Lens Comparison: Nikon Nikkor 55mm f1.2 Non-AI Versus 50mm f1.2 AIS

Not long ago, I purchased a near-mint Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS lens from my friend. This super-speed manual focus lens is still made by Nikon, and is simply beautiful. I've posted a few shots from it. (Click Here) to see some photos I made with it in the darkness, during a fire.

 

Well, for no reason other than curiosity, I just bought a much older (1970s vintage) Nikkor 55mm f1.2 Pre-AI lens. With the older lens at about half the cost of the AIS lens, I was very interested to see how the two compare. So, I mounted the 55mm lens on my Nikon Df, set the iso to 160, and began to shoot from a tripod. I shot at f1.2, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, and 8. You can click on any of the following images to see them full size on flickr.

 

Here's what the whole scene looked like (top row: 55mm f1.2 Non-AI, bottom row: 50mm f1.2 AIS):

(Click Here) to go to the full flickr set, where you can get a much better idea of how these lenses compare. Be sure to look at how the vignetting decreases on both lenses as I stop down, look at the focus points (the flowers), out of focus areas (like the lemon painting on the wall at right), and how out of focus highlights are rendered. Here are a couple of selected comparisions, at f1.2 and f4:

f1.2, 55mm Non-AI on Top, 50mm AIS on Bottom

f4, 55mm Non-AI on Top, 50mm AIS on Bottom

 

I need to look at these more closely, but immediately conclude that the sharpness doesn't differ much at all. I also see that the 55mm lens seems to let less light in at the same f-stop as the 50mm lens. This could be do to the more modern coatings on the 50mm AIS lens.

 

If you're interested in these super-fast Nikkor lenses and their history, (Click Here) to read more on Nikon's website. Great information!

 

I plan to enjoy both of these lenses. The non-AI lens will be fun to put on a matching-age Nikon F2 and shoot some film with.

 

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Fire! At the Leesburg Car Show

Yesterday, I posted some images I took after dark at the car show in Leesburg, Virginia. Just as we were leaving, one of the business buildings in town caught fire. More emergency vehicles than I knew existed in the area converged for the fun. Here are some images I made of the event, using my Nikon Df and Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS lens.

 

This is my favorite shot of the event. I love how sharp the firefighter's face is, the police car and fire truck in the foreground, and the burning building and ladder crew in the background. This one deserves a nice print.

 

Here are some other images I made in the few minutes we hung around.

 

 

My understanding is that luckily no one was injured in this fire. I feel fortunate to have had the Df and f1.2 lens with me; there wasn't much light to work with. I hope these images tell the story well!

 

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How to Take a Unique Car Show Image? Go at Night!

My friends Dennis Gallus, James McKearney, and I have been frequenting a couple of annual car shows for a few years now. This year, with Dennis moved off to Arizona and James spending more time in Boston, I didn't even know when the Leesburg car show was scheduled. It just so happened that I took my daughter into town to enjoy the evening air and came upon it, just after dark.

 

These are some of the most memorable shots I've ever made there, and it's in large part due to the darkness.

 

Night at the Carshow, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

 

Later on in the evening, we got a surprise, which I'll cover in a future post.

 

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More Men at Work - Nikon Df in Japan

Here's a guy working on the outside of a building in Ryogoku, Tokyo. Ryogoku is the home of Tokyo's sumo wrestling, and this business sells "chanko nabe," the hearty pork soup that is a mainstay of the sumo diet.

High Work #1, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 1100, f8, 1/500 sec.

 

After taking this shot from steet level, I went up to the platform at the Ryogoku train station to capture this view from a higher perspective.

 

High Work #2, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 1100, f8, 1/500 sec.

 

The Nikkor 50mm f1.2 lens functions very well as a normal lens when stopped down, though that's not normally how I'd use it. It's really purpose-built for extreme low light applications.

 

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Invited for Dinner - Japanese Style

If you're a fish, never accept an invitation to dinner in Japan...

Where Shall I Sit?, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 800, f2, 1/250 sec.

 

Fugu (Pufferfish), by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 800, f2, 1/500 sec.

 

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Today's Photos From Japan - Grill Master

Food is always one of the highlights of visiting Japan. We ate lunch at an amazing restaurant in Tokyo called Wakanui, which features grilled meats. Here's the grill master at work:

 

Grill Master, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 3200, f1.4, 1/250 sec.

 

The grill master was very impressive to watch. He used a metal probe to check the internal temperature of the meats. An electronic thermometer? Certainly not. He would insert the probe deep into the meat, then press it against his lower lip to sense the temperature with his own neurons. I like that.

 

Grill Master No. 2, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 3200, f1.4, 1/250 sec.

 

I have found myself wondering why I carry any camera other than my Lumix LX-100 when traveling. These photos are part of the answer. Shooting at f1.4 at 50mm focal length, and getting these kind of results at iso 3200 are the sole domain of the Nikon Df in my camera set. These are jpegs straight from the camera, just converted to black and white and cropped in Snapseed, on my iPad.

 

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Tokyo Nightlife, With the 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

Tokyo Nightlife, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

 

Here's a little montage of images I made while walking one of the backstreets near Monzennakacho Station in Tokyo. The 50mm f 1.2 lens not only allowed me to capture the images in near complete darkness at reasonable shutter speeds, it also allowed me to use selective focus to narrow the viewer's attention to an individual's face. I shot each of these from outside the bar's window. All of the surrounding distractions blur into the foreground or background.

 

That said, manual focusing was quite difficult. Even with the very wide aperture and a Nikon 1.2x magnifier on the Df, I missed quite a few shots. Great fun, though!

 

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Stained Glass, Mausoleums in Rock Creek Cemetery

A final post of images I made during my recent visit to Rock Creek Cemetery.

 

There are a lot of mausoleums at this cemetery, and some of them have lovely stained glass windows, usually in the rear of the building. I decided to shoot some of them using my new Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS lens. This lens allowed me to get sharp images of the stained glass, but blur the distracting front glass and iron gates of the mausoleums. I like how the shallow depth of field isolates the images from the rest of the scene.

Mausoleum Stained Glass, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens at f1.2

 

I also like the reflections of the trees in the front glass.

 

This lens provides the opportunity to do some very unique things with my images.

 

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Adams Memorial Statue by Saint-Gaudens - And Connections

Adams Memorial Statue, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS Lens

iso 100, f1.2, 1/2000 sec.

 

My friends Charlie and Bill introduced me to this beautiful piece of art in the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC. It was made by Saint-Gaudens in memory of the wife of Henry Adams, Marian "Clover" Hooper Adams.

 

The first connection with photography is the fact that Mrs. Adams perished after drinking potassium cyanide, which she normally used to process photographs. Another photographic connection is that the statue was inspired by the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kannon. Kannon (Kwannon) was the namesake of the Japanese camera company Canon.

 

Adams felt very strongly that this statue should never be named. In fact, he cursed anyone who names it. (Click Here) to read his wishes, and the full history of the memorial.

 

I am pleased with the way my new 50mm f1.2 AIS lens rendered the statue. I used out of focus regions resulting from the very thin depth of field the lens produces wide open to bring attention to the shrouded face. The hand also serves as a compositional element that leads to the face.

 

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Master of Darkness - My New Lens

Image Source: http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/mf/normal/50mmf_12/index.htm

 

I've just sprung for a new lens for my Nikon kit. It's the Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS manual focus from Nikon. They've been making it since 1981, and they still make it today.

 

I bought my very late production unit from my friend, Alain, for a great price. It's truly like new. It's also the fastest lens I own.

 

I'm hoping that it will be the perfect extreme low light lens for my Nikon Df. Given the Df's high iso capabilities, I should be able to do some incredible things with this combination.

 

I can already tell that it's tough to focus, though. The depth of field at f1.2 is just plain razor thin. But, that's the whole idea of a lens with an incredibly wide maximum aperture.

 

This lens will be going with me to Japan this spring. I can't wait to try it out in the Tokyo night time!

 

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