Nikon 300mm f4.5 ai (Non ED-IF) lens - Sample images ?
- Thread starter stvn
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I haven't used it but have the 300mm F4 IF ED and it's a very good lens...Link below, surfing images shot with it...
Saltwater Surfing - Nikonites Gallery
Saltwater Surfing - Nikonites Gallery
I don't know...You could try a Google review search....I think it is possible to pick up some good IF ED on ebay very reasonably at times...
A lot of people are getting rid on non AF-S and VR lens...
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Out of curiosity, who was giving the lens a bad review? I had a 300mm f/4.5 AIS before switching to the 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF AIS a number of years ago. The f/4.5 is a very sharp lens, and very solid and well made, though like all lenses of its focal length which do not have low disperson glass, they are prone to some color fringing. It is not bad at all with the f/4.5, however and only noticeable with very large magnifications. You will be very happy with it, I was! I just wanted something I could close down one stop to f/4 and have even shallower depth of field than you could with the f/4.5 and still be razor sharp.
To show you how well it is made, I used to focus mine all the way to its minimum focus, set it on the table and would watch the weight of the internal sleeve turn the focusing ring at a very smooth and deliberate rate. It is smooth as butter. It was like watching a clock. Their lenses are NOT made to that standard any more, regardless of price. Even though the entire inner sleeve with all the elements moves, you can still focus it with one finger except on cold days when it is a little stiffer.
To show you how well it is made, I used to focus mine all the way to its minimum focus, set it on the table and would watch the weight of the internal sleeve turn the focusing ring at a very smooth and deliberate rate. It is smooth as butter. It was like watching a clock. Their lenses are NOT made to that standard any more, regardless of price. Even though the entire inner sleeve with all the elements moves, you can still focus it with one finger except on cold days when it is a little stiffer.
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I still have mine but I rarely use it since I am not accustomed to manual focus. The optics isn't that great compared to my other lenses which is another reason why it doesn't get used a lot. I mainly purchased it to capture some moon shots and even the recent eclipse last year.
Price wise, it is fairly cheap.
D80 with Nikkor 300mm f4.5 Ai
Dragon fly by gqtuazon, on Flickr
Product shot
Nikon 300mm f4.5 by gqtuazon, on Flickr
raiks
New member
I bought mine on E-bay last autumn to step into telephoto photography. It's a well-built, heavy manual-focus lens which is able to produce very nice images. It's prone to color fringing wide open, but you can spot it only in specific scenes and I can't recall any case it create problems for me. From f/8 it doesn't produce any fringe. I use it to take street scenes and photos of animals.
It's sharp and delivers calm, tranquil images (in terms of contrast, when compared to Nikkor 50 f/1.8) which bring to mind film photography. On my Nikon D3100 it works in "M" mode only which means I have to set everything manually (including exposure, only autofocus confirmation works). However, I gained from this manual mode a lot. Now that spring has come, I usually shoot at ISO 400, f/8 and 1/800 in a daytime. Going below 1/320 (or even 1/400) is impractical since the number of blurry images grows explosively. I tend to underexpose my shots in favor of shorter shutter speeds.
I would definitely recommend this lens if you can get it for cheap. It encourages you to use your brain while shooting. You can see some shots made with this lens in the attachments, here is a typical example:
It's sharp and delivers calm, tranquil images (in terms of contrast, when compared to Nikkor 50 f/1.8) which bring to mind film photography. On my Nikon D3100 it works in "M" mode only which means I have to set everything manually (including exposure, only autofocus confirmation works). However, I gained from this manual mode a lot. Now that spring has come, I usually shoot at ISO 400, f/8 and 1/800 in a daytime. Going below 1/320 (or even 1/400) is impractical since the number of blurry images grows explosively. I tend to underexpose my shots in favor of shorter shutter speeds.
I would definitely recommend this lens if you can get it for cheap. It encourages you to use your brain while shooting. You can see some shots made with this lens in the attachments, here is a typical example:
