To take a line from the Wizard of Oz, "Well bust my buttons!"

STM

Senior Member
Sitting around, not having anything to do I decided I would do a head to head comparison of the 50mm f/1.8 AIS Nikkor (a lens that I always considered extraordinarily sharp) and the 50mm f/2 Nikkor H I got with my first Nikon, a black FTN, back in 1973. The 50mm f/1.8 AIS Nikkor has been reviewed in many places as the sharpest lens in that focal length that Nikon has ever made. The results were not at all what I expected.

50 comp 1.jpg

I went out on the deck and picked a scene in the back yard that had a lot of detail in both the center and edges. I started with the 50mm f/2 Nikkor H on the D850 mounted on a sturdy carbon fiber tripod. I shot it wide open and 3 stops down (f/8), which is generally accepted as the lenses sharpest aperture. I then shot the 50mm f/1.8 AIS Nikkor at f/2 and f/8. Below is the scene I used:

50 comp 2.jpg

I then took 100% crops from all 4 images. Zero manipulation of the images was used.

Center:
As expected, there was spherical aberration and some color fringing in the center. What I did NOT expect was that the 50 year old Nikkor H would be demonstrably better than the AIS! At f/5.6 the spherical aberration was gone, as was the fringing and there was essentially no difference at all between the two. Perhaps the AIS was a tiny bit better but it would not be anything you would would discern even in a 16x20" print. The results are below:

50 COMP 3.jpg

Edge:
The results at the edge basically mirrored the ones in the center. Wide open, the older Nikkor was noticeably better (though perhaps not to the same extent as in the center) and at f/8 there was essentially no difference.

50 COMP 4.jpg

Summary:

From the serial numbers, my Nikkor H was made in 1969, the AIS in 1990. The H was made without the benefit of large computers and was single coated. The AIS was just the opposite, designed with the benefit of computers and is multicoated. The Nikkor H has 6 diaphragm blades, the AIS, 7. Both focusing rings are still smooth as silk and the aperture rings very crisp. Both are built to the highest mechanical standards, far better mechanically than a lot of the plastic junk (in my opinion at least) that Nikon is offering today.

The sun was behind the clouds so I could not do any comparisons as far as ghosting was concerned, but I expect the AIS to do better. Although the overcast day lowered the contrast somewhat, I did not see any noticeable contrast differences between the H and AIS. I do not have a 50mm f/1.8 AF Nikkor to compare these two, but this qualitative comparison tells me that the many of the older Nikon lenses are still fantastic lenses and the equal or even superior to Nikkors made two decades later. If anyone has one they would be willing to lend to me I will do a comparison of all 3.
 

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