Richard Shiell
> On Tue, 30 Sep 1997 13:02:17 GMT, rrodgers@easyinternet.net
> (Richard Rodgers) wrote:
> >Interested in buying a manual focus Nikkor 35-105 Zoom. It's the one
> >with some "micro" capacity and the 52 mm filter size.
> The AiS 35-105/3.5-4.5 zoom that I owned years ago had a
> `macro' button for the 35mm end; not what I'd call `micro'
> capability. The lens was sold due to linear distortion and
> soft corners wide open AND one stop down.
> One of the AF versions did close-focus at the 105mm end, and
> was (I've heard) a real improvement optically over the MF
> lens (but with undamped crummy-feeling focusing in manual
> use).
Ah, having tried about 10 MF 35-105mm f3.5-4.5 Nikkors, plus a
couple of the different-optic AF-D's (the earlier AF had the same
optics as the MF, but a different macro arrangement - the MF
actually had a second focus mount at the rear that would allow
closer-focus at any FL, though the closest focus was with the
zoom set at 35mm), I found this Nikkor very unusually variable
from sample to sample. Two of the 10 were among the best
wide-to-tele zooms I have seen (sharp to the corners wide-open
[even beating 35mm primes in the corners at f4 and f5.6]), and
the rest ranged from good-average to poor. The two AF-D's
were similar in performance to each other, and a noticeable
tad below the best two of the MF's (though better than the
average for the unfortunately variable-quality MF's...). If you are
willing to check out a few MF 35-105mm's, you may find a
good sample of this *potentially* great zoom, but it can get
tedious...;-) Unfortunately, the AF-D version does not have
a macro range - it focuses down to 3' throughout its range.
Hope This Helps
David Ruether - http://www.fcinet.com/ruether