Price: $1,700
What’s the deal? It’s just a lens.
Ooh, take that back. Refer to Nikon’s
distinctive telephoto as ‘just’ a lens and you’ll draw an intake of breath from
any serious photography geek; this is one of the most important lenses ever
made. After its introduction in 1959 it helped to establish the SLR as the
camera for all serious photography. Everywhere from portrait studios to
newspapers to the jungles of Vietnam, this 105mm lens, paired with a Nikon F,
was taking the 20th century’s most important photographs.
Refer
to Nikon’s distinctive telephoto as ‘just’ a lens and you’ll draw an intake of
breath from any serious photography geek
Why should I want one?
For many photographers, this is a faultless
bit of glass. Its 105mm focal length means you don’t have to be right up in
someone’s face to take a portrait, so it’s excellent for capturing natural
expressions and unstaged scenes which is why it was such a favorite of
newshounds. And because it was a standby for both professional news and studio
photographers, tens of thousands of well-kept examples are available.
What to look for…
If you’re going to use this lens with a
Nikon DSLR then it is important to buy an ‘AI’ model – one built after Nikon
introduced Automatic Indexing in 1977. Older, ‘non-AI’ models are cheaper and
can be converted, or just used with a film SLR. Because there’s so much choice,
if a lens seems dodgy in any way, skip it.
Older,
‘non-AI’ models are cheaper and can be converted, or just used with a film SLR.
Top Four Affordable Primes
Canon 50mm f/1.8
You can’t buy nice old manual focus lenses
and just pop them into a Canon DSLR, but you can buy top glass fairly cheaply,
such as this fast, crisp plastic prime– the ‘nifty fifty’.
Asus Transformer Prime
The Prime has just been updated to Android
Jelly Bean and continues to offer the chance to do two full days’ work, with
nearly-proper typing, on a single charge.
Manual
focus only, but they can be had, in good condition, for $500second-hand.
Pentax 50mm f/1.7
A nicely made 50mm prime that will clunk
into any modern Pentax and produce beautiful results. Manual focus only, but
they can be had, in good condition, for $500second-hand.
Primer
Forget Star Wars Primeris an intelligent
geek movie about engineers (and time travel). Get it DRM-free from the
director’s website for US$15: shanecarrutah.com.
