----- Original Message -----

From: "T P" <tp@nospam.com>

Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.35mm

Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2003 1:57 PM

Subject: Re: Nikon Series E AIS 20 & 24mm lenses?

> "Joseph Kewfi" <Joe_Kewfi@iol.ie> wrote:

>

> >I thought the old Series E 50mm F1.8 AIS was the design used for the current

> >Nikon AF-D 50mm F1.8D ?

> Yes and no. The glass elements are identical, but the early Series E

> lenses had vastly inferior coating compared to the NIC multi-coating

> of the AIS lens.

>

> The later Series E lenses had better coating, but it was still not up

> to the standards of AIS Nikkors. This deficiency manifested itself in

> very poor flare resistance, compounded by the fact that the front

> element is hardly shielded at all by the lens construction.

>

> Flare affects this lens not only when the light source is in the

> frame, but also when the light source cannot be seen in the frame.

> The overall lowering of contrast is severe, and it badly affects the

> apparent sharpness of the Series E version.

>

> The AIS Nikkor version is much more flare resistant, however even that

> version should only ever be used with a hood IMHO.

There are so few air-spaces in the 50mm E/AF/compact-AIS design

that simple single-coating was quite effective, and these lenses all

perform very similarly (and very well...) - though I saw more sample

variation among the E lenses. Marketing dictates multicoating with

simple designs more than optical needs, alas... All these variations can

be used without a hood, though in general I prefer to use hoods with

most lenses that can be fitted with them (and with which they are

effective) when I can...