Nikon 20mm f2.8 AIS manual focus lens Sharpness testing

The Nikon lens in this blog is not a new lens, it is super old and oldschool, it has no auto focus, no in camera aperture control,  no zoom or auto conformation.  Its not nearly as sharp as modern day lenses but for some reason I love it. 

explanation after the break

Someone told me that the reason i like this lens is the same as why some people love manual cars compared to automatics.  Its that personal control, the fact that you know that the image you have made is all by your actions and not due to the camera automatically doing anything for you.  It is truly your image!

Here is one of my favourite shots I took with this lens on my nikon d300 of a deer at Nara Park in Japan.

Being that it is an f2.8 you do still get a good bit of a nice bokeh (mushy background)

It is a small lens, but quite weighty. Its optics are quite simple but very good.

It's a full frame lens which works even better on a crop sensor camera but yet it is a wide angle lens on a full frame

This lens because it is only able to focus through your eye, having good eye sight helps but also so does having live view on your camera.  If you are planning on doing any form of portrait stuff with this lens make sure you  are shooting in good light and also you have it on a camera with live view and you have that attached to a tripod.

Its focus ring when rotated feels wonderfully smooth and in a truly photographic geek way it feels sexy.

There is a newer version of this lens that is on sale, Ill put the link to that at the bottom, but it seems actually buying this lens anywhere is near impossible.  I had to get mine in a second hand camera store in Osaka Japan. there it cost me around £380.   Which from the links below seems to be the same price as it is for the new one (here it is in pounds then dollars)

Here is the review of the lens on video

Here is the video of the sharpness test with my Nikon d300

and here is a little video of Me and Kim in the house made with this lens and the canon 550d





And here is a video of its sharpness on a full frame nikon D700