If you take the Nikon D700 and attach the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 NIKKOR-S Auto (Non-AI). What do you get? Magic! Personally, I think the lens looks beautiful. Very high quality build. It weighs about 306 grams.
But how do you attach a Non-AI lens to the Nikon D700? Well, you hack the aperture ring with a file. Just sweat and a fine file. It’s a nail-biting process for an amateur. But if you take your time you will end up with a magical lens! Search the web for instructions! It’s been a long time since I did the conversion. Doing the conversion with a file took about 3 hours. John White can convert them professionally here https://sites.google.com/view/aiconversions/home
You can see where I filed away part of the aperture ring above.
If you can nail the focus of this lens, it’s super sharp. The focus ring is pretty stiff on my personal lens. Out of the box, the colors are very pleasing for the Nikon 50mm f/1/4 Nikkor-S Auto. I believe I paid less than 60 dollars for this lens a few years ago.
I asked that question to a man fishing off a bridge. He said, “trash is what they are.” Sounds like a good answer to me. I went on a short hike and came across a lovely fishing spot littered with Modelo beer cans, plastic bait containers and a fishing bobber stuck in a tree overhead. Did a quick clean up and spilled beer on my pants.
The responsible fisherman’s setup below.
Some sort of pollution floating on the pond. Cumberland mountain state park pond is not looking healthy these days. Definitely overcrowded and the golf course water runoff is causing an algae problem.
Roosters and chickens were looking for bugs on my drive home.
Well, I say broken, as in just the manual focus works now. I busted my ass one winter day and the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 micro went down with me. It hit the frozen wooden bridge and took a few bounces. I just watched in slow motion and felt the pain on my right side as I kissed the bridge in unison. Shook it off and inspected the gear. Few dents here and there. Still worked. Then slowly the autofocus went out a couple of months later. But they say real macro is done with manual focus! So I guess I’m still in business?
The lens was well-used when I bought it, but it took great pictures. Heavy. But sharp as a tack!
The only hope of getting good macro photos with the lens is using a tripod. Since I’ve got bad shakes from coffee abuse and other substances. I took some shots of a cherry tree that had finally bloomed after years of being dormant for some reason. It’s currently attached to the Nikon D700.
Now my main focus was on ladybugs. I’ve since discovered ladybugs are not easy to focus on when they are hungry for pollen. The little critters ignore my commands to hold still for the money shot. But they sure are fun to watch!
I’m starting to collect B+W Filters! Top quality!!!
The Nikon 105mm f/2.8 micro still looks pretty good.
Just as I had exited my vehicle, I heard something loud heading my way. My Nikon D700 was in P mode and I didn’t have time to make any adjustments. I just shot and hoped for the best. The Nikon AF-n Nikkor 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 was the lens I was using.
I like the crop below the best. Anamorphic crop using Darktable.
I paid 62.00 dollars for this Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210mm f/4-5.6D lens. After hiking a couple miles, it started to feel really heavy. The lens weighs about 600 grams. The lens is a push and pull. It hangs awkwardly from my camera strap. I bought it from MPB.com in excellent condition. Now a 1987 lens in excellent condition, it can vary from who is inspecting it. I’d say it is in good condition on the outside, but has some fungus dots on the inside. So I would probably rate this a good condition lens at the most. At 62.00 dollars I can’t complain too much and will keep it. I’m pretty happy with MPB.com for the most part. Packing and shipping is excellent these days. Plus, they still offer free shipping. Also, I bought a battery for 8 dollars for the Nikon D700. Can’t beat that deal!
These old lenses are great except for not having vibration reduction. I have to crank up the shutter speed to get sharp photos. Plus, the weight is a turn off. But the quality build is the great part about vintage lenses. They feel good in the hand.
I’m shooting this lens on the Nikon D700, which is my main camera now. My only other camera is a Nikon D70. I sold my Nikon D7100 and Panasonic G6. I like the photos from the Nikon D700 better than the Nikon D7100. The Panasonic G6 photos were great, but the camera felt fragile. But I miss being able to crop my photos from the high mega-pixel cameras. Plus, the light weight of the Nikon D7100 and the feather weight of the Panasonic G6 felt great on the body!
I’ve noticed there are a lot of injured geese this year. This poor guy has a hole in his head above the beak.
I’ve only shot with the Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210mm f/4-5.6D lens one day and my initial impression was I like the Nikon 28-85mm AF better. Mid-range lenses make more sense to me. Most likely I will bring this Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210mm f/4-5.6D lens out on special occasions. I’m looking forward to taking it under the cliffs and seeing how it does with mountain climbers. Probably a tripod would be the best, since the lens has no vibration reduction. I blew my last climbing shoot by having the shutter speed cranked up and losing the valuable light.
Some turtles across the lake. Too far to even try getting a good shot. But I guess I did capture a photo? What am I trying to capture? I have a feeling this lens will be doing a lot more time on the shelf than on the camera.
I’m telling you the Nikon D700 has some special sauce. The photo below with the single turtle on the log is funky. The log is sitting in the water, yet it seems abnormal. You could call it flawed, but I like it. It’s a special sensor in the Nikon D700 that you slowly start to notice. It has a soul. My Nikon D7100 took just regular photos. The Nikon D200 has some magic too.
For now, I’m attaching my Nikon 50mm f/1.4 NIKKOR-S Auto and living the simple life!
