I am currently having an affair with a Asahi Optical 28mm, but to be honest, I think I want my Nikkor back on the camera. That lens is hard to beat and your experience just reinforces that. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

@@davidsaylors I own and use seven Asahi Optical lenses (28/35/50/105/135/200/300mm) on Asahi Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLRs. Asahi Pentax makes great lenses for a reasonable price. I use them as a substitute when I know I will be shooting in a hostile environment where my expensive Nikon or Leica equipment is likely to be lost, stolen, or damaged.

That is a good point. I have a few but that are simply wonderful little lenses. What I like about the current 28mm I am using , it has. 5 bladed aperture and is the f3.5 variant so it is light weight too. I shoot stopped down most of the time, so f3.5 means very little to me. Love it.

I have the Nikkor ais 28mm f/2 which is an even better lens then the 2.8 version especially wide open I’ve even compared it to my Sony 35mm f/1.4 gm 😲 it holds up very well.

Now that is funny! I have been found!!! Time traveling is a specialty of mine, I dont tell many about it though. LOL

@@davidsaylors Ah, i do recall you mentioning that in a few years ;)

Sweet! Mine is in the bag right now! It is on the short list of glass I keep with me. Thanks!!

Yes, this lens is a magical piece of kit. Sounds like you have the video rigs worked out too. Nicely done. 👍📸

Thank you! I always dread that long flight, but it wasnt too bad. Good to be back home!

I also own these lenses and I love them. Try the 135/2.8, it's a Killer :-)

Thank you, I need that 105 to go with my others!!! Haha. I shot lightning withyhe 50mm f1.8 too lol. How funny.

I grabbed a 105 off of eBay today. I have the 135mm f2.8 series E and I love it. I will look around for the Ai-s too. Thanks!

David Saylors awesome, you won't regret that 105

Thank you! I really enjoy making videos and using vintage camera gear. The accent is a bonus. 😂 tell all your friends! Lol. Actually, I enjoy it when people find my little channel and say things like this. I really appreciate it. 👊👍

It certainly is 👍😉

Sweet! This is a gem of a little lens, you will love it. As for the accent...that’s free. 😜

I have to agree and I have had a lot of Nikkor glass over the years. 👍📸

Glad it was helpful and thank you for the kind words!!! 👍📸

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!!!👍😉📸📸

Cheers David, all the way from New Zealand.

That is a place I have always wanted to visit!!! 😳😳😳 Maybe I will get to if they ever get over Covid...🙄🤷🏻‍♂️

David Saylors the state’s capacity to isolate itself from the world is very limited, and the borders must and will open soon, else much of the economy (which is partly based on tourism and partly based on agriculture) will collapse. Hit me up if you happen to come this way, I live in South Island of New Zealand, near all the most scenic parts of the country. Cheers, Leo

Awesome! Thank you! I will catalog that and do my best! 👍📸

That sounds a lot like my experience with these old workhorse lenses. I have not gotten a 35mm yet, butI have been looking at them some, but really just don't know how much I would use a 35 with the 28mm being so good... eBay is my arch nemesis HAHA! I keep finding things on there that gets me in trouble with the wife! Doesn't really stop me though, LOL. Please let me know when your lens comes in, how you like it! Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it!

Haha - yes, same thing with my wife (don't show this post to her...)! The relatively low price of some of these lenses is almost irresistible to me considering the overall quality and durability. I've read/seen information about the 35 AI-S lenses, but I already have a 35mm 1.8G lens for my D7000, and for a plastic lens, it really can't be beat. So unless it breaks, I'm going be satisfied with it.

Ok, got the lens but though it was described as "Near Mint," the focus ring had completely lost its smooth, "damped" feel, which is too bad because otherwise it seemed to be in excellent condition. It's on its way back to the seller, so it's time to find a new one on eBay. Stay tuned...

Update - I did finally get a really nice example of this 28mm 2.8 AI-S lens on eBay. $225 is what I paid, which is a little more than I wanted to pay but I found that if you pay less, you're more than likely going to get an example of this lens with a focus ring that's just not buttery smooth, like the one you have. I bought two of them for about $150 each, but neither of them had that nice, smooth focus ring, so back to the seller they went. So for a few extra bucks, I'm definitely happy with the one I now have. And you're really spot on in that it's a great walk-around lens. The perfect focal length for a crop sensor camera, like my D7000. I've only played with it now for a few weeks, but I really never find that 28mm is too restrictive for me. In other words, 28mm is plenty wide enough for most circumstances. When I put the camera up to my eye, "it" sees pretty much what I see, so I'm more than likely to get everything into the picture frame that I want to. No distortion that I can see, and man, is it sharp! In a month or so, we're going to be vacationing in the Virgin Islands, and I'm pretty sure this lens is going to be glued to my camera most of the time. Thanks for posting your review of this lens, and I hope that folks who want to expand their photo hobby in the direction of these quality lenses consider picking up one of these even before picking up a 50mm AI-S lens.

@@GreginMD Glad you're happy. The lens is really sharp. Personally I was a bit flush and decided to treat myself to a new one so there wouldn't be any worries about its condition. (Recently bought a 35mm Nikon on Ebay described as "near mint" by the seller and found the grease had dried up and the focus ring jitters and binds as you turn it. The seller refunded my money and let me keep the lens, but it'll take what I originally paid to get it cleaned and regreased. Grr!) It's not expensive compared to modern designs of equal quality, and I expect it to be a go-to lens for both still and video stuff. I'm coming to the conclusion that if Nikon still manufactures a manual focus lens, it's because it's a hell of a good one.

Your English is fine! I don’t know Russian at all!!! 🤷🏻‍♂️ I will try to run it through Google later and see what it says poorly translated 😬🤷🏻‍♂️ Thank you!!! That 180mm is a beautiful lens too, you will love it! 👍📸

Yep. I have both and it is hard to tell the difference. I love them both.

Only close up shot will show the difference. Try to shoot a flat object like newspaper fine prints. I had both about 15yr ago, kept AIS version longer than Ai because of that.

Yes, under certain conditions it would be more prevalent and would cause problems. I feel this is probably why Nikon did the overhaul on the design and gave us the Ai-S version. Thanks!!!👍📸

People can get a little nuts about sharpness but I adapt a lot of these vintage lenses to crop-sensor cameras and I feel I get better results with lenses that start out with outstanding sharpness.

I have several E series lenses as well and they are really great... for the most part. That is one of the little known secrets to Nikon gear. Thank you for your time!!!

Not yet, it is coming next. I am going to use the D810 as well as the A7ii with an adapter for that. Thanks!!!

David Saylors thank you , I look forward to it .😎

Kelly B what 24mm are you shooting with? I have a D series and it's not at all sharp, I'm thinking I got a bad copy

bassangler73, Nikkor AF-S 1.8 ED. It's very sharp with no distortion that I can see :) feels cheap but performs well.

Kelly B thanks

From what little time I have messed with it, I am rapidly falling in love with it. Grab a copy off of ebay, it is much more reasonably priced there and there is a lot of them! .

Wow! That is awesome! Thank you!

I personally don’t worry about corner sharpness. It just doesn’t seem to matter to me. I deliberately shoot at slower shutter speeds to induce motion blur in a lot of my photos so it has never been a large factor in my photography. I do watch for vignette issues though as dark corners are something I notice. I do prefer the 28mm Ai-S though as it does have a wonderful look to it. It is one of my all time favorite vintage Nikkor lenses. Especially on APSC cameras.

I have used it. It has developed some haze since I made this video though😞 So till I learn how to dismantle and clean it, it is out of commission.

@@davidsaylors Haze and fungus are definitely an issue. I placed a bid on a 35mm camera lens on eBay. Then I discovered it had fungus on the lens. Fortunately someone outbid me. I'm also searching for a tool kit and want to learn how to disassemble old Nikon lenses. I appreciate your videos.

771431 👍📸

That is a great question, I did put a later video about something like this. Where I compared a few 28mm lenses... did you find it?

I like them both, but tend to lean towards 28mm for more things these days. Kinda odd to be honest, but I seem to move around on focal length. 👍📸

@@davidsaylors I use a Nikon 24mm 2.8 af on my Nikon D300s. Fast focus, sharp and 36mm equivalent. Ideal for street point and shoot.

I personally would get the 28mm, to me it has more versatility than the 24…

@@davidsaylors thanks David, much appreciated.

@@quiztasiarocks your welcome!!!

I have not tried one of the f2 versions yet. From all my research, it is honestly not quite as good as the f2.8 version. You do get another stop of light, which is good, but that isn’t really worth all that much to me. I would just use the f2.8 version and spend the other money left over on another lens. 😬👊📸

@@davidsaylors let me ask you one more question. All 28mm, 2.8, AI-S, Nikkor lenses that I have found on sale in Brazil, are series E. Can I buy it, or it's not the same?

That is a different lens, it is not the same as the Ai-S version. Check and see if it is ok in your country to order lenses from Japan on eBay. we get them here and the fee is minimal if any at all, they usually add it to the shipping and that is about 20$USD... It takes about 2 or 3 weeks for the lens to arrive though... so that is part of the problem there, but normally it is cheaper... I hope this helps and good luck on your search! To be honest, the f2 version will work really well, if you can get one of those for reasonable money, just do that.

The Ai-s lenses have a few improvements over the older Ai variants. A really good resource here is this website. www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikortek.htm he does a great job explaining the differences between the variations. 👍

Generally nothing but the AIS 28 was redesigned from the AI and is superior.

Some of the older glass will have this problem from time to time and I dont know how to fix it... I have seen it with a couple of my lenses too. Hope someone can help you soon.

@@davidsaylors thx a lot i have spent two nights for this prolly already yet I can't find discussion about this

wang ho yu sometimes it is the stacking tolerance between the camera and the lens or it could be that the grease on the helicoid is hardened and built up at the end of the focus track, preventing it from going all the way to the end of the travel. Have you tried using it a short extension ring? That should push the lens a little further from the camera.