Assessment: Nikon Nikkor 105mm 2.5 Ai – The Portrait Tele Bestseller

Introduction

Some lenses turned well-known as a result of they’re uncommon and/or costly. Neither is the case for the Nikon Nikkor 105mm 2.5 Ai. The truth is – from the early 70s to the mid 80s – Nikon made a whole lot of them, it was by far their finest promoting brief tele prime. Why was that? And are there nonetheless good causes to make use of this lens right now? Let’s discover out on this evaluation.

Pattern Photographs

A lot of the pattern photos on this evaluation may be present in full decision right here.

Specs / Model Historical past

There have been a plethora of variations of Nikon’s 105mm 2.5 lens. The sooner pre-Ai lenses used a Sonnar design whereas the newest pre-Ai variations in addition to this Ai and in addition the newest Ai-s model use a Xenotar design. I’m reviewing an Ai model right here which has the next specs:

• Diameter: 65 mm
• Size: 69 mm
• Weight: 418g (measured)
• Discipline of view: 23.2° (diagonally)
• Filter Diameter: 52 mm
• Variety of Aperture Blades: 7 (barely rounded)
• Components/Teams: 5/4
  
• Shut Focusing Distance: 1.0 m
• Most Magnification: 1:7.6 (measured)
• Mount: Nikon F

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Historical past

If you wish to know extra concerning the growth and the historical past of this lens it’s best to first take a look at Nikkor – The Thousand and One Nights – No. 5: Nikon 105mm 2.5.

I reviewed some unique Nikon lenses already (e.g. the Nikon AF 28mm 1.4 D) however that is on the opposite finish of the spectrum: it was Nikon’s finest promoting portrait tele lens for many years and greater than half one million have been made (virtually 160.000 of this Ai model alone).

As of late nobody is making new 105mm 2.5 lenses anymore, as a result of now you may make sooner/fancier portrait lenses with excessive picture high quality at reasonably priced costs. So right now nobody actually will get excited when seeing a 105mm 2.5 lens. The massive profit of those average specs: it was truly potential to fabricate a excessive performing lens with these specs within the Nineteen Seventies.

Dealing with / Construct High quality

This 105mm 2.5 has the standard construct high quality of Nikon’s Ai lenses: all metallic physique with engraved writings, colourful aperture stops and DoF scale.

The main focus ring has a really good and even resistance. It takes precisely 180° from the minimal focus distance of 1.0 m to infinity.

The aperture ring can be typical for Nikon’s lenses: equidistantly spaced full-stop click on stops and the aperture ring near the digicam physique. The aperture ring may be moved very barely previous the f/2.5 mark, which I’m not an enormous fan of.

There are precise a number of lens hoods that match this lens. I as soon as purchased the Nikon HS-4 to make use of ony my Voigtländer 180mm 4.0, however this 105mm 2.5 is likely one of the lenses it has truly been designed for. It may possibly even be hooked up reversed.

Like a lot of the Nikon lenses from this period it options the standard 52 mm filter thread.

Vignetting

Mild falloff

As of late I normally use/evaluation sooner brief tele lenses and I’m not certain I got here throughout even one with lower than 2 EV vignetting at its most aperture. This Nikon 105mm 2.5 has very low vignetting figures, from f/5.6 it’s truly non-existent anymore.

It is strongly recommended to take a look at this text first to get an concept how this brightness graph works.

Optical vignetting

Quick lenses normally present a noticeable quantity of optical vignetting, particularly so the compact ones. With out going an excessive amount of into technical particulars optical vignetting results in the truncation of sunshine circles in the direction of the borders of the body.
Within the middle of the body virtually each lens will render an ideal circle, however solely lenses with very low optical vignetting will maintain this form within the corners.
So within the following comparability we transfer from the middle (left) to the acute nook (proper) and see how the form of the sunshine circle adjustments.

Sony A7rII | Nikon 105mm 2.5 | 1.2 m focus distance

The Nikon 105mm 2.5 exhibits a really typical efficiency on this class. Already stopped right down to f/4.0 we see the straight aperture blades producing heptagons.

Sharpness

Focus shift

50% crops, Sony A7rII

There’s a little little bit of focus shift with this lens, however most likely not sufficient to fret about when utilizing a decrease decision digicam and even movie.

If you’re utilizing a better decision digicam it is perhaps a good suggestion to double verify focus at working aperture within the f/2.8 to f/4.0 vary with liveview if potential.

Infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)

What can we count on from a 50 years outdated lens right here? First we want to bear in mind it is a unit focus lens and unit focus lenses can solely be optimized for one distance. And by my expertise, for portrait lenses, that normally wasn’t infinity, as a result of these are sometimes conditions the place you’ll be able to cease the lens down a bit.

Between f/2.5 and f/4.0 we do see noticeable shade aberrations, additionally within the middle of the body. Midframe and corners are additionally a bit softer.

Peak throughout body efficiency is reached by f/8.0, however f/5.6 follows carefully behind and is subsequently the aperture setting I used for lots of images centered at or near infinity.

That is truly efficiency, however when utilizing a excessive decision digicam and taking a look at 100% crops after all fashionable lenses will look higher, particularly at wider apertures. However with out a direct comparability, do I discover the photographs I took with this lens at f/5.6 missing? Not likely.

Portrait 2.6 m (42mp Sony A7rII)

For portraiture it isn’t so necessary how flat the sector is, it’s extra fascinating to see what the sharpness is like when centered at totally different components of the body to take subject curvature out of the equation.

We can be taking a look at 100% crops from the 42mp Sony A7rII.

f/2.5 <—> f/4.0

Sony A7rII | Nikon 105mm 2.5 | 100% crops

That is roughly the main target distance I might count on a lens like this to be optimized for, and judging by the Moiré we see it does appear to fulfill my expectations.

The lens is barely softer at f/2.5 than at f/4.0, however I by no means felt the photographs taken at f/2.5 within the subject have been missing acuity.

Shut 1.0 m, 1:7.6 (42mp Sony A7rII)

Sony A7rII | Nikon 105mm 2.5 | refocused for each shot

A most magnification of 1:7.6 is definitely not dangerous for a brief portrait tele, I didn’t count on that to be sincere.

Clearly this lens contains a moderately easy unit focus design, so if you’re in search of excessive decision photos it’s a good suggestion to cease down a bit, however on movie, I’m not even certain individuals observed this.

Flare resistance

The Nikon 105mm 2.5 is from the Nineteen Seventies. You shouldn’t have excessive hopes right here.

With the solar exterior the body veiling flare will usually result in a major lack of distinction. In some conditions I additionally encountered rainbow artefacts and even odd streaks.

With the solar contained in the body additionally ghosts can seem. Right here the efficiency is definitely higher than I might have anticipated, however the low aspect (and particularly low group) depend might need helped right here, as there should not many air-to-glass surfaces.

A really typical efficiency for a lens from that period.

Coma

100% crops from excessive nook, centered on middle, Sony A7rII

I don’t suppose astrophotography is a typical software for this lens, however a really excessive quantity of coma can nonetheless simply wreck blue hour or nightly cityscapes. Surprisingly this aberration is corrected very nicely. As we noticed within the sharpness part, stopping right down to f/5.6 remains to be advisable for superb picture high quality within the corners.

Distortion

This lens doesn’t have any subject related distortion. In any case, it comes from a time whenever you couldn’t simply appropriate this on a pc.

Bokeh

In terms of bokeh there may be high quality and amount. As it’s 2024 – and as of late we even have 105mm 1.4 lenses – when it comes to amount this lens gained’t blow your socks off, however that doesn’t imply it ain’t able to producing a delightful out of focus rendering.

I used to be truly pleasantly stunned by this lens’ respectable minimal focus distance of 1.0 m. Whereas sharpness isn’t tremendous excessive at f/2.5 I normally discovered it to be respectable sufficient at these distances.

The 2 photos above even have structured backgrounds the place some lenses would battle, however this Nikon does create pleasing out of focus backgrounds.

After all this lens isn’t for these which might be in search of the shallowest depth of subject, but it surely nonetheless exhibits a stable efficiency on this class

Sunstars

Sony A7rII | Nikon 105mm 2.5 | slight crops

This 105mm 2.5 options 7 largely straight aperture blades. The alignment of the blades isn’t actually nice, which results in rays with uneven lengths. Not precisely what I like.
If you wish to know extra about sunstar rendering of various lenses take a look at this text.

Chromatic aberration

Lateral

100% crops from nook, Sony A7rII

In comparison with right now’s lenses this Nikon 105mm 2.5 has a moderately easy optical design. To my shock lateral CA should not actually a difficulty. What remains to be there may be simple to appropriate in submit with only one click on, e.g. in Lightroom.

Longitudinal

Sony A7III | Nikon 105mm 2.5

Oh nicely. At its most aperture this lens produces robust longitudinal CA. The scene above is a stress take a look at, however remember these should not crops, you might be truly taking a look on the full photos. As you too can see, stopping right down to f/4.0 makes an enormous distinction, but it surely takes stopping right down to f/5.6 to largely eliminate this aberration.

Conclusion

Wanting on the desk above, there are some things we have to put into perspective. The principle purpose this Nikon 105mm 2.5 solely has few flaws – that are additionally very typical for its period – is that it was already potential to make a well-rounded lens with these average specs in 1971.
And there are extra advantages to that: in comparison with a sooner lens this one can be simpler to make use of and cheaper to fabricate.

Other than its excessive gross sales numbers and its optical efficiency there may be one more reason this lens turned well-known: Steve McCurry used a Nikon 105mm 2.5 Ai-S for his well-known photograph “Afghan Lady”. Now let’s be completely clear right here: that image might have been taken with any considerably respectable brief tele lens. What made that image well-known are the woman (particularly her expression), the placing colours with the robust purple/inexperienced distinction and the story behind it – the lens getting used has hardly something to do with these issues.

Nonetheless, the explanations a photojournalist picked this lens are nonetheless clear: it’s sturdy, compact and doesn’t actually have any excellent flaws – at the least none, that might have simply been prevented with the know-how obtainable at its time.

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Alternate options

In the present day nobody makes new 105mm 2.5 portrait tele lenses anymore. As an alternative we’re getting 85mm 1.8 portrait lenses. You’ll find just a few examples of the these in our Information to 85-135mm portrait lenses.

We did evaluation just a few different comparable classic lenses prior to now although, the Minolta MC 100mm 2.5, the Minolta MD 100mm 2.5, the Olympus OM 100mm 2.0 and the Olympus OM 100mm 2.8.

Pattern Photographs

A lot of the pattern photos on this evaluation may be present in full decision right here.

Additional Studying

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