Question regarding AI Lens

S

sharry

Well-known member
Hey all. I just bought a Nikon D7100 and now I am buying lenses. I had my eyes on the AI series specifically: 28 f2, 35 f2 and 50 f1.4. However, I just saw a pre AI 50mm f2. I know I can't mount it as it is not compatible with any nikon camera. I saw it at a store that sells used equipment and that is the only lens he had of this era. When I focus it the focus barrel move. Does it happen with the AI and the AIs series as well? Wouldn't that cause focus problems with follow focus attached?
 
The barrel moving is probably not going to be a problem. I have a Nikon 105mm f2.5 AIS lens and the focus barrel moves. All I did was put two follow focus rings right next to each other on the lens instead of one. As long as their teeth match up, which is pretty easy to do, it works fine. The FF's gear starts on one of the lens gears and slowly moves to the other one. BTW I really like the D|Focus gears that you can buy at www.jag35.com. Hope that helps a bit.
 
Bobby, the lenses that I am looking at are 28 f2, 35 f2 and 50 f1.4 (all AI). Any experience with them on their focus barrel movement? I have seen other lenses like Contax Zeiss and from the pictures, it seems that the focus barrel would move when being focused? So I am guessing I just creating fuss on something very minor which won't bother me at all. The only reason that I am going towards the AI is that they are cheaper but have longer focus throws. Somebody at reduser told me that his 28 2.0 AI did not bother him while focusing. But I just want to double check.
 
im using all nikons f1.4 to f2. The barrel will go in and out on some of them, but in a minor way and you should not really worry about it.
 
Only an issue with zooms, really. And pancake-ish lenses can be a pain simply because the focus ring is so small, it's hard to get gears to stay on and straight. Never had trouble with gears coming even close to out of touch. Every gear I own is about 1/4" wide, that's plenty. But with some of my smaller primes, like the 50mm 1.8 and 28mm 2.8's, the ring is narrow enough that the gear can pop off or twist a little. But tighten them too much and focusing gets pretty stiff...

There's a taiwan or china seller on eBay doing rings that look exactly like RedRock, but they're $15 or so, and get here in a week. I like 'em much better than the rings that use bolts as standoffs.
 
Thanks Michael. What do you have to say about zip tie gears more specifically the half inch rails. I like them for their simplicity and sleek design thst takes less space aswell.
 
The majority of my lenses are manual Nikkors and I have a pre-AI 50mm F2 Nikkor. I think that it is a POS lens. It is noticeably very much less sharp than the rest of my Nikkors at the wider apertures, has some funky issues with contrast and color, compared to similar Nikkors, and has very unpleasant flaring. If you want a manual Nikkor 50mm I would say get the F1.4 pre-AI. That is one of my favorite lenses. There is a F1.2 Nikkor 50mm but they command premium prices, even used. The F1.4 pre-AI 50mm is sharp, even wide open (The sweet spot is around F2.0, but wide open is still nice), has beautiful contrast, color rendition, a bit of highlight blooming that I find very pleasant and nice brokeh. I am not a huge fan of the 50mm focal length; my Nikkor AI 35mm F2.8 is my "Normal" lens and my favorite prime focal length, but I do love the 50mm F1.4 for available light portraiture. The barrel movement on the 50mm F2 is the least of its problems, IMO, there are a lot of still lens that have that issue, I just don't think that the pre-AI Nikkor 50mm F2 is a good lens.
 
sharry said:
Thanks Michael. What do you have to say about zip tie gears more specifically the half inch rails. I like them for their simplicity and sleek design thst takes less space aswell.
Click to expand...

I've never used one - to me they just seem kind of ugly and pasted-on. With lens gears so cheap now, the "real thing" is very nice - and for smaller lenses, you can get the gear closer to the FF vs. the zip gears, since the rings have a fair amount of offset.

There are times I've had to flip my FF to the other side of the rails, and just loosening the ring and rotating it quickly is very handy, too (since the tightening bolt can end up in the way).

By the way, if you FF doesn't have stops, these are killer and cheap:

clip.jpg
 
If it is possible, Michael, can you post a picture of your lens with the gear you have on the focus ring?
 
This is the only shot I have in my attachments here for now... T2i mounted to a slider screwed to a ceiling with ropes and pulleys. Ring is the blue gear, but the FF isn't installed for this setup. (there's also a cheap eBay wide-angle adapter on the lens, which had the grooviest chromatic aberrations and ****-soft corners... but it was gorgeous for this shoot...

rig1.jpg
 
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