A high definition macro lens.

Choices:

After the 50mm f/2 Nikkor, this is quite possibly one of the commonest Nikon lenses ever made. The 55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor is abundantly available in many variants:

• Metal focus barrel, compensating aperture, pre-Ai
• Metal focus barrel, non-compensating aperture, pre-Ai
• Rubber focus barrel, pre-Ai
• Rubber focus barrel, Ai
• Rubber focus barrel, Ai, multi-coated

The later 55mm f/2.8 Ai-S MF optic is not recommended, owing to widespread reports of oil migrating from the focus mechanism to the aperture blades. Overhauling the lens to replace lubricants makes no economic sense owing to the high cost of labor. The even later 60mm f/2.8 versions, all AF, have the benefit of extending the focus range to life-size without the need to use an extension tube. But the construction quality of the 55mm f/3.5 was never equalled.

Ai conversion:

Spare no thought of destroying ‘collectible value’ by doing the Ai conversion. First, collectors are scum who serve only to drive up used gear costs. People who put gear in storage – be it camera or Ferrari – are beyond contempt in my book. Second, Nikon made hundreds of thousands of these lenses and you can always find any version in any condition on the used market, at very short notice. There is no such thing as a ‘collectible’ 55mm Micro Nikkor.

The rear of the lens is exceptionally well baffled.

This means that the usual work will have to be done to file away an arc of alloy to permit clearance of and proper engagement with the aperture follower on the Nikon’s body. Not doing this will damage your camera. This work has yet to be done in the above illustration.

The snag is that the aperture collar where the filing has to be done cannot be removed by simply removing the bayonet flange – the five slotted screws shown. No, removing the small radial aperture ring indexing screw does not help. Don’t bother trying. So to work around this, after removing the bayonet flange, I placed some heavy-duty tape over the rear of the lens and scribed around carefully with a sharp knife to produce a thoroughly sealed interior which resisted any ingress of metal filings.

With the bayonet flange removed, 3M clear Scotch tape is placed in position, ready for filing.

Be sure to keep the lens focused at its closest distance – the protruding rear element will otherwise contact the adhesive tape, a move not calculated to enhance definition. Filing can now proceed in the usual way, using my guide here. All filings are blasted away with compressed air after which the Scotch tape can be discarded and the bayonet flange replaced.

CPU installation is as easy as it gets. No changes are needed, the CPU simply being glued in place in the usual way as I indicate here.

In use:

Deeply recessed front element.

The front element of the Micro Nikkor is deeply recessed within the barrel, so it’s unlikely that adding a lens hood will make any difference to results. Some reports indicate that the Micro Nikkor has poor performance at infinity, only really coming into its own at 1:10 and greater reproduction ratios. I have no idea where these urban myths were perpetrated – perhaps the results of a bad sample or two? – but mine is tack sharp at all apertures and subject distances, with optimum resolution being at f/5.6 through f/11 in the center and f/8 through f/11 in the extreme corners. Minor diffraction resolution losses become apparent at f/16 and f/22, and by f/32 these are noticeable, so I would avoid using the smallest aperture.

I do not recommend using a protective UV filter. It will serve only to attract light reflections, especially as it will be situated a considerable distance from the front element.

The lens is very light and the focusing helicoid exceptionally well designed, so that there is no play in the barrel even with the lens fully extended at its closest focus distance.

f/3.5 is not especially fast so how is focusing? I use the focus confirmation display in the D3x and hitting the illuminated central LED is very sensitive, meaning focus is very accurate. The infinity setting is exceptional, as the combination of 55mm Micro Nikkor and D3x body can easily distinguish between 250 feet and infinity. For reference, the same focus module is used in the D700, D3 and D3s bodies. So even at close focus distances, getting critical focus is trivial, though a tripod is strongly recommended in the close-up range where even minor movement of the camera can significantly upset focus.

Lens correction profile:

The lens is pretty close to perfect as is. There is very minor vignetting at f/3.5, and very low barrel distortion at all apertures. Chromatic aberration is almost non-existent. Nonetheless, I have made a lens correction profile which you can download here. This corrects these very minor aberrations, and if you add a CPU then you can have this profile automatically invoked and applied in Lightroom or Photoshop when downloading images from your camera’s storage card.

A CPU allows the correct profile to be automatically
loaded in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Comparison with the 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor:

The 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor of the same era is a firm favorite of mine and both optics are absolute classics from the period when Nikon’s mechanical and optical designs peaked. It’s hard to put in words the tactile pleasure of using these lenses. How do they compare? At f/3.5, f/5.6 and f/8 the Micro Nikkor has the edge in errr…. edge performance, but you would need to make a 40″ print to prove it. The 50mm of course opens up to F/1.4 and the Micro Nikkor goes down to 50% life-size, so it’s horses for courses. Neither will let you down.

The following images are of a 27x enlargement of the top right corner of the frame:

At 1:2 closest focus distance:

This image of a wristwatch was exposed at f/3.5, full aperture, at the closest focus distance:

Helicon Focus focus stacking of 14 images.

The 14 differentially focused images and the Helicon composite.

This gives you a sense of the maximum image size at the 1:2 closest focus distance. The image was created using Helicon Focus focus stacking software, and is a composite of no fewer than 14 differentially focused images, all taken at f/3.5. Because it takes a few seconds to take all the constituent images, refocusing a bit between each, I have removed the blur of the seconds hand using Photoshop.

The 55mm Micro Nikkor is recommended without reservation and at current market prices it’s almost offensively inexpensive.

Finally! Wide angle bliss.

I have been using the 20mm f/3.5 Ai-S Nikkor for a while now and it is both compact and optically excellent. But my first choice in a classic MF 20mm Nikkor was always the earlier UD of 1967. The snag is, it’s not easy to find a mint specimen.

The UD was a very special lens for its time. Until its creation, Nikon F owners made use of the mirror lock-up and separate optical finder needed to accommodate the 21mm design from Nikon’s rangefinder line. Hardly consonant with the SLR concept. Leica (with the 21mm Super Angulon for the original Leicaflex) and Zeiss (with the 21mm Biogon for the fabulous Contarex) adopted like strategies, mirror lock-up and all. All three came with the most awful, distorting viewfinders imaginable.

But the UD applied Nikon’s retrofocus research and resulted in a super-wide lens which needed no mirror lock-up or external finder. You saw through the pentaprism finder what the film would record. And it was massive, compared to their later 20mm designs – the 20mm f/4, f/3.5 and f/2.8, all MF and all excellent. Nikon lists the f/2.8 to this day.

So why bother spending all this time tracking down a pristine UD when all its successors are wonderful? Well, it’s that old fixation of mine. Metal. I believe lenses should be metal, not rubber or plastic mounted. I believe their ergonomics should fit the camera. And the D3x and D2x on which I use my lenses are very large bodies indeed. The 20mm Ai-S on the D3x is, frankly, rather dwarfed by the bulk of the body.

I searched some 18 months for a perfect UD specimen, being outbid several times on eBay as the UD seems to be attracting that vermin of the photography world, the gear collector. My sample, indistinguishable from new in every way, cost me $327 delivered, some $75 more than when I first started searching. By contrast, the Ai-S f/3.5 version can be had for maybe $250, or so. The CPU adds $30 and the Ai conversion requires a Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel, a small file and sweat equity.

Here’s the real thing:

D3x, 20mm f/3.5 UD Nikkor. Mine was made in September, 1973.
Production ceased in April, 1974.

Nikon pulled no punches here. This lens is simply outstanding optically and mechanically. Almost 50 years after it was designed it remains a bedrock of solidity and pure old-fashioned mechanical engineering. Handling, feel, balance on the big body – there’s no comparison with its smaller and lighter successors. No play, no wobble, just high integrity build and finish. A man’s lens. For sheer beauty of execution only the pre-Ai 200mm f/4 Nikkor-Q compares.

My example was pre-Ai, as were all 20mm UD Nikkors, so it necessitated Ai conversion. Forget about trying to find genuine Nikon factory conversion kits – they are rarer than hen’s teeth.

A factory modified UD Nikkor – note the protruding
ridge which abuts the aperture follower on the lens. Good
luck finding the modified aperture ring on the used market.

And conversion of this lens is tricky. Instead of just relieving the aperture ring to clear and activate the aperture follower on modern digital bodies, the lens has to have a protruding part attached to contact the follower, unlike other pre-Ai lenses. The easiest way to do this is to reverse the stock Nikon aperture claw, and cut off part of it until the dimensions are right. Nikon unwittingly provided just what’s needed for digital conversion, and the aperture claw I used has no purpose on modern Nikon DSLRs so its reuse has no negative effects. The modified, cut down claw will correctly contact the aperture follower as illustrated below.

The aperture follower. Very robust despite appearances,
the final thing is painted black to match the lens.

The aperture follower in use on the Nikon DSLR body.
Note the vacant claw retaining threaded hole to the right.

A note on ‘de-clawing’ the lens: Ordinarily, once I have converted an MF Nikkor to work on the modern Nikon DSLR, I remove the aperture claw on top of the aperture ring and store it. Because the two retaining screws are small and easily lost, I replace them in the vacant holes in the aperture ring, using a magentized screwdriver (any other way invites insanity). Do not replace the second claw retaining screw in the 20mm UD Nikkor (the other screw is used to retain the reversed claw). Doing so you will find that the screw countersinks too deeply into the innards of the lens and will prevent movement of the aperture ring.

The contrast in size with the later 20mm f/3.5 is striking:

The 1967 design pre-Ai UD and the 1977 design Ai-S.
No rubber or plastic on the UD.

The handling of the big UD on the large D3x and D2x bodies is ergonomic perfection.

How about resolution? At normal enlargement ratios neither lens will let you down in big prints. But the optical design philosophies could scarcely be more different. The UD is computed for maximum resolution at the center and hang the edges. Indeed, central resolution remains largely unchanged, and outstanding, at all apertures, being pretty much perfect by f/4.5. By contrast the Ai-S optic compromises central resolution, trading it for more even across-the-frame performance. The Ai-S never quite matches the UD in the center and the UD never quite matches the Ai-S in the corners. For reference, I have a 48″ x 36″ print made from a 20mm Ai-S image and it’s perfect at normal viewing distances, so it’s not as if any excuses need be made for the compact Ai-S variant of this lens.

Here are center comparisons at f/3.5 and f/8, UD on the left. I’m using my usual utility pole in the backyard, that exemplar of America’s infrastructure. The equivalent print sizes would be 40″ x 27″, something very few users will ever make, so if you think the UD’s edges are poor and the Ai-S’s center is so-so, bear in mind what you are looking at:

Centers at f/3.5.

Centers at f/8.

And here are the extreme corners:

Corners at f/3.5.

Corners at f/8.

I’ll trade central resolution for corner sharpness any day.

I used the same lens correction profile for the UD as for the Ai-S, after adding a CPU in the usual way. Comparison with the Ai-S showed almost exactly the same level of vignetting and optical errors, meaning wave/mustache distortion of straight lines at the edge. Both lenses cease vignetting by f/5.6.

UD at f/3.5 – no profile. Note wave form distortion
of top of fence and vignetting.

UD at f/3.5 with profile.

You can find the lens correction profile here and use of this profile corrects vignetting and renders straight lines straight, not wavy. Flare into the sun is almost identical, the Ai-S reproducing sharper magenta spots where the UD delivers one considerably smaller one, this despite the huge front element in the UD. In both cases flare spots are far less pronounced through f/5.6, becoming pretty objectionable by f/22 with the Ai-S, though easily corrected in post-processing. Contrast of the two lenses appears identical at all apertures.

The profile in use – Lightroom 5.

UD flare at f/22.

Ai-S flare at f/22.

The sun was just out of the frame in both images and no lens hoods were used. Both lenses have UV protective filters, which probably does not help matters. The UD is single coated, the Ai-S multicoated. The UD only shows a minor loss in definition from diffraction at f/22 – remarkable. To put this further in perspective, the UD is 1-2 stops sharper across the frame then the current 16-35mm AFS G zoom, which costs $1,300. So much for optical progress ….

If you have a big body Nikon and yearn for the days of mechanical engineering which Nikon has never surpassed, the 1967-74 UD Nikkor is for you.

The finished job. The red dot on the CPU serves as an alignment aid when mounting the lens.

Correct EXIF data in LR5, read from the CPU.

Winston hammers away at his latest Lego kit. D3x, 20mm UD Nikkor at f/4.

A few early snaps appear here.

An interesting innovation.

Sigma has just announced an 18-35mm zoom for APS-C sensor DSLRs with a fixed maximum aperture of a speedy f/1.8. It works out to 27-53mm full frame equivalent.

It’s no lightweight at 29 ounces – 5 ounces heavier than the stellar 35/1.4 – but the finish appears to be the same, meaning excellent. Like that prime, the new optic will be programmable using Sigma’s dock. I would guess pricing at $900 for the lens and under $100 for the dock. The lens comes in Sigma, Nikon and Canon mounts. I’m sure my D2x would love one, but I am very happy with the inexpensive 35/1.8 Nikkor G prime.

It’s good that an independent maker can challenge the big boys on both quality and price. It seems that true innovation is mostly coming from Sigma and Fuji today.

Sample images appear here.

A qualified recommendation.

Background:

See my earlier Sigma 35/1.4 review comments based on the faulty first sample of the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM A1 for Nikon bodies.

For the street snapper using an FF sensor body (me!), arguably no lens is more important than the 35mm. Trained in the classic Leica rangefinder tradition the 35mm was the lens I most often used in the days of film. When Leica’s bodies fell behind I moved on, first to a Canon 5D, then to a Nikon D700, and now a D3x. Thus it’s worth sweating the details in getting the best 35mm optic, especially if low light use is contemplated.

I would preface what follows with the fact that I am brand agnostic – camera and lens. Whatever works. Until now I have used only Nikkors on my bodies because I know little of aftermarket lenses and the price differentials are mostly immaterial for a long-term user.

After I complained to Sigma USA about the faulty loaner, they loaned me a brand new copy of Sigma’s 35/1.4 lens to try. They volunteered this. I did not ask. After some quick snaps at home of my long-suffering test target, Bert the Border Terrier, all seemed well, so I hit the streets. I did give him a cookie first, though.

The first lens I had borrowed from BorrowLenses.com had a random AF error, sometimes front- sometimes back-focusing. Heck, sometimes it was right, too! And when it was right it was beyond compare. So trying again with another sample was worth the effort.

I had explained to Sigma that I would be more than pleased to buy the loaned lens given its stellar performance, provided AF worked every time. f/1.4 is nice, but I already own the f/2 pre-Ai MF Nikkor, so spending all that money for one more stop and unreliable AF does not solve.

Results:

“What are you looking for?” At f/1.4.

Well, things worked out great and the second loaner was perfect in every regard. I ordinarily use point/lock focus/recompose with AF lenses, as it’s fast and consonant with my snapping theme which is mostly street work. Further I do not need focus tracking as my subjects are not moving fast and I certainly do not trust 51-point autofocus to decide where my key area of sharp focus resides. How on earth can it know? At very short subject-to-lens distances I will compose first, then change from the central focus point to one over the subject, thus obviating the change in subject distance occasioned by the ‘recompose’ step. However, I generally dislike using the adjusters on the Nikon’s back as they are slow and clunky. By the time I have dialed in the focus rectangle of choice the subject has moved on, as often as not.

Triple Rock bar, Berkeley. At f/2.

So good is the AF in this sample that my D3x body needed no AF fine tuning and that is just as well, for the APS-C sensor D2x in my other Nikon body provides no such capability and it’s nice to be able to use the Sigma on it with confidence. Sigma’s promised USB attachment which may make AF fine tuning possible in the lens might address issues for bodies without the fine tune capability, but that will have to wait determination until the device becomes available. One thing it will do is make it possible to do firmware upgrades as these come along, as possibly required by new bodies down the road.

Why buy it?

It bears repeating that there is very little point in buying this lens if most of your snaps are not taken at f/1.4, f/2 or f/2.8. There are any number of excellent Nikkors in both MF and AF guises which perform every bit as well from f/4 down and weigh a fraction of the Sigma. They are also far more compact. Indeed, so large is the lens hood Sigma provides with their optic that I do not use it as it simply sticks out too far, and I find I am constantly whacking it against something with the camera over my shoulder. I just opt for a protective (67mm) UV filter and have at it. The lens is very heavy and you are not going to enjoy carrying much more than one big body with this lens and maybe a medium telephoto like the 85/1.8. Much more than that and you will be hurting before long. Pain is not conducive to happy picture taking. Even on the heavy and large Nikon D2x and D3x bodies I use, the lens makes the combination top heavy and the kit will not stand upright on these cameras’ broad bases, preferring to tip forward. However the large size and excellent ergonomics more than counter this front heavy design.

Saloon. At f/8.

AF versus MF. No test charts, honest!

I tested the lens on a tripod at typical snapping distances of 5 and 10 feet at f/1.4, taking sets of three snaps:

• Lens set at infinity, using AF
• Lens set at the closest focus distance, using AF
• Lens set on MF, using the focus confirmation light in the finder of the D3x

I did this both by daylight and by incandescent light at f/1.4.

The first two were always perfectly focused. The third was seldom correct, reflecting the too-broad range of the focus confirmation LED in the Nikon. AF beats MF every time at f/1.4. If your eyesight, like mine, is not the greatest, you propose to use f/1.4 and you find you opt for LED confirmation MF rather than screen MF, then this finding should give you pause in deciding whether an MF f/1.4 lens (Zeiss/Cosina, Nikon MF, Samyang) is for you. The AF choices – Nikon G or Sigma – appear the best option in this case. There are alternative focusing screens for certain Nikon bodies which might help, but I have no data. I got like AF results on both FF (D3x) and APS-C (D2x) sensor bodies.

For a whole bunch of AF examples at f/1.4, look here – I do not photograph test charts. These were taken under incandescent and fluorescent light. More wide aperture snaps accompany the article you are reading.

Buying the lens:

The owner and the loaner. Two 35mm f/1.4 Sigma lenses in Nikon mount.

I had made it clear to Sigma USA that I was a buyer, not a hack reviewer trolling for clicks and freebies, I told them I was pleased with the loaner and asked to buy it. But no. They wanted the loaner back. When I complained that made no sense they offered to sell me a new one from their stock, and I quote from their email:

The writer meant ‘courtesy’ but ‘curiosity’ seems equally appropriate.

Bottom line? The loaner I received was pre-screened. Rational extrapolation? I would guess that all review samples are cherry picked before being sent for review.

Well, this raises some questions as you only screen review samples if you are worried about your QC, but I reckoned I might as well make the process a ‘win-win’, so I replied thus:

The one I eventually bought was every bit as good as it should be. It, too, was cherry picked, as the above emails disclose. Here is the serial number of the one I bought:

The lens I purchased.

Off-center focusing:

The Nikon D3/D3x/D3s/D700/D800/D800e/D4 all share the same AF module, the Multi-CAM 3500FX. Many users of the D800/800e have reported focus problems when using other than the center focus rectangle for AF. I tested this at 5′ distance and f/1.4 with the Sigma on my D3x focusing by using the extreme left and then right AF sensors at f/1.4. Focus was perfect for each, so it may be a D800/800e build or Nikon QC issue which is involved here. Once again, this is based on a sample of one, so treat this information with a pinch of salt.

What I saw:

Based on the two samples from Sigma and the loaner from Borrowlenses.com, this is the highest resolution 35mm lens, at wide apertures, I have used. It is also the bulkiest and heaviest. The Sigma easily out-resolves the 35/1.4 Nikkor G which BorrowLenses.com loaned me when I returned the first faulty Sigma, and is equal to or better at f/2 than the 35mm f/2 Asph Summicron for the Leica M which I owned for many years before giving up on Leica’s dated bodies. It also renders out of focus areas better at f/2 than the Asph Summicron, which tends to harshness. There’s more to life than raw resolution and the Sigma does not disappoint when it comes to color rendering where it easily matches the best I have owned from Nikon and Leica.

Images downloaded into Lightroom pop on the display. Colors have a natural quality commonly seen when Leica or older MF single-coated Nikkors are used.

And while pixel peeping will show that f/2 is better than f/1.4, f/1.4 is fully usable at all times and I find that I never hesitate to go full bore, gaining shorter shutter speeds in the process. F/1.4 with a fast shutter speed and no blur beats the alternative. As f/1.4 means backgrounds will be blurred, it bears adding that the out-of-focus bits are pleasantly rendered by this optic. You do not need a single test chart to tell you all of this. Just use your eyes.

Ethnic pride in North Beach. At f/2.

Sample variations:

• The first loaner from Borrowlenses.com had perfect focus collar resistance but the AF was faulty. When focused correctly resolution was the best I had ever seen at f/1.4 to f/4, equalled by some other makers’ lenses at smaller apertures. Serial number 50004444.
• The second loaner, from Sigma USA, had a slightly too stiff focus collar, perfect AF and resolution to match the first loaner above. AF nailed focus every time. S/N 50004693.
• The one I eventually purchased from Sigma USA had perfect focus collar resistance, perfect AF and resolution to match the above two. An occasional squeak can be heard from the AF mechanism, audible to the operator only. I expect it will go away with use. S/N 50022095.

So there are sample-to-sample variations but the one constant was the high resolution of all three samples. Let’s be fair. Even Leica, Nikon and Canon have sample-to-sample variations in their premium lenses. Just check Roger Cicala’s blog to confirm this.

Other considerations:

What else is there not to like? The lens is a tad sensitive to flare when the light source is really bright and close to the axis. I suppose using the hood might help here but that’s not something I am willing to do. So, maybe not a fair test, but one consonant with my working method.

Flare central – what happens with the sun in the frame or just outside it.

The focus collar turns the way most lenses do, other than Nikkors that is. (Only Zeiss seems to go to the trouble of conforming the rotation direction on its Nikon versions). However, as I use AF with the Sigma all the time – and the AF is faster than that in the competing 35/1.4 Nikkor-G – it makes no practical difference. The focus collar on my loaner from Sigma was stiffer than on the first, the one on the purchased copy is just right.

I also dislike not having a physical aperture ring on the lens but that is the way of the world. That’s a Nikon issue, not a Sigma issue. You have to use the control dial(s) on the body to change apertures and may have to touch the shutter release first if the LCD display has gone to sleep to check your setting, otherwise no amount of control dial twiddling will change aperture. But the stellar performance of this optic makes this a light cross to bear.

North Beach paint job. At f/2.

Best of all, paired with a high pixel count full frame sensor like those found in the D3x, D600 and D800 bodies from Nikon and in the Canon D1x, 1Ds/III, 5D/II and 5D/III, there is high excess detail in files which allows for selective cropping when you could not get as close as you would have liked to your subject. I have cropped to one quarter of the frame and made 24″ prints and the results are stunning. No other word for it. That makes for a very capable body-lens combination and increasingly finds me leaving the medium telephoto at home.

Warmth. At f/2.8. Cropped from one quarter of the D3x 24mp frame.
This prints beautifully at 18″ x 24″.

Qualified recommendation:

The circuitous purchase route I took and the fact that my lens was pre-screened by Sigma USA’s tech people makes it impossible to give a blanket recommendation for this lens. Yes, good ones are as good as it gets. Both the loaner, also pre-screened, and the one I finally purchased direct from Sigma are outstanding. But buy ‘off the shelf’ from B&H or Amazon or whoever, and you may still find you are in a lottery. This may mean returning one or two before lucking out, and a growing body of AF issues is now being reported on chat boards. These also seem to be a problem with Sigma’s 50/1.4 and 85/1.4 lenses with samples requiring substantial focus tuning adjustments. In fairness, chat boards tend to be like hospitals. Only the sick have an axe to grind there. Also, bear in mind that the issue with my first loaner was not one of micro-focus adjustment. The AF was faulty. Period.

All manufacturers will make occasional duds. It’s a toss-up whether Sigma’s QC beats that of the opposition. Only industry insiders know. At this time there is no statistical basis for concluding whether Sigma’s quality control is improved from the bad old days or not. Nor do we know how it compares to the QC at Leica/Zeiss/Canon/Nikon et al. What is troubling is that, as both the Sigma and the 80% costlier Nikon 35/1.4 lenses state ‘Made in Japan’, I struggle to understand how Sigma manages to sell its lens for so much less without some cost cutting along the line. The math does not solve. Would I pay $1,100, $1,200 or even more with assurance that my lens has been subject to rigorous QC or pre-screening? Yes. This optic is easily worth that amount, especially when compared to the competition from Nikon and Zeiss, the latter MF only.

One other unknown must be considered. Nikon lenses are famously long lived. Any number of 40+ year old pre-Ai MF Nikkors I own testify to that fact. Will AF lenses last as long, given the complexities of motors and gears and electronics? Has Sigma cut cost saving corners compared with Nikon in making this optic? I do not know. Only time will tell. Still, if one gets three years of hard use from the lens (which is the Sigma USA warranty period to the original purchaser from an authorized US dealer for its DG non-EX lenses, like this one) then it probably does not matter. Sell at the end of the warranty period and replace if it’s a concern.

Conclusion:

I recommend you buy this lens if it meets your low light needs. You may have to try more than one sample if your first is a bad one. While I was unlucky with my first sample, there is no statistical basis for making any conclusive statements about Sigma’s quality control. A sample of three is not meaningful. One day we will probably see statistically meaningful results from the likes of Roger Cicala at LensRentals.com. Roger tests dozens of samples of each lens and can meaningfully address sample variation. But Roger, please make these tests include finder controlled AF, not LiveView. That’s why you use f/1.4 – street snaps in poor light. LiveView is not a concept here nor are tripods involved.

Blinds. In the tradition of Eugène Atget. At f/8.

USB dongle:

10 pins on the CPU.

Sigma has promised to sell a USB attachment which will allow firmware updates – and maybe other adjustments? – to the lens. As you can see, the lens has 10 contacts on the CPU compared to a maximum of 8 on Nikkors, suggesting the other two are needed for this device.

Sigma’s rumored USB dongle.

Serial number:

This is the s/n on the Sigma USA loaner I had to return.

The serial number on the Sigma is very hard to make out. It’s screen printed in faint type atop the lens, diagonally up and to the right of the (useless) distance indicator window. My previous loaner was 5000444 – that was the one with the faulty AF.

Both the above lens serial number images were made with the excellent Lumin app on the iPhone 5.

Comparison with the ancient Nikkor MF pre-Ai 35mm f/2 Nikkor-O:

The Nikkor is over 40 years old so this is a brutal comparison.

In each case I use the lens correction profile I have made using Adobe’s Lens Profile Creator application. It’s more necessary at large apertures in the case of the Sigma where significant vignetting (corner shading) at f/1.4 and f/2 is removed. You can expect Adobe to come out with their own version of this profile soon. I also apply Sharpening=66 for the Nikon D3x, which is what I find to be optimal to overcome the anti-aliasing filter located in front of the 24MP sensor in the camera.

Center performance of the Sigma is clearly better in 5 foot wide prints at all apertures down to f/4. The resolution of the Sigma is truly outstanding from f/2 down. Will the Nikkor yield good 5′ prints at f/2 in the center? Absolutely. Will the Sigma appear sharper? Yes. Enough that you will notice on critical inspection.

Boozers. At f/4.

Edge performance is a different story. The Sigma is greatly superior at all apertures, but especially in the range f/2 though f/8. There is no comparison. The Nikkor is a fine lens but it shows its age here. For the street snapper edges do not matter much. For the landscape artist there’s a big difference. The Sigma is in a different league.

The old Nikkor is marginally less prone to flare into a light source.

Color rendering for both lenses is outstanding. The Sigma is multi-coated, the Nikkor single-coated. Whatever.

Comparison with the current Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 AF-S G:

The Nikkor AF-S G is outperformed by the Sigma at center and edge through and including f/2.8. After that I cannot tell the difference. The Nikkor’s AF is slower but no big deal. The current Nikkor f/1.4 is equal to the old MF Nikkor f/2 in the center at all apertures but clearly superior at the edges at all apertures.

The current Nikkor is marginally less prone to flare into a light source and vignettes less, before correction, at f/1.4 and f/2.

The Nikkor is lighter – nice. The Nikkor costs 78% more than the Sigma in the US, ex-tax. Not nice. Used Nikkors are coming to market at $1250, probably as word gets out about the Sigma.

Lunch. At f/1.4.

Adobe’s lens correction profile:

The just announced Beta version of Lightroom 4.4 now includes an Adobe profile for the Sigma.

Lens correction profiles added in LR 4.4 Beta.

I have tested the Adobe profile against mine and there is no detectable difference at any aperture between the two. If you are using my profile there is no need to rush into the Beta 4.4 update of Lightroom. Let it mature and migrate when Adobe says it’s final. If you want to be sure Lightroom is using Adobe’s profile, do erase mine if you have it installed, as it otherwise takes precedence over Adobe’s.

Full disclosure: For reasons I do not understand, Sigma sold me the lens at a discounted price. I did not ask. They volunteered the discount out of the blue, even though I told them my income from photography is zero and that I am an amateur. While the discount I received was not monetarily significant to me, I reciprocated by sending them two nice 18″ x 24″ prints taken with the lens.

Maybe the most significant Nikkor ever.

Shown with the period HN-7 screw-in hood.

If ever a lens deserves the appellation ‘famous’, it’s Nikon’s 85mm Nikkor-H f/1.8, first made in 1964. Nikon has made many f/2, f/1.8 and f/1.4 lenses of 85mm focal length since then, and while the current AF-S f/1.4 probably delivers the highest resolution of the lot, few would place the Nikkor-H far behind optically, and only non-users would argue that the current lens is better made. Much as with its contemporaries, the 20/3.5UD, 24/2.8, 28/2, 35/2, 50/1.4, 50/2, 105/2.5 and the 200/4, the construction quality, fit and finish of this lens have not been improved since.

None of the manual focus f/1.8 optics came with the Ai modification which permits mounting on later film cameras and most DSLRs. Nikon made (ugly and no longer available) Ai ‘kits’ which comprise a replacement aperture ring with the wrong surface finish, so if you want an Ai version of this lens you have three choices. Buy one which has already been converted, send it out for machining, or do it yourself. I did it myself and the task is simple. See this piece for details of how to do it yourself.

But ‘famous’? Why yes. Because this is the lens David Hemmings used in the studio scenes in Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘Blow-Up‘ to photograph Veruschka while she writhed below him. His Nikon F with the Nikkor-H mounted can be seen in the contemporary poster.

Fame.

I have long lusted after this optic but good ones go for high prices and cheap ones are usually beaten up, the anodizing on the scalloped metal focus barrel worn away and ugly. Well, I finally snapped one up in near mint condition for $210 delivered, and when it arrived the other day I immediately set to machining the aperture ring to permit mounting of the lens on my D2x and D3x Nikons. I would love to have used it on a Nikon F but no digital version of that classic was ever made, and I no longer use film.

Amazingly, the filter size is the same small 52mm common to most Nikkors of that era and the HN-7 hood screws in. No clip-on nonsense waiting to be knocked off.

Comparison with the AF-D version:

I set to making a quick test using the local back yard utility pole as my test target. My test was against the ‘plastic fantastic’ 85mm f/1.8 AF-D lens, set in the most ghastly plastic mount imaginable, but of outstanding performance. This lens is still available new in the US for $460. How Nikon manage to make a bitingly sharp optic encased in ductile materials and cheese beats me, so I confess that I ran my simple test with some trepidation. Could any lens significantly improve on the AF-D or, for that matter, even match it? My Nikkor-H is positively geriatric, having been made in February, 1969, meaning 44 years ago. It cost me $212.

I should have known better than to worry. Central definition and overall contrast of the old lens easily beat those of the newer one from f/1.8 to f/4, and vignetting is identical, disappearing by f/2.8 in the old, f/3.5 in the new. Edge resolution in the newer lens is superior through f/4 after which they are identical. In a lens of this focal length, the ideal portrait lens on full frame, central resolution is what counts.

The focus throw on this lens is very long – fully half a circle from infinity to 3 feet, making accurate focus on close subjects easy. Depth of field is very limited at wider apertures so a slow focus ring is actually an asset.

Here’s my thrilling test target, what passes as utility service in the SF Bay area, allegedly part of the most powerful nation on earth. The old MF lens is the left hand image – focal length and maximum aperture are not reported by Lightroom (in the parentheses) as I had yet to install a CPU when this was taken:

Even viewed via this blog on the 11″ display of my MacBook Air the difference is obvious at f/2, remaining so at f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4. The enlargement above is from 5 foot 90dpi equivalent print sizes.

Chipped and ready to go, one of Nikon’s best ever.

The CPU confers a host of benefits, described here and installation on the 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor-H is a simple glue-on job. One key advantage is that you can pass aperture control from the control wheel on the camera’s body to the aperture ring on the lens, sidestepping the non-linearity issue I explain here. Your kit will handle better too, allowing apertures to be changed by supporting the lens properly from below with the left hand. $29 for the CPU, 5 minutes to glue it in place and another 15 minutes to program it, as described here.

Can a lens make a better photographer? When it comes with a heritage like this and when the user revels in the operational feel and the results it yields …. well, you can make your own mind up. Me? I’m going to track down Veruschka’s granddaughter.

Veruschka writhes as Hemmings snaps.

Lens correction profile:

This lens is so well designed that what optical shortcomings there are – very minor vignetting down to f/3.5 – are easily corrected with my lens correction profile in LR or PS, which you can download here, but of all the pre-Ai MF Nikkors this one arguably needs a profile least. I can detect absolutely no barrel or pincushion distortion. Likewise, chromatic aberration (color fringing) is negligible, though the profile corrects what little there is. My profile was made at f/1.8, f/2.8, f/4 and f/5.6, with the last prevailing at apertures smaller than f/4. It works with both FX (Full Frame) and DX (APS-C) sensors. The profile was made on my D3x but will work on files from any Nikon DSLR.

To get a sense of what this lens can do in the studio, click here. The handling and balance on a modern full size Nikon DSLR are about as close to perfection as these things get. If you can live without AF, search one of these out.

Use on Panny MFT bodies:

A wonderful lens on the Panny G bodies with a $25 adapter, delivering 170mm f/1.8. Very shallow depth of field, and you retain aperture priority automation, the EVF never dims as you stop the lens down (think about that!) and you have a state of the art MF focusing aid which makes dead on focus trivially simple. Read more about the immense capability of the Panny MFT bodies with MF lenses here. As you are really cherry picking the center of the image circle produced by the lens, definition at any aperture all the way to the extreme edges is not an issue.

The Hemmimgs lens on the Panny G3.

A 1969 lens on a 2012 body, and fully functional. Pretty cool, huh?