Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8

I've had a succession of secondhand D50 cameras. I sold the last one recently. This photograph was an opportunity to give it an outing with a manual Nikkor-H 85mm lens. I read somewhere that unused digital cameras get sulky when left in cupboards and refuse to work properly after a period of neglect. I have seen this with horses who have spent too long without exercise. Could it be true also of cameras? The D50 is a great instrument for recording events without worrying about the welfare of the camera or breaking your back carrying it around. I often used mine with a 28-80mm lens rescued from an old Nikon F-55. Neither camera nor lens cost much secondhand and I made many nice pictures with them.

Nikkor-H Auto 85mm f/1.8 lens.

I bid successfully on eBay for an old Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 lens. They made this lens from 1964 until 1975 and then inexplicably replaced it with a lens universally agreed to be its inferior (a bit like the Ford Motor Company when it replaced the Escort in 1990; you can probably think of other good examples of bad marketing). The construction quality, fit and finish of this lens is exquisite. Nothing like this is made now and even the current lens offerings will mostly be gone before this lens breaks. If you want to safely use a lens like this on a Nikon digital camera which isn’t ‘entry level’ you need to check it has been modified to AI compatibility, or you could wreck your camera. None of them was ever made to the new standard which Nikon introduced in 1977. It was a lens like this that David Hemmings used to photograph Veruschka in the studio scenes of the 1966 film ‘Blow-Up’. You can appreciate therefore that owning a lens like this will enhance your style credentials as well as instantly make you a better photographer.

Via an adapter, this picture was made with a Nikon lens on a Canon EOS camera. Sometimes I do seemingly perverse things like this to reinvigorate myself.

Working with a Nikkor-H Auto 85mm f/1.8 lens made sometime between 1964 and 1972 and on the day I made this photograph rather perversely mounted on a Canon digital camera via an adapter. The field of view was thus more like 135mm in old money. Processed in Lightroom.

Entering a dark monochrome period. Using a Nikkor-H 85mm lens on an old Canon digital EOS. No idea why. This is a massive crop, a conversion from colour to B&W, a processing excursion with all the sliders. No idea why.

Photographed with a Nikkor-H Auto 85mm f/1.8 lens mounted via an adapter on a Canon EOS 30D camera.

Canon EOS 30D with a Nikkor-H Auto 85mm f/1.8 lens via an adapter.

Working with a Nikkor-H Auto 85mm f/1.8 lens made sometime between 1964 and 1972 and on the day I made this photograph rather perversely mounted on a Canon digital camera via an adapter. The field of view was thus more like 135mm in old money. Processed in Lightroom. 100 ISO. 1/125th sec.