Home › Forums › Legacy lenses › Nikon AI 300mm f/4.5 IF-ED › Reply To: Nikon AI 300mm f/4.5 IF-ED
Anthony
Hi Viktor,
I’ve just come across your test shots of the FD 24-35 L taken from your roof. I see what you mean about the corners (also the edges). I was quite impressed with the way you cleaned up the images of the FD 20-35 L. That seems to be a better lens and not much more expensive.
Thinking it through, I think I’ll be fine with just the SEL1018 giving me 15-27mm on an A6000, then using a 35 or 40 along with my other primes on my A7R.
Do you take your 200/2 and 400/2.8 out at the same time? That’s nearly 6.5 kgs on their own! I think I could manage that for a day trip, but not sure if I could do that for a couple of weeks. That’s why I’m looking at 300 f/4 lenses.
By the way, you’re right about my Nikon AI 300/4.5 IFED suffering with shutter shock on my A7R. My tests are conclusive. Anything from 0.5 secs to 1/100th gets terribly blurred. I’ve not yet worked out the upper speed that still suffers from it. But longer exposures of 1.5-30 secs are fine.
Wide open at f/4.5 the lens is blurry soft (unusable IMHO), but it’s sharp enough at f/5.6 and satisfyingly sharp at f/8 on my A7R. With a TC-14A, I have no hesitation of using it at f/8 (f/11) and f/5.6 is okay if not pixel-peeping, but forget f/4.5.
I’ve not yet checked its bokeh, CA or fall off, but I like its saturated colours. I’ve decided not to send it back, because I got it very cheap and should make money on it. For the time being, it will suffice, while I wait for a reasonably priced Canon FD 300/4L to turn up.