Nikon Micro-Nikkor Auto 55mm 1:3.5 Non-Ai Lens (f/3.5)

Overall Rating:

This lens was introduced in 1968 and it's made in Japan. This was a time before aspherical and ED elements. It was also a time before multi-coating. It is single-coated, of course. This is a pre-Ai lens with a scalloped focus collar and this particular copy was factory AI'd using AI kit number 63. This is not the version with the chrome nose but otherwise looks identical with a black nose. This and the chrome-nosed version have a compensating diaphragm which increases in size as the lens is focused toward 1:2 (macro). This lens is supposedly optimized for near focus as opposed to infinity focus. This was before Nikon produced lenses with close-range-correction (CRC). This particular lens is marked in feet only, some where marked in meters only.

Performance

Lens is quite sharp for macro shots even wide open, and this little 56 year old lens holds its own against today's high resolution digital sensors. There is pretty much no vignetting.

There is almost no color fringing and the corners look great. Center and corner detail (f/5.6) at 3-to-1:

There appears to be no distortion and there is little flaring, but very minor ghosting is a problem.

Diffraction has begun by f/8.

The lens does not exhibit focus breathing. Use a depth of field calculator with it.

Infrared

This lens is great for infrared photography.

Bokeh

The bokeh is fair just like the Ai-S version.

Construction

Because this lens stops at infinity focus, it makes focusing at infinity a breeze. This can not be said for Nikon's current lenses which focus beyond infinity.

This lens has a focus and depth of field scale that's very useful and it has an infrared focus index.

The quality of this old manual focus lens is impeccable. It is not prone to attracting dust inside and it, well, extrudes quality. The focus throw is about 300° so it makes critical focus easy.

Specifications

Images

Related links:

• Nikon Nikkor Lens Reviews
• All Lens Reviews