Random Bits from Boredom

When discussing short Nikkor telephotos or classic portrait lenses, a number of lenses come to mind: the 105mm f/2.5 AI-S and the 85mm f/1...

The 28mm f/3.5 has a long history reaching back to 1960, with the Auto-H, and cumulating in the Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI/AIS of the late 70s/ea...

The 135mm f/2.8 AI was produced from the 1977 - 1981 and lived in the shadow of its faster f/2 sibling and also had competition from the 105...

Getting into macro photography has its challenges, typically given the need for a suitable lenses. However, there is another option with re...

The Nikkor 20mm f/4 AI (and its near identical predecessor, the K ) was the optical successor to the very well regarded Nikkor-UD 20mm f/3.5...

Macro photography is a game of millimeters. When you are shooting at 1:1 magnification, the depth of field is so thin that eve...

The general guidance for vintage Japanese lens repair is to use JIS drivers to avoid stripping the screw heads so what and how many do we ne...

The Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 series of lens has had a long history with the first iteration arriving in 1961 and lasted nearly 20 years with...

I've loved this lens for a while now for its a ability to resist flare like no other vintage Nikkor I've used, but I've put off...

Rick Housh's archived Geocities Lens hood page was the bible for helping us finding the right lens hood for our vintage Nikkors - whils...

The 35mm focal length was a classic "candid" lens, for street photography/photojournalism etc but for me it was always a compromis...

The 50mm f/1.4 AI and its optical formula was inheritted by its successor and beyond which meant it was in production from the late 70s to ...

Having serviced and owned a number of Nikkor 50mm I asked myself how many 50mm do we actually need ? It turns out that just one more in the...

Helicoid grease is a specialist item that is difficult to source and suitable options are limited. Even with options, the lens manufacturer...

As an amatuer photographer interested in lighting I was almost always drawn to a beauty dish, and I remember quite a lot of interest for Tod...

The Godox brand has been pumping out budget lights for a while now and in recent years the options for entry level monoblock has fallen away...

My Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI-S was a favourite for many years and was one of my first manual focus lenses and the dampened, but not stiff, focus...

The Nikkor 80-200mm f/4.5 AI was a compact professional grade zoom produced from ~1977-1981 - it was regarded highly at the time with some p...

Hand held light meters relevance may been less common with photographers but they arguably still have a niche, particular in studio/flash ap...

The Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/4 AI was released along side the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 AI in 1977 and offered a more comfortable working distanc...