Our experiences with older gear, and frustrations .....discussed here.

Msmoto

As many of us have the Nikon Acquisition Syndrome, we sometimes purchase new equipment which does work better than some of what is in our kits already, but the question remains, is the improvement absolutely necessary or is it possible to do the job with what we may have already?

Thus, this discussion is to offer our experiences with the utilization of older equipment, demonstrating how well it works, and to discuss our frustrations or shortcomings of the equipment, rationalizing our purchase of better stuff. My first example is in using the Nikkor lens from the mid 1990's, a 28.0-85.0 mm f/3.5-4.5, sharp but with some real performance issues in terms of focus speed and potentially focus accuracy.

First off:



D800E, ISO 5600, 1/250 sec, lens at 85mm, f/5.6

Larger version shows acceptable sharpness: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fantinesfotos/24331369233/sizes/o/

The issues with this lens are primarily in the ability to focus quickly, most likely related to the fact it requires the motor in the D800E to drive the focus, much slower than a lens with a servo motor internally. The ability to follow focus in continuous servo is very much handicapped, as it has no real relationship to what is going on and fails miserably in this respect.

But, as one can purchase these for about $50-70 on eBay, what a deal. Huge sharpness for the money. And, this lens has a "macro" function, albeit at the short end....shown here:


D800E, ISO 5000, 1/250 sec, lens at 28mm, f/5.6, focused in macro range

And reasonably share here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fantinesfotos/24590592989/sizes/o/

If anyone wants to demonstrate older equipment this is where we can do this.... I am anxious to see what some of us have in our kit from the old days.....

spraynpray

The oldest lens I had was my 60mm D micro which was brilliantly sharp with better (lower) distortion that my new G does, but the G focusses so quickly that there is no contest. My shooting buddy would laugh out loud when he could hear the old D 'hee-hawing' back and forth like a donkey!

The D is still not cheap though because it is well designed with good glass.

PB_PM

My older auto focus lens is a 24mm F2.8n (non-D, second generation). Nice little lens, but like the 28-85mm mentioned, focus tracking is an issue. I think the only AF-D lens I have used that didn't have tracking issues was the AF 35-70mm F2.8, which was lightning quick to focus, at least as fast as the AF-S 24-70mm F2.8G. The downside was that it was noisy as a set of wet break pads.

NSXTypeR

I need to admit, I don't really have older gear really, and the old gear I have is really top notch. Maybe I'm lucky, but it's a real testament to Nikon's build quality. The oldest gear I have is my dad's FM2 and the 50mm 1.2. He rarely used it, so it's still in great condition.

I guess the only frustration I have is the D40, which was getting very old by 2013... and then the shutter release started dying on me. Oh well, what an excuse to get a D7000!

I guess if I were to complain about shortcomings, I would say maybe it would be nice to get VR on the 18-135. Otherwise it's been fine.

Msmoto

The same lens in a casual shot of one of the homes in The Woodlands, Texas, a community unlike any other I have visited....



@28mm, 1/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1400