The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8

Ingredients: A white cellular blanket. Two old 'Amateur Photographer' magazines, one open, the other closed and revealing it dates from 1976. A plastic set-square dating from the late 1920s or early 1930s with its aperture highlighting a photograph by Patrick Lichfield of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, with other photographs by the said Lichfield also in view to confirm his photographic credentials and thus endorse the Olympus OM2 camera in the double-page advertisement. The Duke of Windsor had seven Christian names and was once the King of the United Kingdom. When 'Prince of Wales' he had been sexually adventurous which alarmed Mr Baldwin, a British Prime Minister at intervals during the 1920s and 1930s. (It is probably true to say that the British Establishment felt even greater alarm over the Prince of Wales's support for Adolf Hitler and his sympathies for Nazi philosophy). Eventually Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David had to stop being King. He went to live in Paris with Mrs Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. She on her own could be a subject for a racy dissertation much longer than this. Lester Piggott, whose photograph also appears, was a British champion jockey with a record nine Epsom Derby victories. He also had a less distinguished record of a criminal nature and served time in jail for fraud. Other famous celebrities who were photographed by Lord Lichfield are not mentioned here because they are not as famous or infamous as they might have thought they were. Patrick Lichfield inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 having previously been only Thomas Patrick John Anson. Wikipedia remarks that Lichfield “built up his own reputation, partly as a result of having access to the Royal Family”. I took this photograph using a Nikon D2Xs and a Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8. In everything I have read concerning that lens it is regarded as something inferior and fit only for amateur use. So I compared it with the professional Nikkor, the 35mm f/2, from the same period. I thought they were both very good, with one gathering more light than the other as the chief difference. After some years of owning both, I sold the expensive professional one and kept the cheap amateur one.

On a full-frame camera the 35mm focal length is an alternative standard lens to the ubiquitous 50mm. It’s usually not as fast, but it has other qualities. Far more than the 50mm lens, the 35mm is the all-purpose universal optic capable of photographing landscapes, portraits, and groups of people. It imbues your pictures with a sense of your involvement, as though you were there in the thick of it. It provides context for your subject by showing their environment and activity. Like a 50mm, it is mostly free of distortion, but the depth-of-field is greater, making automatic focus less important, particularly if you stop down a bit. This particular 35mm lens dates from around 1971. It has been converted to AI standard and therefore works nicely on a modern digital camera like the D700 - without the conversion it might have broken the AI follower tab in the camera (some old lenses fit alright; some modern digital cameras don’t have an AI tab to break: it’s a subject ripe for research). It lacks contemporary lens coatings but against that, it’s light, small, exceptionally well engineered and built to last. The filter size is 52mm which was the Nikkor standard for ages, and affordable too. The contrast it gives is decent, and its resolution is acceptable, maybe even good when stopped down a bit. Best of all, its handling and wonderfully retro appearance make me feel like a proper photographer, which is misleading, but fun.

I continue to provide accommodation for an old Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 dating from 1971. Occasionally I ask it to pay its rent by pointing it in some random direction. Photographed with a Nikon D700. F/8; 1/400th.

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. Nikon D700 + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens from c.1971.

The contrasting patterns took my eye. Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens on a Nikon D2Xs.

I bought this lens from a company specialising in secondhand photographic equipment of all brands. Shortly afterwards I saw and purchased an f/2 Nikkor-O.C 35mm from another company, and so I used the first lens only infrequently. Later still I entrusted it, along with a batch of other kit, to the company I had bought it from originally to sell on my behalf at their usual rate of commission. To my surprise, they said the lens was faulty; they could not offer it for sale; however to save return carriage costs they would add it to their 'recycling' box for disposal. As you can see, I paid for its return. It works very nicely despite dating from 1971.

Interior shot of The Castle, Mount Pleasant, Bradford on Avon, photographed with a Canon EOS 30D and a vintage Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens.

Canon EOS 30D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens.

Canon EOS 30D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 + TelePlus MC7 2X Tele-Macro converter.

Canon EOS 30D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 + TelePlus MC7 2X Tele-Macro converter.

Canon EOS 30D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 + TelePlus MC7 2X Tele-Macro converter.

Canon EOS 30D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 + TelePlus MC7 2X Tele-Macro converter.

Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

Discovered in an old book: 'Feather' by Ruby M. Ayres, 1936. Canon EOS 40D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens.

The T-shirt has Che with a red star in his beret. How exciting. Canon EOS 40D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens.

Canon EOS 40D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens.

The model was one of the late John Hedgecoe's and features on the dust jacket of his 'New Manual of Photography'. The glass dish once contained a Gü pudding. Canon EOS 40D + Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens.