This lens appears infrequently on the used market and typically appear to either to have lived an excellent/studio or sheltered lives or were beaters for working pros: the copy I picked up fell into the latter category where it had clearly seen heavy use although the optics were well preserved except for the onset of fungus an internal element (cleaned with hydrogen peroxide and internal battel cleaned with isopropyl alcohol) and one mark/chip on the front element.
Nikon's own Thousand Days and Night series documents this lens and provides a good introduction and background for a lens that was produced til late 2005, albiet with introduction of the mid 1990s AF-D and early 2000s AF-S zooms that overlapped with the focal length.
Historically the 180mm would have been targetted at sports or portrait photographers for its moderate telephoto reach and speed. In terms of comparable reach, the alternative would have been the slower (but ligther) 200mm f/4 or the monsterous 2.5kg and expensive Nikkor 200mm f/2 AI-S.
In portraitrature, the 180mm focal length was capable, albiet at the longer end, with its Nikon contemporaries being the famous 105mm f/2.5 AI-S (whos legand has over the years is now synonymous with the Afghan Girl NatGeo photo) and the less famous 135mm. When put side by side, we can see a significant size difference which has handling implications: the 180mm being close to 800g with its all metal body construction and 72mm filter size compared to the 105mm and 135mm's ~430g heft and standard, for the time, 52mm barrel size.
Nikkors 135mm f/2.8 AI | 180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S | 105mm f/2.5 AI-S
For portraits, at this focal length the working distance on DX and FX is going to be an important factor: on FX we're about 12ft / just under 4m for headshot and 23ft / 7m for a 3/4 length portrait and DX we're about 5.5m for headshots. Of course, this is longer than say an Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D (~1m) or Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI-S (~1.3m) for the same headshot. Indoors with flash, we're going to be at ~1/200-250th so we're limited by getting and holding steady manual focus. The 180mm has a minimum focus distance of just under 1.7m and this will allow for very tight head/detail shots.
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8 uncropped (DX) near min focus distance
Outdoors the medium telephoto its quite useful as an unobtrusive and discrete candid walk around street lens: its big but its not a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom. Again the steading holding of manual focus and shutter speed comes into play.
The 180mm mounted on an old film body, like the FM2, its decidely front heavy and feels unbalanced but on a larger DSLR such as the D800 the 180mm balances well - its obviously shorter and lighter than the 70-200mm f/2.8 but its weight and dimensions are not too far off the slightly heavier and larger 24-70mm f/2.8G.
The most important improvement over its predesessor, the f/2.8 AI, was the introduction of new ED front element which sought to improve the final image, reducing CA (purple fringing) and improving contrast and sharpness. Whilst I have no reference against the f/2.8 AI, the images produced by the f/2.8 AI-S lens are, for me, comparable to modern lenses - the colours are nicely but not overly saturated with good contrast and sharpness even wide open and the out of focus rendition is nice without ugly transitions.
Even with the ED element, CA does exist but only in the most extreme cases and its not massive or frequent.
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8 - CA only on middle image, lampost
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8 - CA exists in the specular highlight on the street lamp
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8 - CA free
Saturation and out of focus rendering:
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8 (Cropped to show oof rendering)- flower arrangement ~4ft directly behind
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8 ISO1600 - slight missed focus and higher ISO smearing some details
Resolution is very good, shooting an object (the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI-S "long nose") that stands under 4cm from a ~1.9m distance.
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/4 at about 1.9m centre cropped, flash off white bg flare control
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8, uncropped direct sunlight, mounted on second floor height
180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S @ f/2.8, cropped details headshot
Cleaning and Servicing
Servicing the lens' optics is reasonably simple - there's only 2 lens groups that are accessible as two separate units: remove the lens hood assembly and then unscrew the large and heavy front group from the main barrel and then the rear group can be picked out and slid out of the barrel. The front block has a retaining ring to remove the ED element, but its not clear for me how to rear the rear element of that block whilst there appears to be a retaining ring (notches) on the rear, I struggled to turn it with a lens spanner after isopropyl alcohol/acetone on what appeared to be rear threads. The rear group is secured in the aperture housing with a retaining ring and subsequent access to the group's elemnts via a lens sucker-
(c) Nikon - 180mm f/2.8 AI-S optical formula cross section | front ED element and coating
Disassembly and optics cleaning
Further servicing and Helicoids
Servicing the helicoids is not for novices. If you desire to remove the chrome index tab, you must make some reference marks: one at the mounting/index spot and when the rubber focus ring is removed, at mark across the distance ring to ensure alignment.
L: aperture ring removed | R: reference mark across central barrel and the removable distance scale
With the chrome index tab removed, the lens can be collapsed past infinity - this peice has guides that restains the distance scale/focus ring turning. Fully collapse the lens and mark lines on the all turning sections to allow for determining alignment when re-mating helicoids. Removing the helicoid keys and screws its important to know label the screws and reinsert as per original since they are different.
L: the arrows on main barrel pointing left indicate, on the reference line made when collapsed, the mating position for the inner helicoid at the front of lens
R: the small arrow pointing right, aligned to the reference line when collapsed, indicating the mating position to the central helicoid
The inner helicoid (seen seperated above right) houses the helicoid guides.
Use the thinnest layers of grease, almost barely a film on one side of the helicoids - anything else will result in unreasonable torque to turn the focus ring.
When reassembling the helicoid keys, its easiest to extend the barrel towards MFD and install a key one by one - stand the lens up (rear mount facing down) and using your thumb to hold the key in place and attaching the bottom 2 screws, turn the focus ring back and forth to ensure the keys are not rubbing against the guides.
Final Thoughts
As noted, the (dedicated) 180mm length has fallen out of favour in the last two decades. However as a actual length, its not too problematic and the image quality for me is comparable to modern lenses: the fast aperature, size and weight are comparable if not better than the modern day equivalents. The construction of the 180mm f/2.8 AI-S betters all of the modern day equivalents as well as the legacy Nikkor asthetic and manual focus precision (and imprecision) are all non-image related contributing factors which also gives reason for consideration: the cost factor is also heavily in favour of this lens, with excellent condition items fetching ~£400, although typically ~£180-230, whereas the pro-level zooms new/used are ~8-10x and ~2x the cost.I always found the 85mm and 105mm focal lengths too similar and if I needed a longer distinctive or moderate telephoto, the 180mm length might be a perfect jump from the 85mm.
I initially picked up this lens primarily beecause of its reputation and also because the price was too good to turn down even with the lens condition and fungus. However having used it for a while, the optical and mechanical qualities are absolutely evident and outstanding and its easy to understand how the 180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S acquired its online reputation.
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