The old Nikkor 24mm f2.0 AIS manual lens


One of those old gems: the Nikkor 24 f2.0 - 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), D3(00)). 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 little bit soft fully open, with a lack of contrast and some flare and CA (this might sound very negative, but pictures are still acceptable). Performance is getter much better if the lens is closed down a bit. This is my favorite on a film camera (F5). I will be able to post some more feedback when I'll have the D3.

Pros

Cons

A few examples:

The lens used closed down to f8 (shot with the F5, film scanned with the Coolscan V)