The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: vintage Nikon

Canon EOS 40D + Nikkor-O.C 35mm f/2 lens.

Canon EOS 40D + Nikkor-O.C 35mm f/2 lens.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor-H Auto 300mm f/4.5 lens. Opinion varies over the quality of the Nikkor-H 300mm f/4.5 lens (although everyone agrees it is exquisitely well built). Ken Rockwell rates it highly (though advises against its predecessor, the Nikkor-P which has one glass element fewer and performs less well as a result). Bjørn Rørslett, on the other hand, is only lukewarm about its prowess. Until I acquired this lens - factory AI-d, or else I wouldn't have bothered - my experience of the 300mm focal length was limited to the Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G zoom lens. That was produced in vast quantities and is flimsy and disappointing at full stretch (although a decent performer up to about 150mm). Its main attraction is its cheap price on the secondhand market, at around £50 - £60, and its featherweight effect in your bag. I spent £74 on the Nikkor-H behemoth about four years ago. It was made around 1971 and weighs in at over two-and-a-half pounds. Is it worth carrying it over fields for several miles? Probably not, but from time to time I do just that, knowing that I can shoot it wide open and still get a passable image. It doesn't ghost, either, when pointed at the sun. For this photograph it was on a full frame camera. On a D2Xs, the field of view is 450mm and 600mm in hi-speed crop mode. And if you put a TC-16A teleconverter in between you lose a lot of light but end up with the equivalent of a 720mm lens, or a 960mm field of view in hi-speed crop mode. The mind boggles! And apart from carrying a heavy D2Xs and a lens weighing over two-and-a-half pounds, you'll have shouldered a heavy-duty tripod as well, or else your trip would have been pointless. I might not do that heavy lifting too often.

Subject: Billingham camera bag. Lens: Nikkor-O.C Auto f/2 made in Japan between 1973 and 1975. Subsequently converted to AI standard. Camera: Nikon D700.

Subject: Photography magazines. Lens: Nikkor-P 105mm f/2.5 made in Japan between 1971 and 1974. Subsequently converted to AI standard. Gauss-type formula of 5 elements in 4 groups. Camera: Nikon D700.

Subject: Consumer society. Lens: Nikkor 200mm f/4 AI made in Japan between 1977 and 1981. Camera: Nikon D700.

The Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI lens provides a field of view of 42 mm on a Nikon DX SLR. All the characteristics of a wide angle lens, such as plenty of depth-of-field, are nevertheless preserved. The f/3.5 maximum aperture is a bit slow but on the plus side performance is good even wide open and impressive when stopped down. The advantage of using it on a crop sensor is that you are experiencing only the centre performance and not much of the fuzzy edges. It's interesting and fun to use a lens which for all practical purposes behaves like something between 35mm and 50mm lenses on a full frame camera. Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI lens.