One of those old gems: the Nikkor 35 f1.4 - there is no equivalent in the current offering.
The old Nikkor AIS lenses are manual focus lenses which can easily be used on the Nikon semi-pro and pro camera's (D200, D2X(s), D2h(s)). I am using a number of those lenses on my D200. There is an option in the menus to define the type of lens you are using (you have to set the focal length and the maximum aperture) - that option can be assigned to the function button on the camera - this is what I have done to make lens switching very easy. When this is done, you can use the aperture ring on the lens and the camera will detect the selected aperture and display it on the camera display. The camera will be able to measure and to expose correctly in aperture priority mode. Full manual mode is of course available as well.
Those lenses are then working very well and give a good old times feeling (using focus and aperture rings on the lens).
The biggest advantage is that those old lenses are relatively cheap and that you can find super fast, pro quality glass at a reasonable price. A number of very fast lenses were available in AIS version and have not been converted to AF.
This specific lens is an excellent fast prime, a pity it does not exist in an AF version. The only lens coming close currently on the market is the Sigma 30mm 1.4 HSM, but this is a DX format only lens. It allows to take pictures in very low light (the extra stop really helps for night photography), on the other hand, the aperture results in extremely shallow DOF, making focusing a challenge. Picture quality is excellent from f2 and above and very good even fully open. The lens is definitely a bit softer fully open and also exhbits a bit of color aberration but nothing to be much worried about.
Pros
Cons
A few examples:
The lens used closed down to f2.8
