Nikon 135mm f2.8 Pre Ai Nikkor Vintage Lens Review on the Z6 Mirrorless Camera 

HaHa, yep! Time does fly, doesnt it?!? I never thoguht anyone would bing watch my channel. That is funny!

@@davidsaylors I'm kinda unusual person. Been watching You and Phil for years but with this new RU-vid algorythm now videos that have been posted in the past is now in the present. Example I have been seeing shorts all day with 3 Days of the Condor, Robert Redford version and You Guessed it, the movie is great. Cheers!

Thabk you!

Sorry I mistyped, Sharp from around f4 to f8 is what I wanted to type.

Thank you, I am planning on many more small town videos in the coming weeks now that it is about to start cooling off a little. I really enjoy making these kinds of videos and I am glad that there are people out there that like seeing them too. Thank you. 😉📸👍

It is a wonderful lens. If you like Nikon glass, you will live this one for sure!

I am now wondering if he recommended this particular model or the Ai-S version of it? He always favored the Ai-S lenses over the others, but he has chosen some of the more obscure ones too. Do you remember if it was this one or the Ai-S? This one is certainly very sharp, that was a wonderful trait of the lens for certain. Thank you!!!

David Saylors The angry dude that loves to hear himself talk recommended the Ai lens. Pretty sure it would be optically the same as your pre Ai. I might take my 3.5 out for a few test shots tomorrow with the D810. It’s minty but never really used it. I know it’s low saturation but dimensionally excellent. No doubt like all the old lenses it will have lots of CA and flare. But it is a nice feeling lens and nicely built with the retractable lens hood. The angry dude has a habit of praising a lens for a particular quality but fails to inform people of the negatives. Buy it or you’re a f*#king idiot is not exactly a well rounded review 😂

(Sarcasm)😂😂😂🤷🏻‍♂️ I am blown away by his logic. (/sarcasm) Honestly, I see your point though, I have noticed it too. It is a cool lens as long as you pay attention and don’t mind the flaws it has. 👍📸 I liked it at f4 just fine. Beautiful there, and to be honest, at f2.8 it only needed the contrast bumped in part to make it great there too... 😬

David Saylors I read an article on methods of selling a couple of years ago and one of those methods matched the Angry dude to a tee. It’s basically an approach of providing little detail about the actual product yet portraying to the buyer that the seller knows everything about it and that the buyer would be a fool not to buy it. I guess there are plenty of people that like to be told to buy something, personally I have zero interest in that approach, I have my own decision making process, I won’t be told what I need to buy. Better to do more insightful research and get the information needed to make a more fully considered decision.

Yeah, i noticed that approach too. He would say things like it is sublime, finer than this or that, your an idiot if you don’t buy it... i remember all too well, I didn’t put it together that this would b be an actual sales tactic till you said that though, makes perfect sense now that you say It... perfect sense.

Yes this little lens is actually pretty awesome stopped down. It isn’t too bad wide open as long as you’re willing to work with it in post. Thankyou! 👍📸

Thank you! I am working on that more now to be honest... I had gotten kinda lazy with it during the “rona” so now I am working on it more. 👍📸

LOL 😂 I thought it was an Oldsmobile 442. But looking at it again, I think you are right... 😬🤷🏻‍♂️ Thanks!

@@davidsaylors I used to be a car nerd until I got in the car business, now they don't impress me much but that one was pretty. I enjoyed the video and your lens looks to be in amazing condition. Would like to see some portraits made with it at f/4 and wider. I've never walked around Chickamauga so thanks for the tour! Thumbs up!

Thank you MiataPhil, the racer driver, 😉 makes perfect sense now... 😬 I hope to get some good portraits with it at some point too... time...

I believe you are correct

That is awesome!!! Those older lenses are super cool!

Actually don’t like that version as well as the smaller one. It is really stiff and one side is rubber coated which is nice in the winter, but annoying in the summer... the one I prefer is the Peak Design Leash. It is soft and comfortable and easy to setup and use. 📸👍

THANKS DAVID 😊

Yeah. It would need to be “Ai-ed” to do that, but I am pretty sure Nikon no longer offers that service and this particular lens is in REALLY good shape so I hate to carve on it myself to attempt to convert it and end up jacking it... it probably would work wonders on that camera! 👍📸

Thank you Terry! That lens would be a beast!!! Good grief!!! I would love to lay my hands on one of them at some point to see how it looks. Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it!!!👍📸

There is a conversion kit no 43 for this one I believe. Still available out there on the internetz.

If it is anything like Trenton GA, it will be awesome! We have the BEST Mexican restaurant in Trenton, so I might be biased... 😁 I have bought a few lenses from Japan on eBay and they were as you describe, gorgeous is a good word for them... Thanks for supporting my habit too... 📸👍

@@davidsaylors Have to say David. I'm fortunate to live in central Texas and at the confluence of German, Czech, Southern, Creole, AND Mexican cuisines. It's a veritable orgy of great cheap feed.

Dude, you now have me craving Black’s briskett from Lockhart, TX... I get it every few years, and it has been a few years...

@@davidsaylors Black's is about 25 miles from me right now....and the beautiful thing is there are 1-2 dozen joints (of similar of better quality depending on who you talk to) within that 25 mile radius in all directions that might be cooking my lunch right now. However, the proliferation of "good" biscuits over here isn't what it is over there according to my niece (north of Atlanta).

@@davidsaylors Black's is about 25 miles from me right now....and the beautiful thing is there are 1-2 dozen joints (of similar of better quality depending on who you talk to) within that 25 mile radius in all directions that might be cooking my lunch right now. However, the proliferation of "good" biscuits over here isn't what it is over there according to my niece (north of Atlanta).

This is great information, thank you so much for collecting and sharing it with us. Let me ask this question then. In your opinion, would the 135mm make a good “training” lens for someone wanting to learn portrait photography? Like use it for a while to understand posing and how to apply light and backgrounds and such then when they start doing actual paid work, maybe then get the 70-200mm because it gives them better output as well as being more versatile? Something like an affordable tool to learn the craft with and then get the professional version once you are comfortable in your skills? Diid that make sense?

David Saylors Yes it could, with the exception of backlit portraits. I guess for a person learning portrait photography they may want to explore backlighting, if that’s the case then it may not be suitable. Side lighting or even if the light is more toward the lens is very likely correctable, but actual back lighting would cause a loss of contrast that I don’t think would be correctable. The 85 1.8g is probably a preferred portrait lens, I think it’s pretty affordable second hand. It has some CA issues but I don’t think it would be a practical issue. It has the benefits of a modern lens. I remember Matt Granger comparing the 85 lenses and he said he would have no hesitation using the 1.8g as his main portrait lens over the way more pricey 1.4g. Possibly with the awesome 85 S lens now out there the old 85 1.8g may be even more affordable second hand. But certainly if the old 135 is used with consideration for its shortcomings, which appear very typical of older lenses, then it would produce some lovely portrait shots of either people or critters. I presume the colder cast would be correctable on skin tones but it does seem to have a slightly distinctive cast, cool but also a tint to it. Moving the green and magenta slider did not appear to fully improve it. I think it would look fine but skin tones can be tricky to get right if the lens or lighting has caused an issue. I notice my 70-200 fl is a very warm lens, maybe a bit too warm, but no obvious cast, simply a couple of hundred K warmer than ideal. Warm looks better than cool but I will need to remember to keep an eye on the 70-200 in editing.

David Saylors I took some more pics with this today and it did very nicely indeed. The slight softness at 3.5 or 4 might actually be nice for a portrait, sharpness is a bit overrated for portraits. I like the front and rear bokeh which looks a bit nicer than the 70-200 even though that looks nice. I did notice that if I stop it down to 5.6 or 8 any bokeh balls look like octagons which I don’t really like. I like my bokeh balls to be round 😂 So for portraits that would have bokeh balls I would probably keep it at f4. I think there’s almost 400k difference in warmth between my 135 and the 70-200 fl zoom. The zoom is about 200k too warm and the 135 is about 200k too cool. CA under normal shooting was pretty well controlled actually. Only if shooting into tree branches against white clouds was it unacceptable wide open, ok at f8. The flare issue facing into light improves at f8 and could even be used artistically at f8 if the light source is off to the side, but not really suited to full backlighting at any aperture. A nice little lens that I would happily use for portraits with these slight considerations in place. Though manual focus is an acquired skill and requires some patience.

Have you tried the color correction grid in the D810? Where you can push to the four main color correctios ? I have not used it, but it sounds like maybe this could be adjusted in camera and maybe even get the raw files to be closer? It has me wondering now...

David Saylors I would have thought that would only effect jpegs but I will check it tomorrow. I do have the grid adjusted slightly anyway, I did that when I first got the D810 and was shooting in jpegs. From memory it is adjusted slightly away from green. But even if it effected RAW it would not help because every lens I have has a slightly different temperature and even different hue. My 24-70 emphasises yellows so I apply a preset upon importing to LR to reduce the yellow saturation and luminance. The 70-200 slightly emphasises yellows so for simplicity I apply that same preset to it also, but it needs about negative 200k as well. The 135 AI S and the Tokina both need about 200k added to it. The Tokina also needs -3/4 stop exp comp in camera because it always over exposes a bit.

People want to say bad things about vintage glass, but I have come to the conclusion that vintage glass works great for me, like you, and now I just use my old lenses and have a good time on the cheap 😉👍📸 I honestly think people have been trained to think that only newer is better and sometimes that is true, but not always... Thank you for sharing your experience with us! 👍📸

@@davidsaylors yes I agree. Old nikkor glass is fantastic. I have quite a few I use. 50 1.4ai, 105 2.5pc, 50mm f2 auto nikkor single coated version, and a few it others

I have a bunch, but one I carry regularly is the 50mm f1.4 Ai Nikkor. Just wonderful for general purpose shooting.

@@davidsaylors fantastic lens. Nice look wide open. If I want more sharpness I'll stop down to f2 or in-between 1.4-2

Me too. I use ít for night photos a lot. It works really well for low light. 👍📸

Nice choice with the Contax! Those are great lenses!!! As for a wide angle lens for Fujifilm, I really like the Nikon 28mm f2.8 Ai-S This lens is fantastic, I keep mine close at hand as I love this lens. 👍📸

If possible send a link where I can get it in Saudi Arabia

For me, if I had to pick between those two, I would get the 135mm. It gives me enough focal length separation from the 85mm and the 200mm to be useful. The 105mm is legendary for portraits, but so is the 135... 😉📸

I am not sure what that building was, but the Crystal Springs building what a huge printing operation that did paper printing from what I can tell. I saw those clocks in the footage too, but didnt notice them while I was there in the town... lol. Thanks!!!

What do you think about the converted AI lens? I'd like the AI version, but they're difficult to find these days.

lol, we can only hope...

Yeah, there is some truth to that. 😬 I just can’t help myself!!! 😆🤷🏻‍♂️📸 Always looking for that gem!!!

I prefer the 200mm f4 for what I like to photograph. It works beautifully well for portraits as well as a simple wildlife lens as well.

I agree, but it does cost money to do it and that sometimes is more than what is available. It falls back to the membership to be honest, some one in the congregation could stream it to FB for free with their phone I guess... see now you have me solving it. 😂👍📸

@@davidsaylors 👍

Oh wow! That is the EARLY version!!!! I have never really used one of those... nice.

Yeah I have seen some pictures from that model and it seems to do pretty good, has a little vineting but good contrast and sharpness.

Thanks! I really appreciate it. There are what seems to be an endless supply of Nikkor lenses out there... 🤷🏻‍♂️📸

Unfortunately, no. It won’t fit that I am aware of.

It will fit

How so?

Thanks! 👍😂📸

The younger crowd won’t even understand!!!! 😆😆😆

You know what I see as awesome? That you live in what is generally considered the mecca off street photography and you like watching my videos. 😉 I consider that a huge honor, thank YOU!!!