-Q, due to availability
• Performance – Ai version, or nab the Ai-S if you can spend it

135mm f/2

• Sorted from oldest to latest, all professional lens build quality
• The Nikkor-H lens is a prototype, totally different from these
• Price – Nikkor Ai, I think the K lens was a fire sale
• The Ai-S was available pretty late, til 2005, might be bought NIB

135mm f/2 Autofocus & Defocus Control

• Sorted from older to newer
• 1935 still available now, new
• Both are similar, the non-D may limit itself with auto exposure on flash or HDR bracketing
• In comparison to the previous f/2 lens, a few extra hundred gets you autofocus

180mm Medium Telephoto Portrait

I felt that I needed an additional focal length here vs the previous prime post (35mm to 60mm). The 180mm lens are fairly cheap telephoto, they are only available in f/2.8, perhaps a similar build design to the 70/80-200mm lens? These are used for wildlife, sports & have no macro ability. Some photographers utilize this for headshots, however you might have to use a radio system if you’re in a fairly public area, you’re going to be 13 feet away or 4 meters. Get fucked if you want to photo a person’s mid body or full whilst still directing them.

180mm f/2.8 Manual focus

• Sorted from oldest to latest, all pro lens, 7 bladed aperture (except Ai)
• Price – Nikkor-P 965, fairly cheap low/mid & EX+ if you don’t need ED
• Or – Ai-S 1464, because ED lens will remove the color fringe on edges
• Supposedly the Ai f/2.8S is the first ED lens, but I’m not 100% sure on how long it was made. Perhaps 1 year or less, or mistype as an Ai-S?
• Originally I had the Ai-S in the next section, bc they share the 9 bladed aperture. This can affect bokeh in the less aperture shots.
• These can focus down to 1.8 meters, the AF versions need… 3 meters?

180mm f/2.8 AutoFocus

• Sorted from oldest to current, all professional 😛
• The first two lens are extremely similar, so the results are shared
• The main difference is the 1938 uses a plastic barrel, the 1939 has that “crinkle”, pot metal/grippy finish.
• 1938 should have a thin “file” plastic zoom grip, but sometimes it has the thicker rubber 1939 “tire tread” style grip
• Price – 1939, plenty of those available

A whole lotta lenses. Next will be the Telephoto lens, from 200mm to 600mm or maybe more… we will see. 😛