Post 56: Nikon 105mm f/2.5 AIs review

When I was first considering getting the Nikon 105mm f/2.5 AIs, the first thing that caught my attention was how many people were claiming this was one of Nikon's best lenses ever made. This information in addition to the price, which I think was less than $150 used, persuaded me to order the lens.

I haven't used the lens a whole lot, mostly because it's a manual focus lens. I could turn the focus ring all day, though. If you haven't owned a manual focus lens, you probably don't know what I'm talking about. If you have, then you know exactly what I'm talking about, and can relate. The amount of resistance the focus ring has is perfect, and feels right. This lens is also mostly, if not all, metal, which makes it feel solid. It's pretty small relative to current lenses for it's focal length. It's probably about the size of an 18-55mm, and 10 times the weight. 

As I said before, I don't use this lens all that much. I'm hoping to change that, though. My biggest concern is missing focus with this lens. I remember I used it to take headshots once, and there were three or four photos that I would have loved to use, but they were too out of focus. I ended up having to use a photo that wasn't necessarily my first choice. One thing that could help avoid missing focus is stopping the lens down to gain a little more depth of field. Obviously, this isn't an option if you're shooting and want to blow the background out, which this lens does beautifully.

This lens annihilates distracting backgrounds with creamy, buttery, bokeh. Sometimes older lenses don't have nice smooth, desirable bokeh. This isn't one of those times. 

I can't tell how sharp this lens is wide open, because I can't tell if the photos are soft, or out of focus because of me. I was able to produce some acceptable photos wide-open at f/2.5, though, which doesn't always happen with lenses. Stopped down, this lens is tack-sharp, but then you miss out on that delicious bokeh that I'm apparently obsessed with. 

Something else I found surprising with this lens is the lack of chromatic aberration. I haven't shot outside with this lens yet, so that might make a difference.

If I lost this lens, I would probably buy it again. As far as I can tell, this lens produces great photos wide open with pleasing bokeh, little chromatic aberration, and for little money. These lenses can be had for almost nothing, and I would absolutely consider them a steal. If you don't own a lens close to this focal length, you would be doing yourself a favor by picking one of these classic lenses up.

Photos were all shot at f/2.5.

Edit: One of the benefits of being a Nikon shooter is to have access to these old lenses. There are a number of older lenses out there that are "dated" because of new technology that still perform quite well. Since these lenses are older though, they can often be bought for next to nothing. Canon shooters aren't quite as lucky. I was just reading something, and apparently because Nikon has used the F-mount system since 1959, that gives us Nikon shooters over 400 options for lenses.

Another thing I was just reading was "National Geographic's" "Afghan Girl" was taken using a Nikon 105mm f/2.5. For those of you who don't know, that photo is a pretty well known cover photo from the 80s.

Edit, Round Two: That's 400 different Nikkor lenses. So that doesn't include all of the third-party glass, like Tamron, Sigma, and Tokina.