That 24mm will make you get CLOSE! I love the old girl too. Salty mine doesn’t see as much use as it should. I love mine for video work the most. Thank you Chuck, I appreciate your time.
Classic Georgia Photographer: reviewing a classic Ai-S lens. Nikon has made some amazing glass over the years. And that lacquered (I think that’s how they get the gloss) black metal is just beautiful. I think 24mm has just enough distortion to add to certain photographs.
Enjoyed your video. I have that lens in the AIS version. Used it to shoot car shows with my D850. Up close and wide enough to capture the whole car. I did order a new 24mm D series from BH. Sharp lens, both are enjoyable. Manual lens make you think a bit more what you are doing and what you think you are doing. I found an excellent copy of the 24mm f2.8 AIS and a 28mm f2.8 AIS from Victory Camera in Colorado, he sales on EBay and is very honest answering any concerns before purchase. Old glass and Prime lens are fun, and very satisfying to use. I go to a car show with my little 24mm and then see folks standing across the street trying to shoot the same car with a 70-200mm. Have fun, keep up the enjoyable videos, I am watching you from KY.
Thank you for sharing this with us. This is a great point about the lens allowing you to work in close quarters. That makes a lot of sense. Also thanks for the tip on the dealer that is great info to share with us!!! I really appreciate it!!!👍📸
Hi Dave Love your video's!! My biggest regret in photography was getting rid of my Nikon FM2, FE2, and all my manual lenses when I switched to digital photography. So my advice to everyone is keep your old gear!! Best wishes Duane
Hey David, For some reason, I just realized that your background music is wonderful, soothing & not nerve rattling. I think you do a great editing job mixing just the right tunes with interesting photography info. Peace brother. ✌
Nikon started as a lens manufacturer and makes great glass since I shoot APS-C cameras my favorite street photography lens is a Rokinon 20mm 1.8 manuel focus lens I bought at a pawn shop for $ 150.00 a real steal.
That is awesome! I can’t seem to find anything of value in a pawn shop anymore. Nothing at all. I think they are selling all the good stuff through eBay now so there isn’t much left for the store shelf. What a find!!!👍📸
Enjoying these classic Nikon lens videos, I own quite a few but not all of them, Lol. Start comparing them to plastic stuff without an aperture ring they are producing currently. The newer lenses are a bit sharper as a whole but the quality is nowhere close. And without having to be concerned with the imminent failure of the electronics inside make the a bargain over the long term. About the only weakness would be the coatings separating from the glass, which is pretty rare, and lens fungus. It’s rather easy to take apart these older primes and clean any fungus out if needed. One of my favorites is the 20mm f3.5 Ai/Ais. Sharp and compact. I own the 20mm f1.8 and the 3.5 is close and about a third the size.
Yeah, if someone would record lenses that would be awesome!!! I have a couple that are slated to be de-fungused pretty soon. Hope it all goes well. There will be videos. 👍📸 I have found the the smaller aperture primes are really nice it you are going to be stopping down anyway. Like you said, so much smaller!!!
Typically I like shooting with primes, Nikon 20mm f1.8, sigma 35 f1.4 and my ziess milvus 50 1.4. Bounce between the 500 and 750. Might wait for the 3rd series Z cameras before I pick one up. Most companies get it right about the third try. I work in manufacturing so I see this firsthand. Lol.
Great review David. Always find it interesting to see how the old glass performs on modern cameras. Great pics as examples, well done. Enjoyed watching, thanks for sharing 👍🙏
Good evening Adrian!!! Thanks for stopping by and chatting a minute! Yeah, you don’t use that shooting wild life too much from what I have seen. You get such great results with the kit you are using though so I don’t see a reason to mess with perfection. 👍📸
What is your very favorite and most functional lens when it comes to zone focus street photography? In other words what lens has the largest acceptably in focus range at F8? I think my problem with trying to use zone focus techniques is I don’t have any wide angle primes with a large zone of F8 focus. So is it this lens, or do you recommend something else?
My 24mm is the most capable for me. Next is my 28mm Pentax lens. Both have broad zones and are fairly small and light. Your 24-70 f2.8 will work just fine, just stop it down and put the camera in manual focus mode, it should give you a bar graph showing the depth of field. It works out to focus about 20 feet away and everything from 4 feet on is pretty much in focus. At f11 I am certain that it is. But those are both great focal ranges for full frame street shooting for hyper focal distance work.
Great video, had this lens sitting in my closest for the last 35 years, will give it a spin try on my trusty D3200 and see what magic happens. Thanks, Montreal, Canada.
Thanks, since this lens doesn't have any electronic sensors or anything like that, no need to write it into the camera, I think. I just mount it on the camera and shoot it in manual just like my old FM Camera. I do the same with several of my other manual lenses, and get good results.
@@alex_jermaine As for exposure? No, the film cameras always open the aperture fully to compose with. You will need a light meter to determine proper shutter speed for a correct exposure.
Mine is an Ai-s. I have the 28 f2.8 and it is stellar too. Maybe more so than the 24mm actually. But the wider field of view on the 24 makes it my choice here. That f2 is a beast! Nice job grabbing one of those!
Nice shots! I liked the arched walk way....I think you have already tested some but what would you recommend for an F mount 28mm? It doesn't have to be f1.4 or f1.8 an f2.8 would be fine..I thought about buying the modern G series but if there is an older cheaper option available im all about hoarding cash...lol
Fun fact, on crop sensor, you still get the same depth of field, but you are shooting a 35mm (or 36 technically) which is still pretty wide. but you don't get as much distortion. Good trade offs and bad. If you want a true 24mm, then youll lose it on crop, but if you want 35ish, you get massive DOF + a more "normal" wide perspective.
This RUclips channel it's got me into manual lens. It took me a year to find camera I got lucky someone was selling a broken d700 for $200 camera broke such way a it's still functions just fine with manual lens and the camera does lens profiles too. I didn't have it to me to modify lens so I'm modified a camera instead for the job.
That is awesome! The fact that you are able (and willing) to get a D700 back up and running is great! Those are amazing cameras!!! Thank you for sharing it with me, I really appreciate it.
@@davidsaylors Well, I've just sold my old Pentax KM so I think I'll be ordering one this week :) I think I'll go for the AI rather than the AI-s as it has a longer focus throw which I do rather like.
Those scooters are all over Chattanooga too. The city owns the rental bikes and I dont know why that rack was stripped almost clean, but most of the time there are more bikes. Maybe they had pulled them??? I know what your talking about though.
I was looking through my dungeon to see which Nikkor lenses I purchased back in the day, but rarely got a chance to use them due to AF and digital.This was one of them , the Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AI. Actually I have about 20 other lenses like these that rarely see the light of day. I was wondering why i purchased this lens in the first place so I google it. I'm took notice that you mentioned that most of these older lenses have that certain look, which is less clinical(super clean) than the newer lenses. Sometimes less clinical is better, sometimes not. I always thought that it was the grain on the film that gave it that 'grungy' look, but realized that was not the case after I stuck one of these older lenses on my Nikon D7000 digital camera. Its a different look, I wouldn't call it grungy, but maybe more pixalated. Not all manual lenses look like that though. I have some manual lenses like my Nikkor 105 f2.5 and even my 35-70mm f2.8 that will give the newer lenses a run for their money when it comes to the clinical look. I bought this lens when I was on a lens-buying spree. I figured I might need some day , but I rarely if ever used it. It does look like it takes pretty good pictures and mine is in Mint condition. These days I come to the "less expensive" realization that you only need about 5 lenses in your repertoire, depending on what you like to shoot. Of course if you have the time to shoot every single little thing in out Universe that is another story. However 24mm is a must-have focal length especially for street, travel, landscape, city scape, architecture and even large group portraits. It gives your image a depth and breath that normal lenses cannot achieve. It is not as popular as a 28mm, 35mm, or 50mm, but its good to have.
picked up a cheap copy a few years back with fungus ,mine was the ais version with crc ,tricky repair to clean the lens elements , awesome lens on the D700 and D4
This would equal something closer to the 18mm setting on the new kit lenses for reference as this is a full frame camera and that changes field of view. That aside though, the new lenses are normally better optically than even the better old primes due to improvements in glass technology and manufacturing. The kit lenses normally dont have the larger apertures like this one though so that will affect depth of field and other settings to get the exposure correct. So it is kinda a wash. If you have a new 18-55mm I sayuse it. They are great little lenses!👍📸
Hip firing like its a 19th century cowboy town yessirrrrrrrrrrr Yep all small Nikkors have that 52mm filter thread, I have a 28mm F2 Ai'd lens from the mid 70s and love the green/pruple flares it makes. The DOF range is indeed like focus-cheating compared to even the "short telephotos" like 85mm.
Outstanding lens. Better than the 28mm. All my work is shot through the 135mm or the 24mm.
That 24mm will make you get CLOSE! I love the old girl too. Salty mine doesn’t see as much use as it should. I love mine for video work the most. Thank you Chuck, I appreciate your time.
I didn't know that! Just subbed, and thanks!
Classic Georgia Photographer: reviewing a classic Ai-S lens. Nikon has made some amazing glass over the years. And that lacquered (I think that’s how they get the gloss) black metal is just beautiful. I think 24mm has just enough distortion to add to certain photographs.
Me too. I use my 20mm for landscape photos but I use the 24mm for almost everything else. Thanks Jim
One of my favorite lenses. It pretty much lives on my Z6. Can't beat old Nikkor glass.
I agree. Nikon knows how to make a lens. I find myself using this lens more and more.
Enjoyed your video. I have that lens in the AIS version. Used it to shoot car shows with my D850. Up close and wide enough to capture the whole car. I did order a new 24mm D series from BH. Sharp lens, both are enjoyable. Manual lens make you think a bit more what you are doing and what you think you are doing. I found an excellent copy of the 24mm f2.8 AIS and a 28mm f2.8 AIS from Victory Camera in Colorado, he sales on EBay and is very honest answering any concerns before purchase. Old glass and Prime lens are fun, and very satisfying to use. I go to a car show with my little 24mm and then see folks standing across the street trying to shoot the same car with a 70-200mm. Have fun, keep up the enjoyable videos, I am watching you from KY.
Thank you for sharing this with us. This is a great point about the lens allowing you to work in close quarters. That makes a lot of sense. Also thanks for the tip on the dealer that is great info to share with us!!! I really appreciate it!!!👍📸
Hi Dave
Love your video's!!
My biggest regret in photography was getting rid of my Nikon FM2, FE2, and all my manual lenses when I switched to digital photography.
So my advice to everyone is keep your old gear!!
Best wishes
Duane
That is great advice! Sorry to hear that you did what I did. I sold my slr after getting my D7000 and have hated it ever since.
Hey David, For some reason, I just realized that your background music is wonderful, soothing & not nerve rattling. I think you do a great editing job mixing just the right tunes with interesting photography info. Peace brother. ✌
Thank you Carmine, I really appreciate it. That is the goal…most of the time
Great video, David. I enjoyed the review and the photography!
Thank you Phil, I appreciate it.
When I was serving in the Army I came across East German Officer that would shoot his camera like you did when shooting street photography.
That is a cool story, I have seen quite a few street photogs that shoot like this. It can work, but not as well as properly framing the photo. 👍📸
My favorite lens to use on my D500 or Z50 for landscape photos or storm photos. I shoot at f8 all the time and image pretty sharp edge to edge.
Thanks George, I use it for that some too. It does work good for that.
Nikon started as a lens manufacturer and makes great glass since I shoot APS-C cameras my favorite street photography lens is a Rokinon 20mm 1.8 manuel focus lens I bought at a pawn shop for $ 150.00 a real steal.
That is awesome! I can’t seem to find anything of value in a pawn shop anymore. Nothing at all. I think they are selling all the good stuff through eBay now so there isn’t much left for the store shelf. What a find!!!👍📸
Enjoying these classic Nikon lens videos, I own quite a few but not all of them, Lol. Start comparing them to plastic stuff without an aperture ring they are producing currently. The newer lenses are a bit sharper as a whole but the quality is nowhere close. And without having to be concerned with the imminent failure of the electronics inside make the a bargain over the long term. About the only weakness would be the coatings separating from the glass, which is pretty rare, and lens fungus. It’s rather easy to take apart these older primes and clean any fungus out if needed. One of my favorites is the 20mm f3.5 Ai/Ais. Sharp and compact. I own the 20mm f1.8 and the 3.5 is close and about a third the size.
Yeah, if someone would record lenses that would be awesome!!! I have a couple that are slated to be de-fungused pretty soon. Hope it all goes well. There will be videos. 👍📸 I have found the the smaller aperture primes are really nice it you are going to be stopping down anyway. Like you said, so much smaller!!!
@@davidsaylors They took pride in their low budget glass as well.
Haha. That is a thing with some photogs. Not to me to be honest. I still like a decent image out of my lens.
Typically I like shooting with primes, Nikon 20mm f1.8, sigma 35 f1.4 and my ziess milvus 50 1.4. Bounce between the 500 and 750. Might wait for the 3rd series Z cameras before I pick one up. Most companies get it right about the third try. I work in manufacturing so I see this firsthand. Lol.
Great review David. Always find it interesting to see how the old glass performs on modern cameras. Great pics as examples, well done. Enjoyed watching, thanks for sharing 👍🙏
Good evening Adrian!!! Thanks for stopping by and chatting a minute! Yeah, you don’t use that shooting wild life too much from what I have seen. You get such great results with the kit you are using though so I don’t see a reason to mess with perfection. 👍📸
What is your very favorite and most functional lens when it comes to zone focus street photography? In other words what lens has the largest acceptably in focus range at F8? I think my problem with trying to use zone focus techniques is I don’t have any wide angle primes with a large zone of F8 focus. So is it this lens, or do you recommend something else?
My 24mm is the most capable for me. Next is my 28mm Pentax lens. Both have broad zones and are fairly small and light. Your 24-70 f2.8 will work just fine, just stop it down and put the camera in manual focus mode, it should give you a bar graph showing the depth of field. It works out to focus about 20 feet away and everything from 4 feet on is pretty much in focus. At f11 I am certain that it is. But those are both great focal ranges for full frame street shooting for hyper focal distance work.
Thanks! You don't get better value in photo gear than from old Nikon lenses.
That is a great way of saying it. Thank you!!!
Great video, had this lens sitting in my closest for the last 35 years, will give it a spin try on my trusty D3200 and see what magic happens. Thanks, Montreal, Canada.
It will be awesome on that camera. Just dont forget to enter it in the non-cpu lens section so the camera knows what is going on.
@davidsaylors 👍😀👍
Thanks, since this lens doesn't have any electronic sensors or anything like that, no need to write it into the camera, I think. I just mount it on the camera and shoot it in manual just like my old FM Camera. I do the same with several of my other manual lenses, and get good results.
Thanks for the review!
Thank you Stephen! I really appreciate it. 👍📸
I got this lens on my Nikon F2 and the photos come out just as good as that Leica, and it's film. Love the lens!
It odd a wonderful little lens and is one that I will keep. 👍📸
@@davidsaylors Do you know if what is seen through the viewfinder of a manual film camera what is actually recorded on the developed photograph?
@@alex_jermaine yes. It will be the same. As long as it is a SLR camera. It is what you see is what you get.
@@alex_jermaine As for exposure? No, the film cameras always open the aperture fully to compose with. You will need a light meter to determine proper shutter speed for a correct exposure.
Nikon made great 24mm lenses. Is yours an ai or ai-s version? I prefer the 28/2 though, which is one of my favorite wide Nikkor lenses.
Mine is an Ai-s. I have the 28 f2.8 and it is stellar too. Maybe more so than the 24mm actually. But the wider field of view on the 24 makes it my choice here. That f2 is a beast! Nice job grabbing one of those!
Nice shots! I liked the arched walk way....I think you have already tested some but what would you recommend for an F mount 28mm? It doesn't have to be f1.4 or f1.8 an f2.8 would be fine..I thought about buying the modern G series but if there is an older cheaper option available im all about hoarding cash...lol
Get the 28mm Ai-s f2.8 Nikkor. It is out of this world as far as optical quality goes. It just blows my mind. 👍📸
@@davidsaylors thanks, I will check it out!
Essentially its becomes a point and shoot. Excellent for street photography.
True. Thank you!
Fun fact, on crop sensor, you still get the same depth of field, but you are shooting a 35mm (or 36 technically) which is still pretty wide. but you don't get as much distortion.
Good trade offs and bad. If you want a true 24mm, then youll lose it on crop, but if you want 35ish, you get massive DOF + a more "normal" wide perspective.
Very nice video. I have that Nikon lens too. Thank you. RS. Canada
It is an awesome lens. Thank you for taking the time to write! I really appreciate it!!!
This RUclips channel it's got me into manual lens. It took me a year to find camera I got lucky someone was selling a broken d700 for $200 camera broke such way a it's still functions just fine with manual lens and the camera does lens profiles too. I didn't have it to me to modify lens so I'm modified a camera instead for the job.
That is awesome! The fact that you are able (and willing) to get a D700 back up and running is great! Those are amazing cameras!!! Thank you for sharing it with me, I really appreciate it.
Oh great... another lens I need to buy.... this is becoming a trend! Thanks for the review matey.
😂 Now you are starting to sound like me!!!
@@davidsaylors Well, I've just sold my old Pentax KM so I think I'll be ordering one this week :) I think I'll go for the AI rather than the AI-s as it has a longer focus throw which I do rather like.
@@davidsaylors Well..... I got one.... it's wonderful!!!!
Lack of bicycles is like the scooters here in San Antonio, Texas. They are not in the docking area but discarded everywhere.
Those scooters are all over Chattanooga too. The city owns the rental bikes and I dont know why that rack was stripped almost clean, but most of the time there are more bikes. Maybe they had pulled them??? I know what your talking about though.
I was looking through my dungeon to see which Nikkor lenses I purchased back in the day, but rarely got a chance to use them due to AF and digital.This was one of them , the Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AI. Actually I have about 20 other lenses like these that rarely see the light of day. I was wondering why i purchased this lens in the first place so I google it. I'm took notice that you mentioned that most of these older lenses have that certain look, which is less clinical(super clean) than the newer lenses. Sometimes less clinical is better, sometimes not.
I always thought that it was the grain on the film that gave it that 'grungy' look, but realized that was not the case after I stuck one of these older lenses on my Nikon D7000 digital camera. Its a different look, I wouldn't call it grungy, but maybe more pixalated. Not all manual lenses look like that though. I have some manual lenses like my Nikkor 105 f2.5 and even my 35-70mm f2.8 that will give the newer lenses a run for their money when it comes to the clinical look.
I bought this lens when I was on a lens-buying spree. I figured I might need some day , but I rarely if ever used it. It does look like it takes pretty good pictures and mine is in Mint condition. These days I come to the "less expensive" realization that you only need about 5 lenses in your repertoire, depending on what you like to shoot. Of course if you have the time to shoot every single little thing in out Universe that is another story. However 24mm is a must-have focal length especially for street, travel, landscape, city scape, architecture and even large group portraits. It gives your image a depth and breath that normal lenses cannot achieve. It is not as popular as a 28mm, 35mm, or 50mm, but its good to have.
You said it so well. I can’t add much to this. Thank you!👍📸
picked up a cheap copy a few years back with fungus ,mine was the ais version with crc ,tricky repair to clean the lens elements , awesome lens on the D700 and D4
They are great lenses. I am still using mine. Mainly for video these days though. It is a great lens.
great shots. how is quality of image when compared to 18-55 kit lens at 24 mm?
This would equal something closer to the 18mm setting on the new kit lenses for reference as this is a full frame camera and that changes field of view. That aside though, the new lenses are normally better optically than even the better old primes due to improvements in glass technology and manufacturing. The kit lenses normally dont have the larger apertures like this one though so that will affect depth of field and other settings to get the exposure correct. So it is kinda a wash. If you have a new 18-55mm I sayuse it. They are great little lenses!👍📸
This is going to be my next lens. I still shoot film with my F3hp.
The perfect companion to an f3! What a wonderful camera! Thank you for stopping by!👍📸
Old gear is still great. As a friend tells me every week upgrade your skills and not your gear.
This is solid advice. Much better than what most RUclips influencers will tell you. Thanks!
Mine is mounted on my F3 hp….
As it should be. That is an awesome combination.
You’re testing an AI lens not an AIS…
I see that, I will update the title to reflect that, good catch! Thank you!
“Laca”
Lol
Welcome to my channel where you will get a nice and pleasing southern Appalachian accent with your video. 😬🤷🏻♂️
@@davidsaylors Oohhhhhhh, of course, laca. Took a minute.
You don't explain things very well
You don’t communicate are you
Hip firing like its a 19th century cowboy town yessirrrrrrrrrrr
Yep all small Nikkors have that 52mm filter thread, I have a 28mm F2 Ai'd lens from the mid 70s and love the green/pruple flares it makes. The DOF range is indeed like focus-cheating compared to even the "short telephotos" like 85mm.
😂 yep, that was me!!! Shooting from the hip!!! I agree. I love shooting with this I s one for that reason. 👍📸