Sample Images
These are all shot hand-held as BASIC ★ JPGs; no RAW files, NORMAL or FINE JPGs were used or needed.
Wide-Open at f/2
Canary Palm, 9:19 AM, 17 March 2019. Nikon Z7, Nikon NIKKOR 135mm f/2 AI-s on FTZ adapter, f/2 at 1/320 at ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full-resolution file or camera-original 45MP file.
There’s almost no depth of field at f/2; very little is in focus if you’re going to explore the full-resolution file or camera-original 45MP file at 100%. If you want to be impressed at this lens’ sharpness wide-open, look at the ends of the palm fronds on the far right in the full-resolution file that are in focus and ultra-sharp. Very little else in in focus due to the shallow depth of field.
At f/8
Canary Palm, 9:19 AM, 17 March 2019. Nikon Z7, Nikon NIKKOR 135mm f/2 AI-s on FTZ adapter, f/8 at 1/80 at ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full-resolution file or camera-original 45MP file.
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Flare
One of the cost-cutting measures for the Series-E lenses was to only single-coat the lenses. Lenses that are single-coated tend to not have very good flare control due to many internal lens reflections. Nikon eventually started to give multi-coating to the later Series-E’s, which helped control flare much better than any single-coating ever could. Based off my time with the lens, I believe my copy of the 135mm f/2.8 E may actually be multi-coated. Flare performance is very good. The following images were taken at f/32 to keep from too much overexposure. I also took two series of shots, one with the built-in hood retracted, the other with it extended. I expected to see at least a little difference in flare control depending on the hood position, but no dice. Both sets were identical in performance. This leads me to guess that the hood may only protect from point light sources shining directly onto the front element at an extreme angle–other than that there’s no reason to extend it except to get a little more contrast. WARNING! With the NEX-7 and its EVF, I don’t have to worry about shooting into very bright sources of light. If you attempt to do these shots on a DSLR, you’ll go blind before you see any evidence of flare!
With the sun just out of the frame, there is only a small and non-distracting blue-ish blob in the upper right.
As the sun enters the frame, the small and blue blob is still the only artifact of flare.
As the sun nears the center of the frame, there still are no harsh internal reflections visible. Surely this lens is multicoated! Contrast is very good as well, the trees are still inky black, indicating there is no worry with veiling flare on the 135mm.
With these shots and my own personal experience in mind, flare is not a problem at all with this lens. Shoot around bright sources of light all day long, with the hood positioned wherever you like.
Sharpness
Though sharpness is supposed to be only a small component in a lens’ performance, many feel it is the deciding factor between a good or bad optic. I personally fall somewhere in the middle. I love seeing pixel-level sharpness (especially with a 24MP sensor), but it isn’t terribly important that all my shots are sharp when viewing at 100% on screen. With that in mind, I have tested the 135mm f/2.8 E to find a very strange characteristic in its performance of sharpness. The lens starts pretty sharp, and eventually gets very, very sharp. The only problem is it takes a lot of stopping down to get to the optimum aperture.
Sharpness is assessed with this free chart downloadable at the link at the top of the picture. The file is about 19MP, printing at 300 dpi at 12×18 inches. However, the prints I have tried making at this size come out fuzzy. For these tests, the chart has been printed in the 8×12 size, with the dpi well over what is needed for lens testing. Focusing distance is about 12 feet.
Let’s start out with some simple center crops by aperture:
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32
Starting out wide-open, a lot of detail is still visible, though contrast is rather low. With regards to sharpness, f/4-8 look about the same, with contrast improving a bit at each stop. Center sharpness and contrast peak at f/11, where overall detail is excellent. At f/16 diffraction begins, and by f/32, the image is heavily softened due to this effect. For critical work, stay in the aperture range of f/8-16. Wider apertures should only be used in cases where depth of field or shutter speed are the priority. For the smaller apertures, reserve use for longer exposures or for greater depth of field. However, don’t hesitate to shoot from f/2.8-5.6, as contrast can always be helped out (if needed) in post-processing, and sharpness never makes a good photograph.
Moving on to corner crops by aperture…
Left: f/2.8 Right: f/4
Left: f/5.6 Right: f/8
Left: f/11 Right: f/16
Left: f/22 Right: f/32
Thanks to the “sweet spot” advantage of using full-frame designed lenses on smaller sensors (this case APS-C), the corners on the 135mm f/2.8 E do very well. Detail wide-open isn’t very clear due to low-contrast and some vignetting, but is acceptable. More detail is visibly seen at f/4, but contrast is still low. In this case, both sharpness and contrast improve at every f-stop following, but the optimum is yet again at f/11. Blown up to 400%, diffraction slightly dulls detail at f/16, and by f/32 the corners have lost detail and contrast due to the effect. As above, contrast can always be addressed in post-processing, but as far as critical detail in the corners, the best apertures are about the same as the centers, f/8-16. In real photographs, pixel-level sharpness in the corners doesn’t particularly matter anyway, so feel free to shoot at whatever aperture you need to get the shot (though, admittedly, degradation at the image level may become apparent at f/32). Since the corners in most shots are out of focus anyway at the larger apertures, the lack of corner detail is a non-issue:
The Artist135mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/100 (handheld!)Pixel-level sharpness makes better photographs. Yeah. Sure.
Some may be disappointed that the 135mm f/2.8 E peaks in performance at f/11, rather than something like f/5.6 (such as the 180mm f/2.8 AI-s ED). There are some zooms that peak at f/8! The good news in all of this is the images start out pretty sharp wide-open, but only improve from there. This means that the 135mm becomes a more versatile lens in more shooting situations, as detail remains good in a larger aperture range. There is no harsh drop off in image quality at most apertures (save for the lack of contrast wide-open and the diffraction-affected f/32), and the steps to get to peak performance are small and graduated.
Introduction
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B&H Photo — Video — Pro Audio I buy only from . I can’t vouch for below. |
The Nikon 135mm f/2 has been a professional secret for decades. Offering a long focal length, super f/2 speed and great optics in a compact, dense package, the 135/2 is longer and faster than just about anything else a reasonable person would wish to afford, or carry all day.
This 135/2 is about as big as a grapefruit, but much heavier. It’s a compact lens that’s all glass inside.
The 135mm f/2 is a superb portrait lens, especially for defocusing backgrounds. This 135mm f/2’s is exemplary (really good), and it’s also super sharp at every setting.
This 135mm f/2 has been one of Nikon’s greatest portrait lenses ever since it was introduced in 1975. While the current 135mm f/2 DC (1990-today) adds autofocus and the ability to fine-tune bokeh and is sharper for scientific use at f/2, for portraits and general use this manual-focus lens has bokeh at least as good and costs far less to do the same thing.
On the FTZ adapter both this and the 135mm f/2 DC become manual focus, so why not save money and go with a proven classic? Even better, either of these 135mm f/2s add image stabilization (VR) when used on Nikon’s full-frame mirrorless cameras.
Unlike the throw-away plastic lenses of today, this fully professional silky-smooth all-metal lens is built to last for more than a lifetime of spectacular images. Thankfully, today’s 135mm f/2 DC is built almost as well.
I got my 135mm f/2 at this link to them at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
Versions & History
All of these lenses from 1975 ~ 2005 have the same optics.
Only the mechanics and cosmetics were changed as the years rolled on.
1975 ~ 1977
Nikon first sold this as the 135mm f/2 AUTO NIKKOR IC.
AUTO meant an automatic diaphragm that reopened back to f/2 after each shot. That was hot stuff in the 1960s, but taken for granted today.
IC meant Integrated Coating, which is multicoating.
This first version was ; one had to turn the aperture ring back and forth to get the camera’s meter to couple to the lens each time it was mounted.
One needs AI kit 41 to update it to for use with Nikon’s newest cameras.
1977 ~ 1981
Nikon updated this lens to , Automatic Indexing.
Now all we have to do is attach the lens and its aperture ring indexes with the meter automatically. It still works the same way on today’s newest Nikon DSLRs.
1981 ~ 2005
Nikon updated this lens to , which is the same as , with the addition of a different diaphragm mechanism to make automatic exposure easier for the Nikon FA.
The AI-s version has its depth-of-field markings on the silver ring, has slightly faster manual focus gearing and has a slightly longer hood, otherwise, a 2005 AI-s sample is the same thing and works exactly the same as a 1975 model after it’s been AI-converted.
Nikon USA stopped importing them in 1996, so from 1997-2005 they came into the USA only as gray market.
1990
Nikon introduces the 135mm f/2 DC, and continued to make this original 135mm f/2 for another 15 years alongside it!
The 135mm f/2 DC has completely different optics.
World’s first 135mm f/2 lens.
9-bladed diaphragm.
Good
Fabulous .
Fast
Compact.
Built-in hood.
Straight 9-blade diaphragm for magnificent 18-pointed sunstars.
Superlative mechanics: all metal, all engraved markings and no plastic.
Heirloom-quality design and build to last beyond a lifetime.
Made domestically in Japan.
Missing
Nothing at the time; autofocus and Vibration Reduction hadn’t been invented yet.
No plastic.
No printing; every marking is deeply engraved and filled with paint to last a few lifetimes.
Not off shored to some second- or third-world country for cheap labor as Nikon usually does today; this is a precision-made masterpiece.
Compatibility
I got my 135mm f/2 at this link to them at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
If you have one of the very early non-AI samples,(1975-1977, serial numbers below 180000), you’ll need to have your lens to work on cameras made since 1977. Even these oldest samples still work great on every Nikon made 1959-1977.
Presuming you have at least an or sample, this manual-focus lens works great with most full-frame Nikon cameras made since 1977, both FX digital and . Of course it won’t autofocus on any camera, but usually offers color matrix metering and aperture-preferred auto exposure if you like. It offers Aperture-priority, shutter-priority and full program auto exposure on the Nikon FA, and Matrix Metering on all FX cameras as well as the Nikon F4, Nikon FA and Nikon F6.
It also works great on better DX cameras, but won’t meter with the cheapest DX cameras or cheaper autofocus 35mm cameras.
It works on the Z-series mirrorless cameras with the FTZ Adapter.
On all FX digital, Z-series mirrorless cameras, better DX cameras and the F6 be sure to set «135mm» and «f/2» at MENU > SETUP > NON-CPU LENS DATA, or wherever your camera hides the Non-CPU Lens Data option.
See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details on your camera. Read down the «AI, AI-s»column.
Cons
- Wide-open, contrast is lacking in the center, while the corners are lacking in both sharpness and contrast. Stopped down to f/32, image-level degradation may become noticeable.
- Optimum aperture is at f/11. Though this allows for a greater working range, those that may prefer optimum performance at hand-holdable shutter speeds may be disappointed. There are zooms that have their optimum at f/8, for comparison, and some great primes, such as the 180mm f/2.8 AI-s ED, peak at f/5.6.
- Foreground bokeh is busy and distracting from f/2.8-4
- Purple fringing wide-open in high contrast scenarios is very bad, though is mostly correctable. In normal situations it is nothing to worry about and is completely correctable for critical work.
- Longitudinal chromatic aberrations are very pronounced and distracting, both in the background green hue and in the foreground purple hue. These are generally possible to edit out, but in some situations can prove to be difficult to correct.
- Manual focus only, in case you had forgotten
The Bottom Line
I have some major praise and some reservations on this lens. There is no set-in-stone recommendation I can give out. Let me put it this way: if you are wanting a compact fast telephoto (APS-C) or a super-telephoto (m4/3) for your camera that performs well in generally all situations at a bargain price, the 135mm f/2.8 E should be on your short-list. If you are like me, and are wanting a faster telephoto with greater depth of field control and a larger optimum aperture for hand-holdable shutter speeds at peak performance, then you may want to reconsider the 135mm f/2 AI-s (which is much, MUCH more expensive than the 135mm f/2.8 E or AI-s). That said, I am going to hold onto this lens for the situations when I need a bit more reach and a lighter kit than my 105mm f/1.8 AI-s. Though I would love to shoot with the 135mm f/2 AI-s, I’m not sure it would see as much use–it is over two times as heavy as the Series-E 135mm, weighing in at 30.2 ounces/855 grams!
Here are some various sample shots taken with this lens and the NEX-7 over the past couple weeks to finish this review up:
Hydrant135mm, ISO 100, f/4, 1/320
Maximum Contrast135mm, ISO 100, f/4, 1/500
The Winding Road135mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/160
Spinner135mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/10 (handheld!)
Gas Line135mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1250
Grinning On135mm, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/200
And hey, look at me, I managed to keep flower shots out of this one. Anyways, hope you all liked this review, comments and criticisms welcome, as always. With that, have a great one guys.
Sharpness at Infinity
Just as in the test chart range, the optimum aperture at infinity is f/11. It is worth noting when using long focal lengths, atmospheric conditions usually are a larger thief of sharpness than aperture ever is:
Infinity sharpness was confirmed with this boring and ill-composed shot of the local clock tower
Here at 100% the optimum f/11 aperture is confirmed in the center (left image) and corners (right image). Though there is a bit of contrast difference (the corners never do get as great as the center), the sharpness is the same. Also, don’t ask what happened to the “I”. Your guess is as good as mine.
Purple Fringing
A form of chromatic abberation (a type of distortion where certain colors do not hit the image sensor at the same convergence point), purple fringing is typically seen in fast lenses at their wider apertures when shooting scenes of contrast, such as branches against sky. Though purple fringing can be cleaned up very well in post processing nowadays (see my detailed post on that here), it is still an important point to take in consideration if one either doesn’t have the time to post process, or has purple objects in the frame that does not want to be desaturated. To assess purple fringing, I used this scene:
This set-up is the absolute worst-case scenario for purple-fringing. Here maximum contrast has been achieved, as the branches are in the shade (clipping to black), while the overall image is overexposed by 1.7 stops in each image (clipping the whites).
f/2.8–Very bad purple fringing that takes up the entire branch (that is in focus, anyway)
f/4–Leaps and bounds better than wide open. Purple fringing is almost completely absent and only slightly visible viewing the individual pixels at 400%.
f/5.6–Absolutely no purple fringing.
Using Lightroom 4’s excellent de-fringing sliders, even f/2.8 can look just fine after 15 seconds of editing:
f/2.8–Purple Fringing removed with a “14” value correction
I must mention in normal shooting situations, purple fringing even wide-open isn’t a real problem with this lens. Don’t shoot tree branches wide-open, and you’ll be just fine.
Обзор Nikon 135 mm F 2 NIKKOR. Отличный портретный объектив.
За предоставленный объектив Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR огромная благодарность Николаю Безумному.
Обзор Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR
Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR – просто отличный старый (неавтофокусный) объектив AI типа. Про него лучше не писать, а идти и снимать. Объектив обладает просто сказочными параметрами светосилы и фокусного расстояния и, при этом, выдает очень хорошую, годную картинку. Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR на 1 стоп ‘светлее’ своих братьев, класса 135/2,8 (например Nikon Nikkor 135mm 1:2.8 или Nikon Nikkor-Q Auto 1:2.8 f=135mm).
Вид Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR при МДФ с выдвинутой блендой
Nikon 135mm F/2 выпускался в 3-х модификациях: Non-AI (1975-77), AI (1977-81), AI-S (1981-2005). Оптически все три объектива полностью идентичны, отличаются лишь мелочами в оправе корпуса. Номер моего экземпляра 178743, это означает, что у меня в обзоре одна из первых версий объектива. Мой Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR обновлен до AI версии.
Диафрагма объектива Nikon 135mm F2 NIKKOR
Кольцо фокусировки прорезинено, вращается на 270 градусов. Фокусировка плавная, при этом передняя линза не вращается, только удлиняется хобот. МДФ составляет 1.3 метра, что позволяет получить увеличение 1:7.5. Передняя линза диаметром 72мм. В наше время считается, что диаметр профессиональных объективов Nikon составляет 77мм, это связано с удобством взаимозаменяемости фильтров между объективами профессионального уровня. Nikon 135mm F/2 имеет небольшую встроенную телескопическую бленду, однако большой пользы от нее я не нашел. Бленда не болтается, хорошо фиксируется на объективе.
Просветление передней и задней линзы объектива Nikon 135mm F2 NIKKOR
Nikon 135mm F/2 имеет шкалу дистанции фокусировки и шкалу глубины резкости для значений F/22, F/16, F/8. Диафрагма закрывается минимум до F/22. Количество лепестков диафрагмы – 9 штук. Используется NIC просветление. Сборка на высоком уровне. На корпусе можно найти надпись ‘Lens Made in Japan’.
Объектив тяжелый, весит почти 900 грамм. Столь большой вес объясняется тем, что в оптической схеме используются толстые, достаточно массивные стекла. Первоначально Nikon 135mm F/2 шел в комплекте со специальным кейсом для хранения.
Примеры фотографий
Nikon 135mm F/2 создает ‘вжатую’ перспективу и маленькую ГРИП, что идеально подходит для портретной съемки. Объектив резкий, даже на F/2.0 и по краям кадра. Никакой дисторсии и комы, слабое виньетирование на F/2.0. Объектив немного страдает фрижингом. В целом изображение на очень высоком уровне, а боке объектива просто отличное. Как использовать старые объективы на современных зеркальных камерах описано в разделе AI-S.
Два легендарных объектива
Личный опыт:
Объектив очень похож на своего младшего брата Nikon 105mm 1:1.8 Nikkor AI-S, но вот на Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR фокусироваться оказалось удобней, да и количество кадров с удачной фокусировкой у меня получилось больше. Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR – шикарный светосильный фикс, удовольствия от такого объектива целое море. Если ищите что-то подобное, советую еще посмотреть в сторону Nikon 180mm 1:2.8 ED Nikkor и на более ‘короткий’ и дешевый Nikon 105mm 1:2.5 Nikkor. Nikon 135mm F/2 имеет смысл использовать даже на камерах Nikon DX, на которых ЭФР объектива будет составлять 202.
5мм.
Объектив Nikon 135mm F2 NIKKOR на пленочной камере
Комментарии к этой заметке не требуют регистрации. Комментарий может оставить каждый. Много разной фототехники можно найти на AliExpress (не пропустите распродажу BLACK FRIDAY)
Выводы:
Как я писал в начале обзора, нужно просто брать Nikon 135mm 1:2 NIKKOR и снимать в свое удовольствие. Пользователям старой неавтофокусной оптики такой объектив должен прийтись по душе.Материал подготовил Аркадий Шаповал. Ищите меня на Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram.
Bokeh
“Bokeh” is an artistic term of Japanese origin for the character of anything in the image that is not in focus. Typically, smooth bokeh, where out of focus objects and highlights seem to “melt” into the background, is favorable. In regards to the 135mm f/2.8 E, bokeh is very good to excellent depending on what is in the background.
In this shot, taken at f/32 for maximum depth of field, bokeh smoothness will be assessed. The Altoids box is the focus point, while the small russian figurines are staggered in front of and behind the box.
By aperture (these are NOT 100% crops):
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8, by f/11 everything starts to get into relative focus
As far as bokeh smoothness goes, the 135mm f/2.8 E displays smooth and un-distracting backgrounds at all larger apertures. Foreground bokeh is a mixed bag. At f/2.8-4, there is noticeable business and doubling that can be distracting. Once stopped down to f/5.6-8, foreground bokeh is decently smooth, an odd but welcome characteristic.
Glass Half-Full135mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/160In this real-world shot, background bokeh is pretty smooth throughout the frame. It seems as though this lens suffers from a bit of “swirly” bokeh, where the background seems to swirl in a circular motion. I don’t consider this a pro or con, as it all depends on personal taste.
Now let’s look at how this lens handles out of focus highlights, by aperture. The following are NOT 100% crops from the highlights from the decorative item in the macro set-up:
Left: f/2.8 Right: f/4
Left: f/5.6 Right: f/8
f/11, by f/16 highlights begin to turn into point sources of light
Another welcome surprise, the 135mm f/2.8 E handles out-of-focus highlights very well. From f/2.8-4, there are no rings around the highlights, and they remain a very solid color (the aperture shape begins to show at f/4). At f/5.6, it is almost as good, but rings start to appear on most point sources of light. At f/8-11, the rings aren’t as noticeable, but many of the highlights begin to get distracting artifacts in the highlight. That said, these artifacts will only be noticeable when printing very big (and in critical situations, even the harshest highlights can be fixed in Photoshop). I would still personally prefer to stay in the f/2.8-5.6 range if there were many highlights in a picture.